Saturday, May 10, 2025
5/10/2025
Workplace Accommodation Expert Support System (Work ACCESS) - Georgia Tech’s Centers for Inclusive Design Innovation (CIDI), a consortium of the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) and AMAC Accessibility / Tools for Life (Georgia's Assistive Technology Act Project), propose to develop Work ACCESS, an online tool and mobile app to help employers assess the workplace accommodation needs of their employees who have a disability. CIDI will collaborate with national employment, vocational rehabilitation, and assistive technology organizations to engage stakeholders throughout tool development. The project goal is to improve the provision of workplace accommodations that increase workplace performance and participation, by developing a user-friendly tool that employers and employees can use together to make informed, evidence-based decisions. Project objectives are to: 1) develop, with the help of crowd sourcing, an expert system that uses decision trees and information about personal, task and environmental factors to determine potential solutions; 2) incorporate workplace accommodation best practices from published and new research, and from feedback from system users on accommodation effectiveness; 3) provide resource links to facilitate accommodation implementation; 4) optimize the website/app’s content and usability; 5) evaluate how employers and employees utilize the system in the field; and 6) disseminate Work ACCESS through employment and disability employment networks. Anticipated outcomes are that employers and employees will use the tool to explore accommodations that better fit their employees’ needs, are more likely to be used, and may be cheaper. Products of this five-year project are the Work ACCESS website/app and new findings on the effectiveness of workplace accommodations for employees who have a disability.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).