Work Problems and Accommodations Reported by Persons Who Are Postpolio or Have a Spinal Cord Injury

A number of studies have documented early functional declines in persons with a disability. The purpose of this study was to document (1) whether employees who are aging with their disability have experienced new work problems as a consequence of functional declines and (2) whether their work problems are being accommodated adequately. Ninety-six individuals with a disability (50 who are postpolio and 46 who had a spinal cord injury) were interviewed by phone. Each had worked at least 5 years postonset and was either currently working or unemployed for less than 5 years at the time of the interview. Forty-nine of the 50 persons who are postpolio reported they had experienced functional declines in recent years, and 41 of the 50 rated the severity of their disability greater than it was when they first began working. As a result of the functional declines they had experienced, most (90.9%) of their work problems were new and would not have been significant problems for them when they first began working. The situation was very different for the group with spinal cord injuries. Only a few members of that group had experienced functional declines that were causing new problems at work. A total of 480 work problems were reported by study participants. Three out of every eight problems did not have an accommodation satisfactory to the employee. The primary reason why a satisfactory solution was not provided was that no accommodation had been identified. Employers were generally supportive of the employee's need for accommodation; they paid for 59.1% of the accommodations that had a cost and refused to provide an accommodation for only 18 of the 480 problems.