{"id":84709,"date":"2014-11-20T07:30:39","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T13:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=84709"},"modified":"2014-11-20T00:32:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T06:32:03","slug":"five-tips-for-interviewing-candidates-who-use-a-wheelchair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=84709","title":{"rendered":"Five Tips for Interviewing Candidates Who Use a Wheelchair"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Leigh Milligan, Senior Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania<\/a>, Puerto Rico<\/a>, Rhode Island<\/a>, South Carolina<\/a>, South Dakota<\/a>, Tennessee<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Five Tips for Interviewing Candidates Who Use a Wheelchair<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"leigh.milligan\"<\/a>In September I wrote the blog, Five Tips on Going on an Interview in A Wheelchair<\/a>. The blog actually\u00a0was a success, and I received some very positive feedback. One of the suggestions I got was to write a\u00a0sequel to this blog, tips for the employers doing the interviewing. I thought this was a fabulous idea and\u00a0set out to find some people very knowledgeable on the topic and some additional resources. I spoke\u00a0with a couple different people at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia, where I am a volunteer\u00a0librarian in their resource center. I was finally pointed in the direction of the human resources manager\u00a0who gave me several great resources.<\/p>\n

Now with that, here are 5 tips for interviewing those who use Wheelchairs for Employment.<\/p>\n

1. Make sure the location where you are conducting the interview is accessible to the candidate.\u00a0For example, if there is a chair that will be in the way of the wheelchair, move it. If the drinking\u00a0foundation is not accessible, make sure to provide fresh water. Make sure the public bathrooms\u00a0are accessible to the candidate; otherwise be prepared to provide reasonable accommodations\u00a0such as a private employee bathroom.<\/p>\n

2. Do not ask the questions about their disability, such as their medical condition, how they will get\u00a0to work or if they will need to leave work for medical treatment. These are not legal questions\u00a0to ask according to the American Disabilities Act. Only ask questions that will let you know\u00a0that the candidate is qualified and is able to do the job. Asking if they will be able to follow an\u00a0attendance policy is ok to ask as well.<\/p>\n

3. If you are going to do something during the interview such as a test or a presentation, make\u00a0sure you are able to provide reasonable accommodations such as a different format. If there is\u00a0writing involved, make sure the surface provided is accessible to a person in a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

4. Do not patronize the person using a wheel such as patting them on the head. Do not touch or\u00a0lean on the wheelchair or push the wheelchair unless asked. Offer to help the candidate but\u00a0do not help unless help is requested. Be prepared to be declined to help, most candidates in\u00a0wheelchairs will have no problems getting around. Do not be offended if your help is declined,\u00a0please be courteous.<\/p>\n

5. Be relaxed. Do not feel uncomfortable using phrases such as \u201clet\u2019s walk over here.\u201d Talk to the\u00a0candidate as you would talk to any other candidate. Make eye contact, but do not stare.<\/p>\n

I hope these tips are helpful and useful to those search committees and hiring managers interviewing\u00a0those in wheelchairs. While I have provided you with five tips, there are many more great tips for\u00a0interviewing those using wheelchairs. I have provided some additional resources below.<\/p>\n

Employer Tips on Interviewing Applicants with Disabilities<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.onestops.info\/article.php?\u00a0article_id=2<\/a><\/p>\n

Techniques for Interviewing a Person with A Disability<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.selacowib.com\/employer-interviewing-techniques\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Focus on Ability: Interviewing Applicants with Disabilities<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.dol.gov\/odep\/pubs\/fact\/focus.htm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Leigh Milligan, Senior Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee Five Tips for Interviewing Candidates Who Use a Wheelchair In September I wrote the blog, Five Tips on Going on an Interview in A Wheelchair. The blog actually\u00a0was a success, and I received some very positive feedback. One of…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":58852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[4129,69,3592,3850,3654,3674,3626,3633,3600,3657,6307,3975,3918,111,6686],"class_list":["post-84709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-5-tips","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-disabilities","tag-inalj-pennsylvania","tag-inalj-puerto-rico","tag-inalj-rhode-island","tag-inalj-south-carolina","tag-inalj-south-dakota","tag-inalj-tennessee","tag-interviewers","tag-interviewing","tag-leigh-milligan","tag-tips","tag-tips-for-interviewers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/leigh.milligan.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-m2h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}