ROUGHLY EDITED FILE
JAN
ACCOMMODATION IDEAS FOR EMPLOYEES WITH HIV/AIDS
JANUARY 12, 2010
2:00 PM ET to 3:00 PM ET
REMOTE CART SERVICES PROVIDED BY: ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION SERVICES, LLC, (ACS)
800-335-0911
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This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings
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> LINDA CARTER BATISTE: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Job Accommodation Network's accommodation and compliance audio and web training series. I will be your moderator for today's program called accommodation ideas for employees with HIV-AIDS. Before we start the program, I want to go over just a few housekeeping items. First, if any of you experience technical difficulties during the webcast, please call us at 800-526-7234 for voice, and hit button 5. Or for TTY, call 877-781-9 -- (no audio).
Second, toward the end of the webcast, we'll spend time answer anything questions that you have. You can send in your questions at any time during the webcast to our e-mail account at . Or can you use our question-and-answer pod located in the bottom left corner of your screen. To use the pod, put your cursor on the line next to the word question, type your question, and then click on the arrow to submit to the question queue. On the left-hand side above the box to submit your question, you will notice a file-share pod. If you have difficulty viewing the slides, or would like to download them, click on the button that says, "save to my computer."You can also download the handout from this pod. Finally, I want to remind you that at the end of the webcast, an evaluation form will automatically pop up on your screen in another window.
We really appreciate your feedback, so please stay logged on to fill out the evaluation form.
And now let me introduce today's featured speaker, Tracie Saab. Tracie has 15 years of experience as a consultant here at JAN providing accommodation consultation and Americans With Disabilities Act compliance and assistance. She specializes in accommodation solutions for individuals with sensory, immunology, and endocrinology related impairment including hearing impairment, HIV-AIDS, and diabetes. Tracie is presently serving as the project lead for the campaign for disability employment, a collaborative of disability employment focus non-profit organizations whose mission is to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities by sharing the message by at work it's what people can do that matters. Tracie previously served on our January consulting team.
Tracie, welcome, and I will turn the presentation over you to.
> TRACIE SAAB: Thank you very much, Linda. I talked with Linda, and I said she could have said I was a circus clown instead of talking about what I have done before. But thanks to everyone for joining us. We're happy to have you here.
Here we're going to learn about positive practices and accommodations for workers with HIV. We'll go ahead and begin on the second slide.
Today's session we're going to learn about basic facts about infectious diseases, but most of the presentation is going to focus on HIV. We're also going to talk about accommodation solutions that can enable individuals with HIV-associated limitations to work positively.
JAN doesn't receive a lot of calls from people regarding HIV. If you compare the call numbers to other types of impairments that we hear about. But I think that this is in part related to the fact that people are not aware of the possibilities that exist to keep workers with HIV on the job after limitations develop.
So it's my belief that if more people considered or employers provided accommodations, then more people living with HIV would be able to work effectively.
Having a few positive practices in place can make a difference.
So after we explore some accommodation solutions, we're going to talk briefly about the ADA Amendments Act. Not in great detail, but a little as it applies to HIV. So let's begin with infectious disease basics on Slide 3. Next slide?
Oh, no! Not infectious diseases! The woman on this slide looks absolutely horrified, doesn't she? What a topic. Well, the fact is that infectious disease is everywhere. We don't think about infectious disease on a daily basis. Usually when something pops up in the news, or it affects us personally.
(No audio)
Horrified by the thought, or are uncomfortable with the topic. Let's talk about the infectious disease and some of the basics. Infectious diseases are caused by ineffective agents like bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites. Some infectious diseases can be passed from person to person. Some, however, are transmitted through bites from insects or animals, and others are acquired by ingesting contaminated food and water, and still others from exposure to things in the environment.
For example, infectious diseases are transmitted when there is a direct transfer of bacteria, viruses, germs from person to person, animal to person or mother or unborn child. Direct transfer can occur from exposure to cough, sneeze, contaminated food, or during child birth. Examples of infectious diseases that are caused by bacteria and viruses include the common cold, strep throat, the flu, tuberculosis, and AIDS.
Transmission of infectious disease occurs through the exchange of blood or body fluids from sexual contact, needle sharing, blood transfusion, and, again, from mother to unborn child. I will talk about more of this type of transmission and HIV in just a little bit.
Lastly, infectious diseases may also be transmitted by indirect contact with germs or inanimate objects such as doorknobs or faucets. For example, colds and flu.
Next slide, please.
Infectious disease. There are a number of infectious diseases to be aware of. To name a few, this presentation will, of course, focus on human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which is the virus that causes AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. HIV is different from most other viruses because it attacks the immune system. And I am going to go into detail about HIV in just a minute. But some other examples include hepatitis A, B, and C. Influenza or H1N1, the swine flu. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus which is MRSA, occurring in outbreaks of schools. It's a dangerous staph bacteria, and it can cause skin and other types of infections. And then finally tuberculosis which is an air-born disease caused by a bacterial infection, and lyme disease which is a tick-borne infectious disease.
Next slide?
So HIV. Let's focus on HIV. It's a virus that slowly weakens the body's immune system resulting in a variety of symptoms and limitations. The immune system gives our bodies the ability to fight infections, but HIV finds and destroy as type of white blood cell, the T-cells, or the CD4 cells, that the immune system has to have in order to fight infection and disease.
In fact, loss of these cells in people with HIV is an extremely powerful predictor of the development of AIDS, which is the final stage of HIV infection. Recent data from the Centers For Disease Control and prevention, the CDC, indicate that an estimated 56,000 people become infected with HIV each year in the United States. The infection rate continues to be alarming even years after the distribution of awareness and prevention information.
So it's really quite incredible to see that number.
Next slide?
Say hello to your neighbor. The general public is certainly more aware of HIV as a disease, but what may not be obvious is the fact that there are thousands of people living positively and working with HIV. The disease is not impacting people in the same way that it did a number of years ago. Before, there were effective treatment protocols. Before aren't dying with HIV. They're living and working.
And you may be sitting next to someone who has HIV, or another infectious disease at work right now ran not know it. Though the public is more aware, there continue to be misconceptions about the HIV disease. The Kaiser family foundation conducted a 2009 survey that found this to be true. The study also found that people who harbor misconceptions about transmission are more likely to say that they would be uncomfortable working with someone who has HIV.
Which makes me say kind of look around. Anyone in the room could have HIV. A trusted colleague, a close friend, a CEO, factory worker, and we would not know. It is something that is a hidden impairment, or hidden disability.
So people are working with HIV. While the survey results show misconceptions still exist, the results also indicate that there are some kinds that HIV and AIDS in the United States may carry less stigma than it has in the past. But, for instance, there have been a slow and steady increase since the late 1990s in the number of people who say that they would be very comfortable with a co-worker who has HIV and AIDS.
44% now up from about 32% in 1997 according to the Kaiser study.
However, stigmatizing attitudes towards people with HIV have not gone away. About half of -- a little more than half of the public says that they would be uncomfortable having their food prepared by someone who is HIV positive.
Next slide?
So the misconception does continue. So why the discomfort about working with someone with HIV? According to Kaiser, several misconceptions remain when it comes to correct information about HIV transmission. So 1/3 of Americans incorrectly believe or are not sure whether HIV can be transmitted by sharing a drinking glass, touching a toilet seat, or swimming in a pool with a HIV-positive person. So it's surprising to see that these statistics are still -- showing that there are still misconceptions essentially.
Next slide?
HIV. Well, I'll give it to you straight. HIV is not an easy virus to pass from one person to another. According to CDC, HIV is a fragile virus it cannot live for very long outside of the body. As a result, the virus is not transmitted through ordinary day-to-day activities.
HIV is not transmitted through food or air. For instance, by coughing or sneezing, through casual or everyday contact such as sharing eating utensils, bathroom facilities, or through hugging and kissing, or heavy petting like the man and his beloved dog on this slide.
Here in the United States screening the blood supply for HIV has virtually eliminated the risk of infection through blood transfusions. A person cannot get HIV from giving blood at a blood bank or other established blood collection center.
Many years ago HIV was rumored to be transmitted through insects, however mosquitos, fleas, and other insect does not transmit HIV.
Next slide?
HIV is transmitted. Well, according to the CDC, HIV is transmitted by engaging in certain activities, such as unprotected sexual intercourse with someone who has HIV, unprotected oral sex with someone who has HIV, and by sharing needles or syringes with someone who has HIV. HIV may also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, child birth, or breastfeeding. So basically, play it safe to avoid infection don't engage in these unprotected activities, especially at work.
Slide number 10.
HIV, working with HIV. In the past decade, advances in the treatment of HIV have slowed the progression of the disease, and have helped to extend the lives of thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS.
In fact, a close friend of mine recently told me that this will be his 30th year living with the disease. Not something he ever imagined would be the case when he was first diagnosed.
Not only are persons with HIV disease living longer, but they're also seeking and obtaining employment many years after diagnosis. So employers should be prepared to address the reasonable accommodation needs of working with HIV. And also incorporate HIV/AIDS information into disability awareness programs.
Reasonable accommodations can enable employees with HIV to continue to work effectively while managing the symptoms and limitations associated with the disease, as well as the treatment.
Keeping that work-life balance in check. Of course, the degree of limitation and the type of accommodation will vary across individuals. When accommodating workers with HIV, there are some questions that may be helpful as you are working through the accommodation process, whether it be, you know, you are the employer, and you are working with an individual. You are a rehab professional. And if you are a individual, and you are thinking about how do I go along in this accommodation process?
One question: What symptoms or limitations is the individual experiencing? So, for example, is this person experiencing flu-like symptoms? Do they have extreme fatigue? Maybe they're experiencing problems with diarrhea? How are these symptoms or limitations affecting job performance? For example, if the person has fatigue, this may be preventing them from working a straight 8-hour workday. Coming into the office 9:00 to 5:00, staying and working that straight 8-hour period.
What accommodations are available to reduce or eliminate these problematic job tasks? For example, is it possible for the employee to work a flexible schedule perhaps from home where she or he can rest as needed but still get the required number of hours in a given workday? Lastly, what are the workplace hazards, and what measures can be taken to reduce or eliminate them? For example, are universal precautions currently in place for everyone in the work environment?
These are just some examples of questions that might be asked during the accommodation process.