33 Determining Reasonable Accommodation for Applicants With Disabilities

331 Overview

You must determine accommodations case by case. Therefore, an approved or recommended accommodation is applicable only to one individual. However similar the circumstances, you must consider a request for accommodation from another individual separately.

Because individuals with disabilities (even those with the same type of disability) can, and often do, differ greatly in their needs and capabilities, any attempt to list all the different types of reasonable accommodations that you may conceivably develop for each type of mental or physical disability would be futile. You must consider each request case by case and evaluate it on its own merits. Examples of accommodations that may prove helpful are listed in 333.23.

Whether the accommodation is determined locally or in consultation with Headquarters, the process is the same: interacting with the applicant to obtain the information needed for a reasonable and appropriate decision.

The primary concern in determining the appropriateness of a modified test administration is whether the proposed change compromises the accurate assessment of an applicant’s job skills or abilities. The goal is to provide applicants with disabilities an equal opportunity to demonstrate their qualifications without undermining the validity or competitive equity of the testing process.