Purpose: Unemployment is a chronic problem for people with disabilities. Current estimates show that only approximately 25 to 30 percent of people with disabilities are employed (McNeil, 2000; National Organization on Disability/Harris Poll, 2000), and older workers who acquire a disability are even less likely to work than younger people with disabilities (Burkhauser & Daly, 1994). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990, was intended in part to remove barriers to employment for people with disabilities (42 U.S.C. at 12101(a) (1994), and a key aspect of the ADA was requiring employers of 15 or more employees to make reasonable accommodations to otherwise qualified people with disabilities. However, there has been little research on the implementation of these accommodation provisions. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of work accommodations provided to older people with disabilities since the implementation of the ADA in 1992.

Methods: The first five waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were used to determine accommodation rates. The HRS has a nationally representation sample of 12,652 individuals who were between the age of 50 and 60 years in 1991 and their spouses. We excluded people who were not age eligible in 1992 and those who are in the military, as ADA does not cover military employees. The final sample was 9,771 individuals. We calculated the prevalence of work accommodation by employers for older workers for in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. We also conducted a random effect panel logistic regression analysis to examine factors that affect the likelihood of receiving accommodations after controlling for other covariates, such as age, education, race, and occupation.

Findings: Among the 9,771 respondents in the sample, 7,725 reported no disability, and 2,046 reported having a disability. Among the 2,046 who reported a disability, 615 were working. In our cross-sectional analysis, the percentage of disabled workers receiving accommodations from their employers increased from 18% in 1992 to 31% in 1994, and then dropped to 24% in 1996, 20% in 1998, and 22% in 2000. In our random effect panel logistic regression analysis, we found that white-collar workers were 2.8 times more likely to receive accommodation than blue-collar workers (p<.001), while there is no statistically significant difference between service workers and blue-collar workers. African Americans are 2.4 times more likely to received accommodation than white workers are after controlling for education, occupation, and other covariates(p<.01). Workers with two or more ADL disabilities were more likely to receive accommodations(p<.05).

Policy and Practice Implications: While accommodation rates for older workers increased after initial ADA implementation, they have since fallen closer to pre-ADA rates, except for those in white-collar jobs. These findings suggest that the ADA may not be effectively removing employment barriers for older workers, particularly in blue-collar or service jobs, and that stronger public awareness and/or enforcement may be required.