Disability Management Services
Accessibility Services and Resources
UC Santa Cruz is committed to creating and environment that's accessible to all. We encourage you to contact us to request a disability related accommodation for work.
Disability Management Services (DMS) provides assistance to faculty, staff and student employees whose disability may impact their ability to work. In accordance with federal and state disability laws, UC policies and procedures, and collective bargaining agreements, DMS engages employees in the Interactive Process to work tegether to identify an accommodation.
Our services include:
- Assisting employees with disabilities in overcoming disability related limitations or restrictions through reasonable employment accommodations
- Providing consultation and training to supervisors and managers to ensure compliance with policy, laws and regulations related to confidentiality, disability access, and accommodations for non-industrial limitations or restrictions
- Conducting the interactive process between the employee and appropriate department management about possible options for accommodating the employee's disability
- Conducting ergonomic evaluations for employees with a disability
- Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services
- Ergonomic accommodations
Process to Request an Employment Accommodation
To request an accommodation in the workplace due to a disability, advise your supervisor or Chair that you are requesting an employment accommodation (no diagnosis or treatment information should be shared) and then, please email your request to DMS at JobAccommodations@ucsc.edu.
If, for any reason, you are unable to report your accommodation request to your supervisor or Chair, you may email your request directly to Disability Management Services at JobAccommodations@ucsc.edu.
Interactive Process
The Interactive Process is an ongoing dialogue conducted in good faith between the employee (or applicant) and applicable department management about potential options for reasonably accommodating the employee's disability. The employee is also welcome to invite a support person to the meetings. The Interactive Process leads to a determination about job modifications that can be made which enable the employee to perform the essential functions of their job.
A disability may be a physical or mental disability that impairs performing major life activities. As a part of the Interactive Process, a Disability Management Services consultant works with the faculty, staff or student employee in understanding their functional limitations and how those limitations affect performing essential job functions in order to identify accommodations.
Reasonable Accommodation
A reasonable accommodation consists of identifying workable solutions and is any appropriate adjustment to a job, department policy, or to the work environment that enables an individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of their job.
Reasonable accommodations can include, but are not limited to:
- Making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities.
- Job restructuring – reallocating or redistributing non-essential job functions.
- Leaves of absences to provide time away from work for healing and recovery.
- Adjusting when, how or where an essential job function is performed.
- Intermittent of reduced work schedules
- Adjusted or flexible start or end time of the workday
- Reassignment of an appropriate, open, vacant position for which the employee meets the minimum qualifications.
PPSM 81 Reasonable Accommodation Policy
This policy and related procedures address the Interactive Process in which the University engages with employees with disabilities to identify and implement reasonable accommodations that will enable employees to perform the essential functions of their position. If there is no reasonable accommodation on a permanent basis that would enable the employee with a disability to perform the essential functions of the employee’s current position, and if the employee is interested in reassignment, an alternate job search may be conducted to identify a suitable vacancy.
Disability Management Consultants:
- Kelly Roberts, Disability Management Services Manager (roberts@ucsc.edu)
- David Ritz, Disability management Coordinator (dritz@ucsc.edu)
