AMP Connection, 2015 Issue 1

Connection 2015 Issue 1 Technology That Works

People Who Care

The Black & White (and Grey) of ADA Accommodations “While there are some black and white guidelines, we are still faced with some grey area in determining if and when accommodations may be appropriate.”

Larry Flint, Director of Operations

It

should be every testing sponsor and vendor’s desire to provide a consistent, successful testing experience for all candidates.

Ensuring this can be a difficult task when faced with the reality that not all candidates are the same and can face a wide variety of challenges and disabilities. With ever-changing testing technology and laws, continuing to strive for fair testing conditions is a constant, but important, process. With guidance from federal laws and a little common sense in the grey areas, we can do much to ensure fairness regardless of disability.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental activities. The law was signed in 1990 and has largely remained the same although it has gone through many additional interpretations to expand the law to cover necessary areas. The law is grouped into titles covering five major categories. AMP and its certification and licensure clients are most affected by Title III, the regulations for public accommodations and public facilities. This is the portion of the law AMP and test sponsors must consider when establishing

all processes involved in the test administration process.

The definition of disability according to ADA is “... a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.” The definition is vague by design, intending to be as inclusive as possible. In 2008, the ADAAA (Americans Disability Act Amendment Act) was passed to better define “a major life activity,” providing more clarity for legal proceedings and decisions.

Over the years, the government has provided revised interpretations to help expand coverage as needed. This definition of who is disabled now includes a time frame, which expands the number of people who can be covered under ADA. No longer does it have to be permanent. It just needs to fit the criteria of “… limiting a major life activity” at the time, which may have lasting repercussions such as loss of job or promotions.

When it comes to testing candidates requesting ADA accommodations, it is up to the person applying to prove the disability with a reasonable amount of documentation. What is “reasonable” is also open to interpretation. Typically, a requirement of a diagnosis within the last five continued on page 2

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Tech Corner: Let’s Talk Web Services

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“The Black & White (and Grey) of ADA Accommodations” continued from page 1

years is considered reasonable. Often, with a diagnosis beyond five years, the person will likely have been provided tools or have learned to control their disability, so it is no longer limiting a major life activity, although they still may have the same diagnosis.

Exceptions to the 5-year term are diagnoses that cannot change, such as blindness, loss of limbs or other permanent disabilities that would remain even with additional tools.

It is important to remember when providing certification and licensure testing that accommodations are not meant to provide an advantage but rather to ensure a “level playing field” for all candidates. The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) Standards address this stating that ADA accommodations “should be reasonable and not compromise the fundamental nature of assessment or the validity of the certification decision.”

There are many standard accommodations such as providing a reader or reading software, allowing additional testing time, or testing alone to avoid distractions. Other available accommodations can include larger screens/larger print, adjusted lighting, special seating, or additional material for notes. Each accommodation requires forethought and planning to ensure fairness.

The accommodation must be appropriate and professionally provided.

When a candidate requests additional time, they must qualify for this specific accommodation and provide

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appropriate supporting documentation to ensure there is no unfair advantage. When providing a reader, administrators must consider the examination content. For example, a candidate sitting for a respiratory care exam may need to be familiar with terms like alveoli, dyspnea, pleurodesis, or tachycardia. If the reader has no experience with medical terminology, they could easily mispronounce the words, adversely affecting the candidate’s testing experience and potentially affecting their performance.

There are occasions when a candidate requests special accommodations for a perceived disability that is not covered by ADA. A common example is candidates requesting extra time or a reader when an exam is not available in their primary language. ADA does not consider this a disability; therefore, additional time cannot be granted under ADA.

“… accommodations are not meant to provide an advantage but rather to ensure a “level playing field” for all candidates.”

AMP does receive an occasional unique request for accommodations that cannot be fully granted even though the candidate has valid documentation of a disability. ADA specifies that the requested accommodations must be reasonable and not cause undue hardship to provide. For example, a candidate allergic to everything that is not organic might request to have all proctors, supervisors and other personnel within the testing center to bathe for several days with a special soap and use special cleaning materials prior to the administration. While this would be considered an unreasonable request, we would take reasonable action to accommodate the candidate by using organic cleaners prior to testing,

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AAMI AAMI, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, is the primary source of consensus and timely information on medical instrumentation and technology. Its diverse community of nearly 7,000 healthcare technology professionals are united by one important mission — supporting the healthcare community in the development, management, and use of safe and effective medical technology. AAMI recently restructured its certification program with the aim of growing its role as a key player in developing healthcare technology professionals and assisting in their career advancement. AAMI selected AMP to develop and deploy two new certification programs: Certified

Quality System Manager (CQSM) and Certified Healthcare Technology Manager (CHTM).

Job analysis studies and examination development have been completed with plans to launch the exams in the AMP Assessment Center Network in March 2015. For more information about AAMI, visit www.aami.org.

allowing the candidate to test alone and ensuring the proctor wears nothing scented during the administration. While unreasonable requests are somewhat rare, it is important to handle each one with sensitivity, understanding and a desire to reach a reasonable outcome.

There are also many requests that are not traditionally covered under ADA but require further consideration. We must think about the potential outcome of denying a request and if it could result in hardship and ultimately have adverse effects on the candidate, testing sponsor and/or vendor. For example, pregnancy is not considered a disability under ADA. However, if a candidate is very late in their pregnancy and must take frequent breaks, we have to consider what effect a denial may have on their future. If the test is only given once per year and that person cannot take the test without accommodations, it could result in not getting a pay increase, loss of a promotion or even loss of employment. In this situation, the pregnancy could be considered a physical impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. However, if the examination is given monthly then accommodations may not be appropriate or fair since they would have a more timely opportunity to take the exam at another date. These unique situations are part of the new expanded definition of the ADA law.

The process to apply for accommodations under ADA should be the same for everyone in order to be fair and consistent. Failure to apply the same process to everyone will eventually lead to unfairness, complaints and could result in legal situations. continued on page 4

Tech Corner: Let’s Talk Web Services Nisha Bhagchandani, MBA, Director, Software Engineering

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ith all the software products, websites and e-commerce solutions in use these days, the transfer of data between two products or platforms is a must. Our clients need to transfer candidate, member or event attendee data into a variety of databases for their own use. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is through the use of Web Services.

Technically, Web Services (sometimes referred to as APIs) are units of code without a user interface that are exposed via the Web. Web Services have a URL and defined input and output parameters. They can be publicly available or secure.

What does this mean? Web Services are a way to extend any desktop or Web application to allow for reciprocation with separate systems. For example, a website shopping cart doesn’t actually process payments. The website uses a Web service to interact with the store’s chosen payment provider. The shopping cart “calls” the payment gateway Web service hosted by the payment gateway provider to process a credit card transaction.

The shopping cart securely passes credit card data to the Web service hosted by the payment gateway provider when the user hits the Submit button on the payment page. The Web service will send a success or failure code back to the shopping cart.

For the most part, the Web service code can be changed over time without compromising the consumer application’s ability to interact with it.

Web Services have the ability to be synchronous or asynchronous. In synchronous calls for example, the consumer application waits for the Web service to complete its operation before continuing (e.g., waiting for a credit card success code before completing a purchase). Asynchronous operations allow a consumer to call a Web service, execute other functions but retrieve their results at a later time (e.g., transferring data that someone will collect or reconcile later).

www.goAMP.com

Web Services are a great solution to integrate systems because they are platform independent and follow industry standard communication protocols – thus enabling completely separate systems to talk to each other. AMP works with our clients to provide Web Services to transfer eligible candidate data, compare membership databases and send candidate results. If you are interested in a Web service to streamline your data transfer with AMP, please contact your client relations representative for more information.

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“The Black & White (and Grey) of ADA Accommodations” continued from page 3

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ATP Innovations in Testing Conference March 1–4 Palm Springs, CA ABNS Spring Assembly March 6–7 Houston, TX ARELLO® Mid-Year Meeting April 15–18 Albuquerque, NM ASAE Annual Meeting & AMC Institute AMCs Engaged August 8–12 Detroit, MI CLEAR Annual Educational Conference September 17–19 Boston, MA

There should be one entity with the clear responsibility “We must think of reviewing and approving accommodation requests – typically the test sponsor or testing vendor. The about the potential organization must ensure they have approved paperoutcome of denying a work, proper and current diagnosis from an approprirequest and if it could ate professional, and ensure that the approval/denial process is consistent for all candidates. There must be result in hardship.” more than one person within an organization with knowledge of ADA laws. This allows for consultation regarding unique requests. It is also very important to understand that accommodation applications and supporting documentation are medical information and should be treated as private and secure, only being shared with the person(s) making the decisions. The accommodation will need to be shared with those involved in the administration of the examination (e.g., proctor, supervisor), but the reason or diagnosis should not be provided to anyone outside of the approval process.

While there are some black and white guidelines, we are still faced with some grey area in determining if and when accommodations may be appropriate in every single case.

Rather, a common sense approach must be applied to each request that falls outside of the standard request. AMP monitors changes and new interpretations of the ADA law and encourages our clients to do the same. Together we can ensure examinations are administered using standardized procedures to provide comparable conditions for all candidates.

We look forward to seeing you at one of these upcoming On the Road events!

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