With a new tool, federal officials are working to help people with disabilities and employers understand the wide array of accommodations available to make employment more achievable.

The U.S. Department of Labor is rolling out what it’s calling the “Situations and Solutions Finder,” which highlights hundreds of examples of accommodations that businesses are using to support employees with disabilities.

The tool, released to coincide with National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October, culls ideas from companies large and small across a variety of industries and from both the public and private sectors, the Labor Department said. Users can filter over 700 accommodation ideas by disability, limitation or occupation.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations for applicants or employees with disabilities, when requested, unless they would impose undue hardship. Such modifications are intended to allow people with disabilities equal opportunity.

While not every accommodation is right for each individual or work environment, the Labor Department said that patterns across the examples can be useful in identifying appropriate options.

“Accommodations are at the heart of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and they’re about maximizing productivity for workers with disabilities, plain and simple,” said Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy Taryn M. Williams. “By allowing people to learn what has worked for others in similar, even if not exactly the same, situations, this new resource empowers employers, as well as employees or job applicants themselves, to ensure disabled workers have access to what they need to do their best on the job.”

Read more stories like this one. Sign up for Disability Scoop's free email newsletter to get the latest developmental disability news sent straight to your inbox.