My last job was the first where I was able to request accommodations—0/10, do not recommend—but 1 of the things I was most surprised by was that this giant company had nothing in place and no idea how to help so I needed to come prepared. List/brainstorming thread to be added to:

#1. Limiting/eliminating phone calls. Voicemail-to-text options. Communicating via email or face-to-face when possible. Phone calls for emergencies only.

No matter what, a phone call is going to send me into tilt, so if it's for something that is not absolutely critical, then it is ruining at minimum an hour or so of productivity after the call ends.

Ways to mitigate phone calls: video calls are somewhat better, planning calls ahead, knowing the agenda of the call ahead.

#2. Avoiding/limiting "drop-in/drop-by" meetings. Email/text ahead of stopping by. Have specific times where drop-in meetings are expected/encouraged (office hours) and others when they are not.

#3. Meetings and events should have agendas/schedules as much as possible and be provided ahead of time.

#4. Be able to have phone with internet connection on and being used during meetings.

This is to look up words and phrases or anything I **have** to know about immediately.

Also to be able to schedule things and make notes in appropriate apps, check emails, other preventing-gaslighting checks.

#5. Adhere to schedules and have known back-up plans for otherwise.

E.g. class is supposed to end at 1:50 and the next starts at 2. If you cannot finish by 1:50, the other class will start to enter no later than 1:55.

#6. Natural light is best lighting, halogen lights are the worst lighting. Flickering lights are intolerable and need to be disconnected if they cannot be immediately replaced.

#7. Need to be able to step out or remove self or take breaks when needed.

#8. Closed captioning, transcripts, or even auto-captions whenever possible.

#9. Group chats for committees, teams, departments, interests, hobbies, etc. Clear rules in place and moderators if necessary. This is a social or networking accommodation, not necessarily one meant for productivity (although that's good too).

#10. Explicit rules, guidelines, procedures in one searchable document. Handbook/manual given to everyone.

Not an accom., but for those of you wondering why I wrote 0/10 as my review, it's primarily because it was over a year-and-a-half process and seems it only got pushed through to be able to fire me w/o repercussion. Once the pandemic hit, they actually didnt finish the process too

I want to add that you may be thinking all these accommodations sound great for everyone! Well yeah, they are, and if we did them automatically without forcing people to request them, then it would help everyone and be invaluable for those of us that need them. "Curb cut effect"

Foreknowledge of emergency drills & alarms as much as possible to not be present for the sensory assault. Exposure (in a safe environment) to how bad the alarm is going to be if it is not possible to mitigate it.