Employer Prohibited Me From Using The Reasonable Accommodation They Approved

Location: Pennsylvania

I am a PA state employee and stroke survivor. As a result of a stroke in 2019, I suffered severe brain damage affecting my fine motor skills. I can no longer type.

As a result, I requested and received an ADA accommodation to use voice-to-text software to write. (There is a lot of writing in my job!) My employer pays for the Dragon license and installed it on my employer-provided laptop. I have been doing excellent work and received stellar performance reviews in the years since.

Recently, my employer mandated my attendance at a training session, which included writing exercises as part of the training. There were about 100 individuals in attendance. During the training, I utilized my voice-to-text software to complete the writing exercises. One of the directors - my boss’s boss - come up to me and quietly told me I could not use my voice-to-text software as it was “too distracting” for the other attendees. I asked if there was somewhere else I should sit, and he said no. I explained to him that I needed to use my voice-to-text to complete the exercises and fully participate in the training. He repeated that I could not use it. I asked if his expectation was that I just sit and listen and not participate in the exercises. He walked away without answering me.

This is not sitting right with me. It feels discriminatory in that I was not able to fully participate in the training while my non-disabled co-workers were. He provided no additional accommodation to allow me the same access to the training.

Is this legal? Is this worth reporting to my state’s version of the EEOC? TIA