The situation
A DSD staff member with an established accommodation is selected for an acting lead assignment in another unit. The new unit does not know about the arrangement, the cohort kickoff uses timed small-group activities with no captions, and the person quietly withdraws from the rotation.
Fictional worked example
Keep access connected across the rotation
Follow the points where responsibility can disappear. The handoff concerns agreed arrangements, not an employee's diagnosis or private personnel information.
Offer and prepare
Include access information with the rotation invitation for everyone. Identify the role responsible for confirming arrangements before the move.
Current and receiving teamsWho owns the handoff through the established confidential process?
Make the kickoff usable
Plan captions, advance material and an alternative to activities that require speed. Ask participants which arrangements they need.
Cohort organizerDoes participation depend on someone disclosing a condition to the room?
Check the transition
Ask whether the arrangements are working and respond to a missing support promptly through the appropriate route.
Receiving ownerHow can the pathway improve without identifying or rating the employee?
Bring it into your work: Mark the role at each transition and how it receives the necessary arrangement. A withdrawal does not tell the division why someone left the opportunity.
What to notice first
- Nobody owned the accommodation across the transition.
- The cohort was not accessible by default, so participation depended on disclosure.
- The withdrawal will look like a personal choice in the data, if it appears at all.
Questions to ask before acting
- Who owns accommodations across each transition in this pathway, by name?
- Was accommodation offered to everyone entering the rotation, in the same sentence as the logistics?
- Which cohort activities depend on speed or drag-and-drop, and what would replace them?
- How would the division ever see this pattern in its workforce data?
Practical next moves
Who to involve
Pathway design goes to division leadership and the Equity Director. The individual accommodation goes through the confidential accommodation process with HR. Do not record who the person is here.