What Can You Ask When You’re Hiring Once upon a time, if a job applicant was sitting on the other side of your desk, you (21) ... ask her about her disabilities and what it might take to accommodate her in your company. This was true even if the applicant’s disability was obvious because she was in a wheelchair or using a seeing-eye dog. (22) ... the applicant herself made reference to her disability, the employer was (23) .., in what he could ask. (24) ... things changed in October 1995. Ten Equal Employment Opportunity Commission revised its guidelines for the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). With the new guidelines in place, it is (25) ... for employers to make inquiries about obvious disabilities or ask questions if the applicant (26) ... she is disabled or will require reasonable accommodation. The idea behind the new guidelines, called "ADA Enforcement Guidance: Pre-employment Disability-Related Questions and Medical Examinations, " is to allow employers to address the accommodation issue at the (27) ... interview stage. However, the guidelines do not allow an employer to go on archeological digs through their applicants’ pasts. For example, an applicant’s workers-compensation history can be (28) ... territory. And some questions about drug and alcohol use are off-limits, (29) ... others are not. An employer may ask about current illegal use of drugs, because it’s not protected under the ADA. On the other hand, the employer needs to be very careful asking about drinking habits-information on how much the applicant drinks could indicate alcoholism, and (30) ... is protected. The guidelines are available in a question-and-answer format from the EEOC. Asking the right questions at an early stage of the job-application process could save you, and your applicant, a lot of bother later on.