Fewer Workers with Disabilities in Federal Civilian Jobs
The federal government considers itself a model employer of people with severe disabilities, but a continued decline in the number of such employees working for Uncle Sam threatens that image.
The latest numbers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that disabled workers make up less than 1 percent of the federal workforce despite the Bush administration’s efforts to reverse the trend.
In 2005, federal agencies employed 25,142 workers who were deaf, blind, mentally ill or mentally retarded, or had other serious disabilities, according to an annual EEOC report on the federal workforce, released last week. That was a 16 percent decrease from 29,930 such federal workers in fiscal 1996, the EEOC found.
The steady decline occurred when overall civilian federal employment rose by 3 percent, to 2.6 million workers (including the U.S. Postal Service).
Last week Cari M. Dominguez, the EEOC chairman, said the government should take aggressive steps to halt the decline, and tapped EEOC Commissioner Christine M. Griffin to lead the effort. “By highlighting the issue, we hope to accelerate efforts toward finding solutions that will open the doors to federal employment for more people with disabilities,” Dominguez said in a statement.
Historically, the federal government has done much to accommodate disabled workers. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 banned discrimination against disabled people in federal hiring and required agencies to develop affirmative action plans to hire and promote more people with disabilities. It mandated that agencies provide “reasonable accommodations,” such as interpreters, modified work schedules and voice-recognition software, to help disabled workers do their jobs.