In Fall 2004, I alerted AAPD's membership of data that had recently been released by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) documenting an alarming decline in employment of people with significant disabilities in the federal government between fiscal years 1994 and 2003.

In January of this year, the EEOC released a new report noting that the problem has only gotten worse since 2003 and seeking to prod the Federal government to take affirmative steps to address this problem and increase the representation of people with significant disabilities in the federal workforce. The new report, entitled Improving the Participation Rate of People with Targeted Disabilities in the Federal Work Force, is on the EEOC website.

In the new report EEOC notes that the percentage of federal employees with “targeted” disabilities (a cross-disability group that includes workers with the most significant disabilities) has declined each year since reaching a peak of 1.24 percent in fiscal years 1993 and 1994. The report notes that while the federal government grew by over 135,000 workers between fiscal years 1997 and 2006, the number of federal employees with targeted disabilities decreased during that period from 28,671 to 24,442, leaving them at 0.94 percent of the overall federal workforce.

Alarmed by this trend, EEOC’s office of federal operations undertook to identify barriers and make recommendations for how federal agencies can improve their outcomes in attracting and retaining qualified workers with significant disabilities. Among the EEOC’s findings were:

• Inadequate coordination between federal agencies and job placement programs that serve people with disabilities;
• O ngoing existence of fears, myths and stereotypes within the federal government regarding the employment of people with disabilities;
• Lack of strategic planning at the agency level to improve hiring and retention of people with disabilities;
• A daunting federal application process, and a lack of knowledge on the part of federal hiring officials in how to use the special “Schedule A” appointing authority that enables federal agencies to expedite onboarding of workers with disabilities;
• Lack of knowledge regarding accommodations among agency officials; and
• Perhaps most importantly, a lack of accountability among all levels of the federal government in setting and attaining goals to hire people with disabilities.

The report also includes a number of recommendations, including:

• The establishment of numerical hiring goals for people with targeted disabilities on an annual basis, something that is required by EEOC Management Directive 715 but rarely happens;
• Providing mandatory training on disability for all management officials;
• Developing procedures for ensuring management accountability, as well as verification that goals are obtained;
• Ensuring that diversity considerations are included in senior leaders’ performance appraisals; and
• Issuing a policy statement from the agency head, emphasizing the agency’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and encouraging managers to use special hiring authorities to fill vacancies.

Within cabinet level agencies, the percentage of workers with targeted disabilities ranges from a high of 1.73 percent at the U.S. Department of Treasury to a low of 0.36 percent at the U.S. Department of State. 

In this election year, AAPD has questioned all of the presidential candidates regarding their plans for making the federal government more reflective of the U.S. population, where people with significant disabilities make up approximately 10 percent of the population. To see how candidates responded to that and other questions, visit AAPD Presidential Election Action Center on our website .

EEOC is to be commended for continuing to highlight this ongoing problem that is not getting enough attention from agency heads, the White House, Congress, or the media. Commissioner Christine Griffin is spearheading a federal effort to increase employment outcomes for people with disabilities in the federal government, and we need to add our voices to this important effort. I encourage those concerned to continue to raise this issue with the Bush Administration, with candidates for President, and with your members of Congress. We need agency heads to set goals and to be held accountable for achieving those goals, and we need to secure commitments during this election season so that this problem doesn’t continue to get worse.