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GCN Home > August 7, 2000 issue

Clinton: Disabled can fill IT jobs

President demands that agencies consider telecommuting for some employees

By Julie Britt
GCN Staff

In an executive order marking the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, President Clinton last month directed agencies to use information technology to let disabled workers telecommute from home and off-site workplaces.


President Clinton says he wants agencies to expand assistive IT use.


The president said the aim of the order is to increase federal employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

The July 26 executive order calls on agencies to hire 100,000 people with disabilities over the next five years.

Agencies must also develop plans to increase IT accessibility and to address workers’ accommodation requests so the government can recruit disabled workers for jobs at all levels.

A new Web site, at www.disability.gov, provides links to information about employment opportunities and IT career development, as well as other resources for the disabled and their families.

Clinton announced the initiatives during an ADA anniversary ceremony at the FDR Memorial in Washington.

Ophelia Y. Falls, director of the Agriculture Department’s Accessible Technology Program and the Technology Accessible Resources Gives Employment Today Center, said she sees the disabled as an “underutilized resource with skills and potential. There are many talented individuals with disabilities who are unemployed and ready, willing and able to work.”


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Assistive technology is key to increasing federal employment opportunities for the disabled, Falls said.

Clinton echoed that sentiment in a July 25 memo to agency heads. “Assistive technology maintains or improves the functional capabilities of people with disabilities,” he said.

The Interagency Committee on Disability Research must publish a report within 120 days of Clinton’s directive that will identify priority areas for advancement of assistive technologies, in cooperation with disability and research organizations.

Order pushes telecommuting
Within 120 days, agencies must:



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