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GCN Home > August 21, 2000 issue

Disabled can flourish in IT, feds say

Officials, under executive order to hire more people with disabilities, say tech jobs are often a good fit

By Gail Repsher
Washington Technology

Information technology jobs are well-suited to people with disabilities, thousands of whom are already working in federal agencies, government officials say.

The government wants to expand the number of disabled employees in its IT work force. As of March, 5,452 people with disabilities had IT jobs in the executive branch, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

President Clinton on July 26 issued an executive order directing agencies to develop plans to hire 100,000 more disabled workers—many of them in IT jobs—by Sept. 25. He also urged agencies to use IT to increase telecommuting opportunities for the disabled [GCN, Aug. 7, Page 1].

“The administration feels that IT is one area in which the government can increase its representation of people with disabilities,” an OPM spokesman said.

Linda Jackson, disability services team leader at the Social Security Administration, agreed: “IT jobs are quite suited for most people with disabilities if they have the basic qualifications.”

A push to get disabled workers into IT jobs could also help talent-starved agencies fill critical positions. Filling IT jobs was the No. 1 concern identified by respondents to the Association for Federal Information Resources Management’s annual IT executive survey [GCN, Feb. 21, Page 14].

“It is imperative that we knock down the employment barriers that these candidates encounter when seeking a job with the federal government,” OPM Director Janice R. Lachance said in a July 26 memo to agency heads.

Show of numbers

The federal government—excluding the Postal Service, Congress and judicial branch—employs about 122,000 people who identify themselves as having disabilities. That’s 7.2 percent of 1.8 million workers.

Under the new Clinton order, a worker is considered disabled if a physical or mental impairment substantially limits one or more major life activities, Lachance said.

IT advances will help agencies achieve Clinton’s hiring goal, said Sally Katzen, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget.

“There are any number of people with some limitations who want to work and can contribute,” she said. “With technology, it is easier for them to do so, and we should take advantage of their strengths.”

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