Federal Jobs for People With Disabilities

In July 2010, President Barack Obama marked the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by signing Executive Order (EO) 13548, which mandates that executive departments and agencies improve their efforts to employ workers with disabilities through increased recruitment, hiring, and retention of people with disabilities. The EO also sets a goal of employing an additional 100,000 people with disabilities over the next 5 years. Currently, individuals with disabilities represent just over 5 percent of the nearly 2.5 million people in the federal workforce, and individuals with targeted disabilities represent less than 1 percent of this workforce. 

All federal agencies have an important role to play in ensuring that the goals set forth in the EO are achieved. To be successful, we must be vigilant in our efforts to ensure equal employment access for people with disabilities in the federal government by fostering inclusive and Federal Jobs for People with Disabilities supportive work environments and providingequal opportunity in our hiring, development, and promotion decisions.  We are pleased to tell you about several resources that can assist your agency in fulfilling this important responsibility. eFedLink.org

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) recently launched eFedLink.org an online community of practice designed to help federal disability employment professionals advance employment for persons with disabilities. Users of eFedLink.org will find online tools to help them connect and collaborate with other federal human resource professionals, disability program managers, and selective placement program coordinators across the nation. This platform allows for realtime discussion of relevant issues and the sharing of policies and best practices related to the inclusion of people with disabilities in the federal government workforce.

Interactivity is a key component of eFedLink.org. The site has the capacity for threaded discussions, document uploading and sharing, resource links, collaborative planning and media hosting.  The site is free, accessible and password protected, and you can join today by visiting the www.eFedlink.org website and clicking “Register Here.” The website was developedby the National Technical Assistance Center for Employers on Employment of People with Disabilities and funded by ODEP under a cooperative agreement. For more information, visit www.askEARN.org. 

Workforce Recruitment Program
Hiring an intern through the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP) can provide a pipeline for bringing people with disabilities into the federal workforce, both today and for years to come. Coordinated by ODEP