On January 20, President Donald Trump wasted very little time in his first 24 hours of office Memorandum terminates federal remote work arrangements Millions of government employees. This is a pleasant move for many Republican lawmakers, the author of a series of bills Seeking to monitor or rush to buy remote laborand Trump’s corporate supporters, many of whom have launched their own in-person job requirements over the past year. Return to Office (RTO) order – avoids finding many experts’ opinions Positive benefits of remote work – Subsequently, as new leaders set up hard lines in remote work.
RTO supporters praised such a move and combined it with the slash of the federal workforce to win productivity and reduce spending, with some of the employees Forced to choose between working in person or leaving your position. But few admit that the brunt of these decisions will be the shoulders of workers who are already at risk.
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“It’s really good people with federal employees with disabilities – not because of their performance, but because of other things,” explains Katy Neas. Neas is president and CEO of the Disabled Rights Organization arc and a former legislative assistant within the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy, a body that oversees historical legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Disabled Education Act (IDEA). “The federal government has been a place where people with disabilities have flourished because it’s big enough to get health insurance and that they can get the accommodation they need to succeed in the work world.”
This is what it is sold. The federal government owns The highest percentage of disabled people in the workforcethe state government followed closely behind. Neas explained that before the Affordable Care Act passed, which banned health insurance discrimination and opened Medicaid access for people with disabilities, many flocked to the federal government due to their stable health coverage.
Dan Stewart National Disabled Persons Rights Network (NDRN). Among all demographics, people with disabilities have lower employment rates and are more likely to be self-employed or part-time jobs – more and more people with disabilities are employed No Payment or minimum wage and.
But these numbers finally changed. In the five years since the labor force moved Improve productivity And leads to Higher salary This also increases the number of people with disabilities in the workforce throughout the sector. Employment for disabled people 22.7% in 2024 – This is a historic climax since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began compiling the numbers.
“As technology develops, more people can prove their abilities than ever before,” Nice said. More share of the Disability Team is operating remotely According to recent reports, the flexible working schedule is The most awarded accommodation For workers with disabilities.
If the social goal is to get people to work, [remote work] It is the tool to do this, especially for people with disabilities, but not just for people with disabilities.
A historical battle, where the accommodation process in the workplace is positively affected by the pandemic’s normalization of remote work, a necessary cultural shift in the increasingly unhealthy work-life relationship. The ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation for their workers without the need to choose remote work specifically. Instead, workers have fought with their respective employers for remote work options for decades. Five years ago, these conversations became incomparably easier as most workers moved online.
“What the pandemic did was to broaden what is reasonable accommodation in our horizons,” Nice explained. “We also learned that one size would never fit all sizes. [E]During the working day, they will have unique needs that are necessary for them to get the job done. On weekdays we learned to embrace this nuance more, and I think it’s good for us all. ”
Stewart explained that insufficient support for workers with disabilities has had an impact not only on individuals, but on the economy as a whole. “From one perspective, more and more workers are simply good. We are leveraging skills, talents, contributions from people with disabilities, and remote work does tend to promote that. If the goal of society is to get people to work, it is a tool that can do that, especially for people with disabilities, but for people with disabilities, it is a tool.”
Go further 45 million Americans live – About half of these people are between 60 and 64 years old, which still fits the age range of Americans employed. this The older labor forceWorkers, usually defined as 65 years and older, have also grown steadily since the 1980s. As the average age of American workers increases, the workforce will need disability-related accommodation throughout their lifetime.
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“It is crucial to see people with disabilities as productive people, not only to the citizens of the local community, but to the national economy – seeing people with disabilities have huge unexplored social and economic capital, which is damaged by the different cuts we have seen,” Stewart said.
A diverse workforce composed of women, parents, caregivers and disabled workers conflict with stricter workplace reality under the narrative of “huge rewards.” And, even if the country celebrates the 35th anniversary of the ADA this year, people with disabilities may be entering new barriers to accessibility.
The impact of attacking workplace accommodation
Although many workplaces tend to work remotely hybrid, the lifespan of remote work remains, and the recent push toward federal RTO policy is not the first attack on remote work, which has caused an increase in alerts among people with disabilities advocates. In 2023, as companies like Amazon and Google move to face-to-face jobs, Disability Rights Group This shift will disproportionately affect workers with disabilitiesmany of them need larger transportation and workplace accommodation. Many believe that forced face-to-face work can also lead to workplace discrimination or micro-attacks of competencyism.
Removing a common remote work policy can also dangerously eliminate employees who need accommodation, a surveillance that makes it easier to identify and potentially target people with disabilities.
recent, Amazon changes its disability policymaking it harder for employees to obtain remote waivers as part of disabled accommodation.
The widespread reversal of opposition to narratives promoted by the Trump administration may lead to the revitalization of discriminatory and even apartheid policies that have caused specific, unskilled work by people with disabilities that have lost years of effort to “real” workers. Stewart explained that removing universal remote work policies could also dangerously eliminate employees who need accommodation, a type of surveillance that would make it easier for people with energy to identify and potentially disabled people. The same behavior is possible Negatively affecting students with disabilities,as well as Ministry of Education is under fire.
Few steps taken to strengthen the country’s current commitment to citizens with disabilities have been introduced to sweeping anti-diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) agendas, part of the wave of execution orders that directed serious cuts to federal agencies. The President has reshape the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) led by Trump-appointed Andrea R. Lucas into a ship Strengthen opposition policies His government.
Legal and civil rights advocates have spoken out against such moves, including United States Government Employees Federation and the American Civil Liberties Union Outlines the rights of persons with disabilities in the federal government Under new government directives.
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In this case, some ironic is that bureaucracy may be beneficial to the labor force. “You still have the law,” Nice said. “Because some of these big tech companies require people to arrive within five days a week – the ADA still applies to them. I’m worried we set these arbitrary standards that when we have the method that legally says it’s absolutely wrong, it has to apply to some extent.”
However, the last-divides like Trump (and federal allies such as Elon Musk, head of the government efficiency department, are hopeful, hopefully weakening the federal workforce, and among employees, who will be affected first? Those who have no choice.
“There are more,” Stewart said. “I’m worried about a lack of funding or a lack of staff at the Office of Civil Rights or the EEOC. Chapter 504 Still on books, people need to have an effective way to leverage their rights. If administrative choices are lost or invalid due to effective reductions, then justice is rejected. ”
For those who choose to go back to work, there is still work to do. Federal workers relocating to the central office have faced the impact of telework for many years, including some infrastructure spending, have been questioned since, such as basic physical accommodation, e.g. Parking spaces, tables, and even toilet paper. Currently, people with disabilities who are now more dependent on federal protections may face other obstacles through laws such as the ADA.
“We will lose their expertise and confidence,” Nice said of disability workers who choose or are forced to leave the workforce. “For all of us, brain loss is a really bad thing.”
Neas and Stewart both reiterate that the goal of strengthening workplace accommodation such as remote work does not force everyone to follow suit. This is an option available. “Big Returns” create distrust of employer flexibility and concern with productivity-first language, threatening to exacerbate misunderstandings about workers with disabilities and strengthen social stigma surrounding workplace accommodation and “lazy.”
“Why do people need accommodation? They need accommodation so they can do the job,” Nice reiterated. “People need these accommodations for tangible, pragmatic, work-related reasons people need these accommodations, and we don’t need to ignore that.”
