A positive start has been made by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A report has been issued by the government agency only this month to oversee whether all the federal agencies has been complying on what Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 stated. This is regarding the active role of people with targeted disabilities in federal agencies and its activities.
To achieve the goal of making the federal government as the best employer when it comes to people with disabilities, its policies have been directed to give emphasis in employing workers with the following impairments:
- Deafness
- Blindness
- Partial paralysis
- Complete paralysis
- Missing extremities
- Paroxysmal disorders
- Mental illness and retardation
- Limb/Spine deformation
In addition, the said report was released to:
- Educate the community about the government’s program for the disabled
- Inform the government entities on the employment regression happening in their agencies
- Propose possible solutions to resolve this problem and promote employment opportunities for people with targeted disabilities in the federal agencies
On the other hand, employment disability has been a long problem that is yet to be given a comprehensive solution. Although there are various laws adopted by the Congress to address this issue, many companies are still implementing some policies that single out people with disabilities. Thus, more and more of our disabled citizens are being left with no sufficient resources to sustain their basic needs.
Therefore, I think this particular program of the government thru the EEOC can promote better opportunities for people with disabilities – initially for the federal institutions and hopefully for private companies, later on. If this came into realization, the future of our disabled workforce and their families will certainly be more comfortable and assured.
I only hope that the federal bureaus as well as the state governments will respond positively by the said EEOC proclamation.
