Tuesday, July 4, 2006; A13

The federal government considers itself a model employer of people with severe disabilities, but a continued decline in the number of such employees working for Uncle Sam threatens that image.

The latest numbers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that disabled workers make up less than 1 percent of the federal workforce despite the Bush administration's efforts to reverse the trend.

In 2005, federal agencies employed 25,142 workers who were deaf, blind, mentally ill or mentally retarded, or had other serious disabilities, according to an annual EEOC report on the federal workforce, released last week. That was a 16 percent decrease from 29,930 such federal workers in fiscal 1996, the EEOC found.

The steady decline occurred when overall civilian federal employment rose by 3 percent, to 2.6 million workers (including the U.S. Postal Service).

Last week Cari M. Dominguez, the EEOC chairman, said the government should take aggressive steps to halt the decline, and tapped EEOC Commissioner Christine M. Griffin to lead the effort. "By highlighting the issue, we hope to accelerate efforts toward finding solutions that will open the doors to federal employment for more people with disabilities," Dominguez said in a statement.

Historically, the federal government has done much to accommodate disabled workers. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 banned discrimination against disabled people in federal hiring and required agencies to develop affirmative action plans to hire and promote more people with disabilities. It mandated that agencies provide "reasonable accommodations," such as interpreters, modified work schedules and voice-recognition software, to help disabled workers do their jobs.

Experts are not sure what accounts for the falling federal numbers. Some suspect that more disabled employees are retiring as part of the aging of the federal workforce. Others theorize that workers are leaving for the private sector, which has become more welcoming of disabled individuals since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990.

The administration, through its five-year-old New Freedom Initiative, has promoted opportunities for the disabled in public and private workplaces by helping them purchase assistive technology and providing additional transportation services. Also, the Office of Personnel Management has won changes in federal rules that make it easier for agencies to certify that a job applicant has a disability. But more needs to be done, Dominguez said.

"Congress directed the federal government to set the example for all other employers," Griffin said. "Our example needs improvement."

-- Christopher Lee