Miles O’Brien lost his left arm in 2014, losing with it his private pilot’s license. A journalist by trade, he had been flying for nearly thirty years, and it had become his personal passion.
A decade later when he decided to pursue getting recertified, the Federal Aviation Administration, which issues pilots’ licenses, gave him no accommodations — they required him to do with one arm what most pilots must do with two. The day he successfully renewed his license, he felt vindicated and triumphant.
So when President Trump told reporters without evidence on Thursday that the F.A.A.’s hiring of people with disabilities was linked to the midair collision of an airplane and a military helicopter, the comments felt like a gut punch to Mr. O’Brien.
“Life is about loss and how we address those losses as we go along,” he said. “To have a president implying that somehow the disabled community is damaged goods, that is not able to hold down a job, is such a step backward.”
Many people with disabilities, especially those who have concerns about workplace opportunities, responded overwhelmingly on Friday with frustration, dismay and fear over what the president’s remarks could mean for their place in the work force.
In a news conference, Mr. Trump said that the F.A.A. was actively recruiting workers with what he called “severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions” for challenging air traffic control jobs.
Snopes, the rumor-debunking website, has reported that language on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website — which has since been removed — said that the agency “actively recruits, hires, promotes, retains, develops and advances people with disabilities.” It listed disabilities including hearing or vision loss, psychiatric disabilities — such as depression — or missing extremities. The general federal policy for hiring people with disabilities dates back to the George W. Bush administration in 2003 and a 1973 law.
Federal job standards for people with disabilities, however, are no different than they are for non-disabled workers. And despite a targeted push by the F.A.A. to diversify its work force, annual reports from the agency reveal only a minor increase in the employment of workers with disabilities. In 2016, 0.7 percent of its work force had disabilities. In 2020, under Mr. Trump, the amount reached 1.1 percent. And in 2023, under former President Biden, it reached 2 percent.
Keely Cat-Wells, the founder of Making Space, a talent acquisition platform to help companies connect with workers who have disabilities, said that comments like Mr. Trump’s damage a community that is already severely underrepresented in the work force. People with disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The issue, she said, is not that disabled workers are less talented than their non-disabled counterparts. In many cases — like Mr. O’Brien’s — disabled people have to work even harder to meet the same standards. That leads to creative, adaptable and dedicated workers, Ms. Cat-Wells said, not less competent ones.
Ms. Cat-Wells said she feared people will now also associate disabled workers with Wednesday’s tragedy, and that Mr. Trump’s statements will sow resentment toward them in society.
Maria Town, president of the American Association of People With Disabilities and a former federal worker, said anti-disability rhetoric may also cause harm by dissuading people from seeking accommodations and professional care when they need it. There is no upside to comments like Mr. Trump’s, she said.
“Getting rid of inclusive hiring initiatives doesn’t make air travel more safe,” Ms. Town said, “and it actually reduces the nation’s and other employers’ ability to attract talent.”
The post Disabled workers express fear and dismay after Trump’s claims about the F.A.A. appeared first on New York Times.
