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Disabled workers were among those who gained most from the labour shortages caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, as heightened demand for staff overcame long-standing barriers to better-paid jobs.
But some experts say progress in the US could be reversed as President Donald Trump seeks to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programmes that co-ordinate reasonable adjustments to protect disabled workers from being at a disadvantage. The administration has also ordered staff cuts at the federal government, one of the country’s largest employers of disabled workers.
Advocates for disabled workers describe the policies as an abrupt end to a period of progress that peaked in 2023 with a record number of disabled people employed.
A shift to remote work that began during lockdowns, along with a tight labour market, pushed companies to nearly double the rate at which they approved customised equipment — from screen readers for the visually impaired to wheelchair-friendly desks — according to the non-profit National Organization on Disability.
Many of the teams and initiatives that led those shifts have now been disbanded alongside those that benefited ethnic minorities and women, as Trump attacks what he calls “immoral discrimination” that can “undermine our national unity”.
“This is pushing disabled people out of work,” says Keely Cat-Wells, who runs UK-based charity Making Space from Los Angeles. “It’s economic deprivation . . . it limits our access to financial independence.”
In 2024, 13 per cent of the US population had a disability, defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities, labour department figures show, while the unemployment rate of disabled workers was about twice that of those with no disability.
Disabled workers are likely to be older, less educated and face more employment discrimination than their non-disabled peers. US labour laws even allow some employers to pay disabled people below the federal minimum wage.
In his first days in office, Trump ordered an end to all federal programmes promoting accessibility, in addition to diversity, equity and inclusion. He ordered federal agencies to identify “potential civil compliance investigations” into publicly traded companies and other organisations as part of a plan to deter DEI programmes that constitute “illegal discrimination or preferences”.
“I do worry about what happens if someone needs to interview for a job and the people that used to arrange accommodations are no longer there,” says Joelle Emerson, chief executive of culture and inclusion software platform Paradigm.
Trump went on to fire roughly half of the education department, a move the non-profit American Association of People with Disabilities says will gut classroom protection for students with disabilities. Congressional Republicans have also proposed cutting Medicaid, which funds healthcare for more than 10mn children and adults with disabilities.
Advocacy groups accuse Trump of harbouring contempt towards disabled people, pointing to the administration’s failure to provide sign language interpreters at White House events and the president’s comments blaming Federal Aviation Administration employees with disabilities for January’s plane crash in Washington. A White House official said in a statement: “The Trump-Vance administration values the contributions of government employees with disabilities and believes they should be recognised and rewarded based on the merit of the work.”
Research shows that efforts to recruit disabled people have had positive effects. A report by professional services firm Accenture in 2023 found that companies with high levels of disability inclusion generated substantially more revenue than their peers.
“Economically, it makes sense to invest in disabled people,” says Diego Mariscal, chief executive of 2Gether-International, a start-up accelerator for entrepreneurs with disabilities. “Employers have an opportunity to set an example,” adds Mariscal, who has cerebral palsy.
Many US companies have begun modifying their diversity stances to avoid threats from Trump. In March, of the top 400 companies in the S&P 500 index, 90 per cent of those that had filed an annual report since Trump’s election had cut at least some references to DEI, with many ditching the term entirely. Emerson says, though, that it may be too early to assess the full impact of these moves on workers.
Some employers say they remain committed to maintaining inclusive workplaces for disabled workers. Emily Dickens, head of government affairs at the association for human resources professionals SHRM, says that adding remote roles allowed her team to recruit a quadriplegic who is one of their top performers.
Making workplaces more inclusive may be one of the few ways for employers to meet their labour needs as growth of America’s workforce stagnates, Dickens says.
“We’re still a million workers down, and people want to contribute,” she adds. “Why not take that?”
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