The Americans with Disabilities Act recently marked its 30th anniversary — a major milestone for this landmark Civil Rights law that includes expanded workplace protections for those living with disabilities.

Here at VA, we have long pledged our commitment to hiring employees with disabilities and providing the necessary accommodations and support network to help them thrive at work.

Our commitment

We aim to hire people with disabilities at all levels and in every occupation. And we aren’t just meeting that goal in most areas — we’re exceeding them. Job seekers with disabilities receive hiring preference for many federal positions, including those at VA.

We are always working to remove barriers to hiring, including increasing our capacity for telework, flexible schedules or other schedule accommodations. We also ensure that reasonable accommodations are considered when making a job offer.

College students and recent graduates with disabilities are eligible for internships here, and we encourage VA facilities to partner with organizations throughout the U.S. to identify qualified candidates.

Our commitment to hiring those with disabilities goes hand-in-hand with our promise to hire Veterans, many of whom live with disabilities attributed to their service to our country.

A culture of support

William F. Streitberger is a service-disabled Veteran who has found the support he needs in his career at VA.

After first seeking help from the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program at the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Streitberger worked his way up to lead the program, which helps Veterans and transitioning service members with service-connected disabilities find employment.

Streitberger said he is impressed with the support he has found at VA — from exceptional senior leadership and mentoring to “the family feeling and camaraderie among the great people of the organization I work for.”

“I’d say we have the most noble and exciting mission in government, and that the feeling of excitement and accomplishment through service to our nation’s heroes never leaves you,” Streitberger said.

In addition to a vital support network, we provide tools to help employees with a service-connected or other disabilities.

For instance, the Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) helps eliminate barriers for employees with visual, hearing, cognitive, communication and dexterity disabilities. That might mean installing audio output devices, speech recognition software or captioning programs.

We also support several Executive Orders designed to assist those with disabilities as they work to deliver excellent health care and other services to Veterans.

Work at VA

Join an organization that believes in you and your ability to succeed and thrive.

Leave a comment

The comments section is for opinions and feedback on this particular article; this is not a customer support channel. If you are looking for assistance, please visit Ask VA or call 1-800-698-2411. Please, never put personally identifiable information (SSAN, address, phone number, etc.) or protected health information into the form — it will be deleted for your protection.

One Comment

  1. SW August 7, 2020 at 19:12

    BS!!!!! Oh, maybe you mean the SPOUSES of people who already work at va because you sure as h—0 don’t mean DISABLED VETERANS trying to get work with va.

Comments are closed.

More Stories