New affirmative action federal contractor regulations: An opportunity for all engineering organizations to broaden the participation of people with disabilities

Abstract

The business case for diversity and inclusion has been made across many fronts. Company leaders have realized that performance, customer satisfaction, and the overall bottom line are improved when the workplace is inclusive of individuals with diverse perspectives and experiences. The vast majority of diversity and inclusion efforts have focused on gender, race, and ethnicity. By comparison, relatively little emphasis has been placed on people with disabilities, especially in engineering. Roughly 13% of people in the United States have disabilities; this fraction is steadily increasing. It is imperative that perspectives of engineers with all types of disabilities - visual, auditory, ambulatory, cognitive, and others - be included in design and problem-solving processes to meet societal needs. This can only happen when academic and workplace environments are accessible to and inclusive of all. The relevancy of this topic extends to Federal contractors as well. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has made regulatory changes that require contractors to significantly revise affirmative action strategies to ensure equal employment opportunities for veterans and individuals with disabilities. In this paper, we provide an overview of the recent regulations and ways they differ from the earlier versions. Furthermore, we look at ways it can be used to broaden the participation of people with disabilities in engineering organizations to improve upon this overlooked dimension of diversity.