Disability Employment
Questions and answers
People with disabilities are appointed through a number of hiring authorities for temporary (one year or less), term (more than one year up to four years), and permanent appointments. The majority of people with disabilities working for the Federal government are in the civil service and were appointed competitively. Competitively means that they applied for a vacancy announcement published by either OPM or an agency. Typically, they were then rated and ranked in comparison to the other applicants for the vacancy and referred to the selecting supervisor for consideration. The selecting supervisor then interviewed and identified which candidate he/she would hire.
However, there are a number of excepted hiring authorities, meaning competition is not required, that apply to individuals with disabilities. These hiring authorities cover: people with intellectual disabilities; people with severe physical disabilities; people with psychiatric disabilities; disabled veterans enrolled in a VA training program; and veterans determined to be 30 percent or more disabled.
Consult with your human resources office to ensure that you use the best hiring strategy for your specific vacancy.