It's National Disability Employment Awareness Month...but we're probably not supposed to talk about it.

The current administration has scrubbed mentions of "diversity, equity, and inclusion" from a month meant to uplift all three.

When I sat down to write about the fact that October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), it felt almost quaint to acknowledge it, harkening back to some entirely different era. Now, in the shadow of the government shutdown, writing about NDEAM feels downright comical. But it’s still relevant, so let’s talk about it.

In case you’re unfamiliar, NDEAM is an annual federally sanctioned observance that recognizes the contributions disabled people make to the workforce and encourages workplace inclusion. This year, it’s NDEAM’s 80th anniversary.

Shockingly, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) website actually does acknowledge that NDEAM exists and that it’s a milestone year. But I was curious to understand how the government is framing NDEAM now that “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA)” have been deemed the devil’s terminology. So, I used “command + f” to search for these words throughout the text, and sure enough, came up mostly empty.

“Accessibility” did manage to make its way into the language multiple times, despite being on the naughty list as reported by The New York Times earlier this year. “Neurodiversity” also made a single appearance. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” are entirely absent, though.

Also notably absent are NDEAM themes from certain years on DOL’s list of previous observances. Every year of the Biden presidency is excluded, as are any years where the concepts of diversity, equity, or inclusion are explicitly part of the theme. Interestingly, even though 2020’s theme used the word “access,” it’s still up there, perhaps because it was the last year of Trump’s first term.

Missing Words Speak Volumes

For reference, I looked up the themes from the years missing on DOL’s list:

2024: Access to Good Jobs for All

2023: Advancing Access & Equity

2022: Disability: Part of the Equity Equation

2021: America’s Recovery: Powered by Inclusion

2017: Inclusion Drives Innovation

2016: #InclusionWorks

2013: Because We Are EQUAL to the Task

2012: “A Strong Workforce Is an Inclusive Workforce: What Can YOU Do?

2010: Talent Has No Boundaries: Workforce Diversity INCLUDES Workers With Disabilities.

Clearly, NDEAM has undergone federal linguistic sanitization to the point that it’s pretty much lost its impact. This year’s theme, “Celebrating Value and Talent,” feels like it’s just naming the absolute baseline of how humans should be treated by employers. But I guess we’ve reached the point where any positive acknowledgment of disabled people is a victory?

Though it’s not even a victory, but rather just a cruelly ironic turn of phrase, when we consider the impact the government shutdown could have. It makes an absolute joke out of the idea of celebrating anyone’s value and talent, let alone the value and talent of disabled people.

Anyway, truth be told, during NDEAMs past, I was always conflicted about uplifting it. Here’s some of what was on my mind in 2023, which I posted on Instagram:

What will it take to reach a world where NDEAM isn’t necessary because the employment landscape is welcoming of disabled people as standard practice? What comes before NDEAM? What comes next?

Every October, companies and organizations offer up data points to prove that they’re becoming more inclusive. And sure, I believe in the power of data, but I’m not a nameless percentage point that you can tout as evidence of inclusivity.

Disabled people are more than a number or a soundbite. We’re more than a once-a-year PR campaign. We’re more than a diversity statistic.

And here’s a bit of what I posted on Instagram in 2022:

Am I a symbolic checkbox on the path to meeting diversity, equity, and inclusion goals? Or is there a deeper intent to learn and do better by the disability community year-round?

Amid government and workplace fanfare to recognize NDEAM, systemic employment discrimination abounds.

NDEAM isn’t the only month that we have valuable perspectives to share, or the only month that our contributions to workplaces should be recognized. Disabled people are just as worthy on a random day in April or August as in October, whether we do or don’t work, exactly as we are. So, let’s move beyond “awareness,” because what we really need is action year-round.

Looking Ahead As We Backslide

Reading these words in 2025 almost makes me laugh so I won’t cry. There was such an edge of dismissiveness to my tone, a sense of exasperation with the yearly virtue signaling from companies claiming to care about disability inclusion only in October.

Now that so many organizations have dropped even the pretense of caring about fostering diverse, equitable, inclusive workplaces…I’m left wishing we could go back to pushing for progress instead of appreciating the bare minimum. But how can we call for progress when we’re careening backwards?

Disabled people indeed have value and talent, but we shouldn’t have to prove our worth through work. We shouldn’t have to prove our worth at all (and nor should any human), but I fear we’re heading down a path where arbitrary standards of “usefulness” will be requirements for survival.

I’m not being dramatic. During the so-called “Progressive Era” in the U.S., eugenics informed labor reform efforts to rid the workforce of “unfit workers.” The Nazis murdered disabled people because they deemed them “useless eaters” who were a burden on society. (Comparing facets of this administration to the Nazi regime is not so far off base.) At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, “social usefulness” was under consideration as a standard by which healthcare rationing decisions could be made. And Trump himself apparently said of disabled people: “The shape they’re in, all the expenses, maybe those kinds of people should just die.”

In light of that, shouldn’t I just be grateful to any organization that’s still willing to welcome me as a token disabled person for their token NDEAM celebration? I’m only half joking here.

All that said, I’m leaning as fully into NDEAM this year as I can muster. I’m shouting the words “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” loudly and unapologetically. I’m celebrating the value and talent of disabled people, not from a standpoint of productivity, but rather how we can be sources of vibrancy and creativity and ingenuity and joy—this month and every month.

I’m wondering: are you doing anything to recognize NDEAM among the chaos?

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