FAA Diversifies By Hiring People With ‘Severe Psychiatric’ Disabilities

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seeks to fill its employment openings through a controversial new initiative. The agency announced its current emphasis on employing those with “severe intellectual disability” to comply with its diversity and inclusion goals.

It claimed on its website that “individuals with targeted or ‘severe’ disabilities are the most under-represented segment of the federal workforce.”

The FAA declared it now recruits workers disabled by “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”

Addressing Fox News, the agency explained that all applicants must “meet rigorous qualifications” to work in the federal department that regulates the aviation industry.

The FAA, which is overseen by Pete Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation, controls civil aviation. It also employs approximately 45,000 workers.

Disabled workers, according to the FAA website, are given preferential treatment as they seek employment. They may engage in an “on-the-spot” process that eschews competition as long as the administration files the correct paperwork.

The agency asserted online that diversity is “so critical.” It proclaimed that it “actively supports and engages in a variety of associations, programs, coalitions, and initiatives to support and accommodate employees from diverse communities and backgrounds.”

The FAA added, “Our people are our strength.” Not all agreed.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk questioned the wisdom of such “inclusiveness.” Posting on X, formerly Twitter, he asked, “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritize DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening.”

Musk added, “People will die due to DEI.”

Some civil rights groups struck back at Musk, calling his observations “abhorrent and pathetic.”

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh penned an op-ed last week titled, “The DEI Rot in the Airline Industry is Way Worse Than You Think.”

Many are currently closely watching the FAA after a near-tragic incident aboard an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5. A door plug flew off from a Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane in mid-flight, forcing the airliner to turn back and make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.

The agency grounded the fleet of 737 MAX 9 planes and is conducting an “extensive inspection” of the aircraft.