In a new statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that it intends to expand its push for diversity hires by hiring people who suffer from “severe intellectual” disabilities.
As reported by Fox News, the FAA’s website clearly states its intentions on the page for a hiring initiative focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. The site says that “targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring.”
“They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism,” the site continues. “Because diversity is so critical, FAA actively supports and engages in a variety of associations, programs, coalitions and initiatives to support and accommodate employees from diverse communities and backgrounds. Our people are our strength, and we take great care in investing in and valuing them as such.”
“Diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond,” the agency says in its “Diversity and Inclusion” hiring plan, the guidelines for diversity hires which were last updated on March 23rd of 2022.
The FAA, which has about 45,000 employees, falls under the jurisdiction of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has also led such diversity efforts including an initiative to renovate “racist” highways and roads.
However, the increasing obsession with diversity in such a crucial industry as aviation has led to greater scrutiny and widespread concern after a spike in near-miss accidents and other issues that appear to have been caused by decreasing competence due to diversity hires. Most recently, an Alaska Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a door suddenly blew out mid-flight, although no one was killed. The FAA subsequently grounded all Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, the model that was involved in the incident.
Others have documented how the rise in diversity hires, particularly in the wake of the employee shortage after the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, has led to a much greater number of less competent air traffic controllers and other personnel, which has led to a surge in near-miss incidents at major airports.
Many have since condemned the decision to prioritize diversity over the safety of airline passengers, with billionaire Elon Musk asking, rhetorically, on X: “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening.”