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Commissioner urges D.C. to adopt hiring preferences for people with disabilities
Summary
Maryam Edelman urged the council to create preferential hiring policies for people with disabilities, citing higher unemployment and income gaps for disabled residents and pointing to other jurisdictions with successful pilots.
Maryam Edelman, a commissioner on the DC Commission on Persons with Disabilities, testified that people with disabilities face persistent barriers to employment in the District and nationwide and urged the council to adopt hiring preferences for disabled residents.
"People with disabilities face barriers to employment," Edelman said, citing national unemployment comparisons and local labor‑force participation gaps. She urged the District to expand on existing preferences (residency, veterans, foster youth) by adding a disability preference modeled on successful pilots in other jurisdictions.
Edelman gave statistics noting a national disabled unemployment rate example cited in her testimony and referenced other jurisdictions (Baltimore; Montgomery County, MD; Fairfax County, VA) and Colorado's pilot program as comparators. She said the District could build a preferential hiring program and suggested the Developmental Disability Council supports that approach.
Committee members asked whether the commission had identified job types appropriate for a preference; Edelman said she would follow up with details. The committee agreed to share the recommendation with DCHR and the Office of Human Rights for further consideration during budget and policy discussions.
