![FAA's diversity push puts your safety at risk [VIDEO]](https://www.redvoicemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024.01.15-12.01-redvoicemedia-65a51e8e29b72.jpg)
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has come under scrutiny for its “Diversity and Inclusion” initiative, which includes a focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. As noted on the agency's website, the FAA is actively recruiting workers with these disabilities as part of its effort to promote diversity in the workforce. However, critics argue that prioritizing diversity over safety raises concerns in the aviation industry.
The FAA initiative identifies specific disabilities that are targeted for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring. These include hearing and visual impairments, missing limbs, partial or complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism. The agency's diversity hiring guidelines were last updated on March 23, 2022.
With approximately 45,000 employees, the FAA is under the supervision of the Department of Transportation, led by Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The agency is responsible for regulating civil aviation and ensuring safe and efficient travel throughout the country.
Recent attention has focused on the FAA and the airline industry following an incident involving a Boeing 737 Max 9 flight operated by Alaska Airlines on January 5. A plug door shut down, prompting the grounding of all 737 MAX 9 aircraft and extensive FAA inspections and maintenance. Some observers have raised concerns that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the industry may have compromised safety standards.
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Tech billionaire Elon Musk expressed concern on social media, questioning whether diversity, equity and inclusion were being prioritized over safety in the aviation industry. Commentators such as Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire also criticized the emphasis on diversity and inclusion in the airline industry, suggesting it may have contributed to compromising safety standards.
Critics of this view argue that prioritizing diversity and inclusion does not necessarily jeopardize safety. Civil rights groups have slammed Elon Musk and others for their comments, calling them “disgusting and pathetic.”
The FAA states on its website that people with severe mental and physical disabilities represent an underrepresented segment of the federal workforce. The agency emphasizes its commitment to diversity and engagement with various partnerships, programs, coalitions and initiatives to support and accommodate employees from diverse communities and backgrounds.
However, voices in the medical and aviation fields have raised concerns about the potential implications of prioritizing diversity over safety. Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, president of Do No Harm, a group of health care professionals working to protect health care from divisive ideology, emphasizes the aviation industry's responsibility for passenger safety, similarly to the responsibility of the healthcare industry for patient safety. Goldfarb argues that people with disabilities who can meet job requirements should never face discrimination, but expresses concern about lowering entry standards in safety-critical fields.
Fox News Digital reached out to the FAA for more details on the specific roles that people with disabilities would fulfill within the agency, but did not hear back by the time of publication. The agency mentions that some managers have the authority to hire people with disabilities and veterans through an “on-site hiring process” contingent on the submission of required documentation. The FAA also emphasizes that employees with disabilities will receive reasonable accommodations in the workplace.
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