President Trump’s DEI orders can eliminate federal DEIA offices, labels, staff roles and some contractor-program requirements, but they do not repeal the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or the Rehabilitation Act. Required disability nondiscrimination, reasonable accommodation, federal-agency duties under Section 501 and contractor duties under Section 503 remain in force. The immediate risk is weaker implementation capacity—less specialized staff, tracking and outreach—not automatic cancellation of every disability protection.
What the 2025–2026 orders changed
The rollback is a set of executive directives rather than a repeal of disability statutes. Their practical effect depends on which activities an agency or contractor treats as a discretionary DEIA initiative and which are required by civil-rights law.
| Date and order | Direction | Disability-inclusion significance |
|---|---|---|
| January 20, 2025 — Executive Order 14151 | Terminate DEI and DEIA programs, offices, positions, equity plans and related performance requirements to the maximum extent allowed by law. | Dedicated offices or roles may disappear, but the order cannot lawfully eliminate duties imposed by the Rehabilitation Act or other statutes. |
| January 21, 2025 — Executive Order 14173 | End what the administration describes as illegal discrimination, restore merit-based opportunity and comply with civil-rights laws. | Agencies must still apply disability nondiscrimination and accommodation rules while reviewing programs for unlawful preferences. |
| March 26, 2026 — Executive Order 14398 | Require federal contracts to include a clause addressing covered DEI activities, with cancellation, suspension or ineligibility authorized for noncompliance. | Contractors must review DEI-related activities and terminology without dropping their continuing Section 503 obligations. |
Implementation guidance issued to agencies says they should not terminate accessibility or disability-related accommodations and programs that the Rehabilitation Act or related laws require.
Which disability protections remain legally binding?
| Protection | Who it covers | Continuing requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Rehabilitation Act, Section 501 | Federal agencies and their applicants and employees | No discrimination based on disability and compliance with federal affirmative-action requirements described in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance. |
| Rehabilitation Act, Section 503 | Federal contractors and subcontractors covered by the statute | No disability discrimination and steps to recruit, hire, retain and promote qualified people with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Labor describes Section 503 as applying generally to federal contracts exceeding $15,000. |
| Americans with Disabilities Act | Covered employers and other entities subject to the ADA | Reasonable accommodation for a qualified person with a disability unless it would create an undue hardship. |
Removing a “DEIA” name from an office does not change these obligations. An agency may reorganize who handles accessibility or accommodation work, but it cannot use reorganization as a reason to stop performing a statutory duty.
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Can an agency cancel a disability accommodation or telework arrangement?
A return-to-office directive makes telework requests more contested, but it does not create an exception to accommodation law. February 2026 FAQs from the EEOC and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) explain that agencies may require in-person work while evaluating telework as a reasonable accommodation under the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA where applicable.
Ordinary telework versus accommodation telework
| Situation | How it is evaluated |
|---|---|
| Ordinary agency telework | Eligibility is determined under the agency’s general telework policy. An employee can be ineligible under that policy. |
| Telework requested because of disability | The agency must separately consider reasonable accommodation. OPM says an employee who cannot use ordinary program telework may still be entitled to telework as an accommodation. |
EEOC guidance says working from home may be reasonable when a disability prevents successful on-site work and the employee can perform essential duties remotely without significant difficulty or expense. A return-to-office rule therefore does not automatically defeat a well-supported request; the agency must assess the individual’s limitations, essential duties and potential hardship.
“President Trump has given a clear directive to the federal workforce to return to in-person work to the maximum extent possible consistent with applicable law,” EEOC chair Andrea Lucas said on February 11, 2026. She added that the FAQs apply existing EEOC guidance while agencies comply with their accommodation obligations.
Practical steps for a federal employee
- State that the request is for a disability accommodation, not merely a preference for ordinary telework.
- Describe the work-related limitation and how the proposed arrangement would allow the essential duties to be performed.
- Keep the request, supporting medical information and agency responses, and ask for key decisions in writing.
- If an arrangement is denied or withdrawn, use the agency’s accommodation and equal-employment channels promptly; procedures and deadlines vary by agency.
Why the rollback may still affect disabled workers
Legal rights and the capacity to implement them are different things. Closing a DEIA office can remove staff who understood accessible technology, accommodation processes, disability data and outreach to applicants. Those functions may continue elsewhere, but a transfer can create delays, inconsistent practice or less visible accountability.
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Disabled employees are a substantial part of the federal workforce. Federal data reported by Axios in 2025 showed that 9.4% of federal workers identified as disabled in 2022, up from 8.9% in 2014. That statistic describes workforce representation; it is not a forecast of how the rollback will affect employment or accommodation outcomes.
Employment lawyer Alan Lescht told Axios that many clients with visible and nonvisible disabilities need to work from home. That practitioner observation illustrates why return-to-office implementation matters, but it is not a nationwide causal measurement.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What changes for federal contractors?
Contractors face two obligations at once: comply with the new DEI-related contract clause under Executive Order 14398 and continue meeting Section 503 requirements. Section 503 has not been repealed; the Department of Labor continues to publish it as an active contractor duty.
Contractor compliance checklist
- Identify every DEI, accessibility and disability-employment activity covered by a federal contract clause.
- Separate voluntary affinity or culture programs from legally required accessibility, accommodation, nondiscrimination and Section 503 affirmative-action functions.
- Review program language and selection practices for unlawful preferences while preserving disability-focused recruitment, retention and promotion work required by Section 503.
- Maintain the records and processes needed to demonstrate nondiscrimination and Section 503 compliance.
- Train managers to route accommodation requests correctly and to distinguish a general DEI initiative from a statutory disability obligation.
The contract clause can create procurement consequences for noncompliance, but it does not authorize a contractor to ignore disability protections that apply independently under Section 503, the ADA or other law.
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What is known—and not yet known—about outcomes
The clearest near-term change is organizational: fewer DEIA offices, positions or branded programs may mean less expertise and monitoring. Existing evidence does not establish a nationwide causal measure of disability-inclusion outcomes after the rollback. Individual agencies and contractors may therefore produce very different experiences even though the underlying legal standards are unchanged.
For workers, the key distinction is whether an action removes a label or removes a legally required function. For agencies and contractors, the compliance test is whether accessibility, accommodation, nondiscrimination, affirmative-action and recordkeeping duties continue to be performed, documented and accessible to the people who rely on them.
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