Disabled workers have faced prejudice. Now they face DOGE firings

Spencer Goidel, a 33-year-old federal worker in Boca Raton, Florida, with autism, knew what he could be losing when he got laid off from his job as an equal employment opportunity specialist at the IRS.

Because of his autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, Goidel had been able to secure his spot as one of more than 500,000 disabled workers in the federal government under Schedule A, which allows federal agencies to bypass the traditional hiring process and pick a qualified candidate from a pool of people with certain disabilities.

His job, he said, was accommodating and enriching, and he wonders if he’ll ever get another one like that in the private sector.