Workplace disability inclusion following the Trump anti-DEI executive orders: a global multi-stakeholder perspective

This study examines how President Trump’s anti-DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) executive orders are reshaping workplace inclusion for people with disabilities, using a global, multi-stakeholder perspective. It explores the challenges and opportunities these policies present for employers and organizations, emphasizing their impact on both disability inclusion and broader DEI efforts. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 key stakeholders, including leaders of disability advocacy organizations, directors of academic disability centers, disability employment legal experts, and independent DEI researchers and consultants from seven countries. Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders have generated significant uncertainty and retrenchment, but disability does not neatly mirror the trajectory of other DEI categories. Instead, participants depict disability as occupying a distinct legal and organizational position, anchored in the ADA yet increasingly exposed to policy backsliding and organizational risk aversion, prompting some employers to narrow recruitment and outreach while spurring others to reassess and more deliberately embed disability inclusion within their structures and practices. Empirical research examining the organizational consequences of Trump-era anti-DEI directives remains limited. Rather than viewing the current climate solely as a setback, our findings suggest a generative moment that enables organizations to interrogate performative DEI practices and reimagine more authentic, structurally embedded approaches to inclusion.