In 2010 there were a record number of complaints about disability discrimination in the Federal job market. The largest number of complaints were in regard to bias against applicants based on disability.The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says that charges of disability discrimination were 17 percent of all claims, or about 25,165 individual claims of disability bias in Federal hiring.

In all the agency received 100,000 claims of discrimination against an employee from a wide array of characteristics including gender, age, race, ethnicity and religion during the 2010 fiscal year. The claims represent a 7 percent increase over claims made in the previous year, and are the highest number of claims to be made in one year over the 45-year history of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Disability claims rose sharply in the months after Congress approved changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2009. The changes made it easier for people with treatable conditions like epilepsy, cancer or mental illness to file under the anti-disability bias act. Previously people with these conditions were not able to claim “disability” for this purpose..

Since the new Obama administration took office, the agency has been able to  increase staff levels that were sharply reduced during the Bush administration, making it possible for greater numbers of these cases to be addressed and resolved, particularly old claims that had been pending for months or, in some cases, even years..