In an executive order issued by President Obama this Monday, federal agencies have been instructed to take adequate steps in order to increase the number of disabled persons that they employ.

The order states that an additional 100,000 disabled Americans need to be hired over the next five years—an order originally mandated in a July 2000 executive order from former President Clinton.

President Obama justified the plan, stating that “As the nation’s largest employer, the federal government must become a model for the employment of individuals with disabilities. Executive departments and agencies must improve their efforts to employ workers with disabilities through increased recruitment, hiring and retention of these individuals.”

Currently, approximately 54 million Americans have a disability. Through the implementation of this order, President Obama aims to remove the stigma attached to disabled workers and to encourage disabled Americans to actively aspire to be a part of the federal workforce.

Is this initiative a worthwhile one? How should agencies go about recruiting more disabled employees?