Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employee of the Year was an annual award given by the United States Civil Service Commission beginning in 1969, to recognize exceptional job performance "in spite of severely limiting physical factors." For the first few years, ten finalists were selected by a committee, from among the nominations from federal agencies, and one winner was named. Beginning in 1973, the ten finalists were honored without a single winner chosen.

Prominent finalists for this award included chemist Odette L. Shotwell, Army engineer Alice Chancellor, and John Fales, founder and president of the Blinded American Veterans Foundation. A 1986 recipient, LeRoy MItchell, explained to a reporter that "If there's any benefit to these awards after all, besides an ego trip for me, it would be that potential employers would realize that most office-type work is the kind of vocation anyone can handle with severe handicaps." Others expressed concern that "the use of an individual's physical condition as a basis for reward fosters separateness and inequality."

Award nominees, winners, and presenters, 1968 to 1973 This chart is complete, based on program from the 1973 awards presentation in 1974. +Award yearCeremony datePresenter(s)FinalistsWinner1968March 25, 1969Spiro Agnew Robert E. HamptonKatherine A. Niemeyer Thomas J. Garrick

William S. Grayson

James A. Krueger

Lawrence P. Kuykendall

Neal V. Loving

Odette L. Shotwell

Paul F. Spence

Aubrey T. Tapley

Elwood Williams IIIKatherine A. Niemeyer1969March 19, 1970James E. Johnson Harold RussellRobert L. Smith Jimmy D. Adams

Thomas S. Austin Sr.

Jay Justin Basch

Mrs. Francis B. Garcia

Ralph Harwood

Dorothy Hickey

Earl A. Miller

Philip P. Pepper

Magdalene PhillipsRobert L. Smith1970March 25, 1971Pat Nixon J. Philip BohartAlice Chancellor William J. Gobert

Susan Gonzales

Pruett B. Helm

Kent H. McKnight

Eugene F. Murphy

Richard S. Sharp

Timothy A. Votaw

Leon G. Wichmann

Robert E. WilkersonAlice Chancellor1971April 6, 1972Tricia Nixon Cox Jayne Baker SpainShirley K. Price Wallace E. Brooks

Donald F. Cudahy

Martha F. Elam

Thomas F. Linde

Edward A. Lusk

John B. McGinley

Bernard A. Perella

Patricia Porembski

Jack G. LortsShirley K. Price1972April 5, 1973Julie Nixon EisenhowerIrvin Hershowitz Arthur R. Bietry

Lillian F. Freston

James J. Hazuga Sr.

Edmund H. Inselmann

Paul L. Kyle

Assunta Lilley

Jack O. McSpadden

Arthur H. Neill Jr.

Gwenyth R. VaughnIrvin Hershowitz1973April 4, 1974Bob Dole Jayne Baker SpainRobert L. Bates Edwin C. Boyles

William L. Brewster

Frank G. Chituras

Icy D. Deans

Howard J. Garling

Cheryl Lee Maloney

Oral O. Miller

John R. Stodgell

Russell C. Williams(no individual winners after 1972)

Award finalists and presenters after 1973 This chart is currently incomplete, based mostly on announcements about individual finalists. +Award yearCeremony datePresenter(s)Finalists1974March 1975Howard Davis Billy West1975Edward V. Pope1977October 6, 1977Rosalynn CarterSharon Hovey Wilkin Robert Adams

Dennis Meyers

Christopher Branigan

Donna Pastore1978Earl Brawner1979October 4, 1979Eleanor Holmes Norton Alan K. "Scotty" CampbellG. Robert Hill Donald R. Ames

Paul E. Bricker Jr.

Hilliard A. Carter

Carol A. Edwards

John J. Lacombe II

Theodore A. Nichols

Emily S. Ortt

A. Leigh Phillips

James R. Slagle1980Jimmy CarterJohn L. Moser Douglas Gower

Edward Sanders1981William Gilliland Jr. Robert A. Bottenberg1982October 1982Caspar WeinbergerHumberto R. Yglesias Eva Ball1983Theodore Bridis1986October 9, 1986LeRoy Mitchell Martha Wells Usry1988Sandra Drake

References