Our Impact

IRS Support of Voluntary Employee Organizations

IRS recognizes and supports a number of voluntary employee organizations, or "affinity" groups, organized around shared interests or characteristics. Two such organizations promote the personal and professional well-being of IRS employees with disabilities.

Deaf Empowerment and Advocacy Forum (DEAF)

This group's mission is to provide Deaf and Hard of Hearing employees with a voice in the IRS, and to encourage the inclusion of the cultural and linguistic principles of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the workforce.

IRS DEAF activities to support these goals include cultivating communication access to achieve a fully integrated workforce, encouraging mentoring and networking, and conducting research on key Deaf and Hard of Hearing issues.

Visually Impaired Employees Support Group (VIESG)

The mission of VIESG is to advocate practices within the IRS which are crucial to identifying the information access needs of IRS employees with disabilities who use adaptive technology.

This group's activities include facilitating communication between visually impaired employees and IRS management, ensuring mutual cooperation and respect in the workplace, and collectively addressing these and other related issues.