VOICES OF OUR REGION
Joyce Bender
Transcript
My name is Joyce Bender, and I was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, but have lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania since I moved here in 1979, my husband and I. My husband Bill and I have been married for over thirty-two years, so really we are Pittsburghers. This is where we’ve always lived, very happy to be here.
I am the CEO of Bender Consulting Services and Bender Consulting Services of Canada, and the host of the internet talk radio show Disability Matters with Joyce Bender. And I can’t begin to emphasize before I say anything else how happy I am that FISA worked with Judy Barricella and the rest of the group to include people with disabilities for the 250th celebration of Pittsburgh, because the question is, “Why would you not? Why would you not? There are fifty-four million Americans with disabilities. Ten percent of the population are people with disabilities. Of course this should be included.” So I’m very happy to see that that did occur.
I started Bender Consulting Services really as a result of my own disabilities, because when I grew up I occasionally had fainting spells, but I did not know what my disability was, nor did my family. The first fainting spells were not that significant when I was a teenager. But after I got married, in my early twenties, I started having really horrific fainting spells. Now during this time I was working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I owned an executive search firm. That’s what I did for a living when I first moved to Pittsburgh in 1979.
I did executive search in information technology. But why that is so important to the rest of my life is that gave me two things, number one an understanding of the private sector, the business world and employment. Obviously I built up a business network because corporations would come to me, pay me a fee to find them people, frequently on a retained basis, higher level search and recruitment.
Well, along the way my fainting spells started to get worse. One night my husband found me unconscious at three o’clock in the morning. Off we go to the doctor. We described that something is happening that I would faint, and when I described the faint, the doctor said, “Oh, you know what? That is a female hormonal problem. You’re fine,” and did not test me. And of course the question is, “Why the heck would I believe something like that?” and the answer is, I was in my early twenties. I’m fifty-four years old now. And in my early twenties I believed the doctor knows. They know everything. I know, of course, now, that isn’t true.
But I did believe and I was happy to hear that I was fine, but one evening in 1985 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at South Hills Village Theatre, which is no longer here, but was here at that time, my husband and I went to see the movie Amadeus, the Mozart film; and at the intermission of the film my husband went to the men’s room. I went to get a Diet Coke, and this is the last thing I remember saying, “May I have a Diet Coke, please,” and I had a tonic seizure and I hit the floor so hard that I fractured my skull, had an intracranial brain hemorrhage, broke all the bones in my right ear, which is why I wear a hearing aid. I have a sixty percent hearing loss, rushed to the hospital in a coma, and this is when they tell my husband they don’t know if I will live, but even if I do, I will have many other issues, that he, in fact, would have to consent to immediate brain surgery or I would not live. So that is what happened. I had brain surgery that evening at Mercy Hospital, and it wasn’t until a few days later, in Intensive Care, that the doctor walks over to me and says, “Oh, by the way, you have epilepsy.”
By this time, I’m intravenous on Dilantin, which I still take 450mg every day, and for those of you that aren’t familiar with epilepsy, there are three million Americans with epilepsy. It is a very, very misunderstood, but common disability, but due to the stigma attached, many people will not disclose they have epilepsy.
My life changed so much from that day forward that I’m very proud to tell you that in the year 2009 I will be the Chair of National Board of the Epilepsy Foundation. And I’m so excited about this, and of course, I’m on the local board of the Epilepsy Foundation of Western and Central Pennsylvania, but I will be the Chair of the National Board, so as you can see a seizure really did change my life and defined my life now.
Medication has pretty much controlled my seizures, although I have still had three seizures over the past several years, and I still occasionally have an aura, which really is the beginning of a seizure, although people don’t understand that.
So I was out of work for two-and-a-half months. I was in Rehabilitation in the Head Trauma Unit at Mercy Hospital, and when I finally did get back to work, in Executive Search, in employment, in Information Technology, I was contacted by a woman here in Pittsburgh. She was a partner with Deloitte and Touche. She was doing work with Vince Sarni, who at that time was the CEO at PPG Industries. He was the Chairman of the Board of a school that sadly is no longer here, the Institute of Advanced Technology, Jane called me and said, “Listen, there’s this school. They train people to be computer programmers. Would you go meet with them?”
And I’m thinking, “Wow, is this me?” I have a disability and what do I do, find employment for people in the computer field. So of course, I’m so excited. I go over to the school. I meet all the students. I had no idea at this time that the attitudinal barrier toward the employment of people with disabilities was so significant. So what I did was I started doing volunteer work. For the next eight years I did volunteer work for this school. I would use my own business network, and I would go to customers, such as at that time Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania, which is now Highmark today. I would say, “Listen, would you consider hiring one of these students?”
We have a huge unemployment rate, which today the unemployment rate is still over sixty percent. Now think about that. During World War II and the Great Depression, the unemployment rate was twenty-five percent and that’s so horrifying to us, yet as an American with a disability, you are supposed to be accepting and happy that it’s just sixty-five percent, which is just absolutely sinful, shameful, outrageous, unacceptable.
After years of doing volunteer work, I found out that there were only a few companies would hire anyone, even though I’m referring people for free. Blue Cross was the company that hired the most people. PPG hired, I think, one or two people. So I came up with this idea. I’m going to start my own company. I’m going to start a company, Bender Consulting Services, a for-profit company that employs Americans with significant disabilities.
My number one reason for being a for profit company – no pity. I do not want people to think of me as a charity. I want people to understand that we want to work, we want employment, and we want to be paid equally.
My second reason is that still to this day, thirteen years later, I’m very proud to tell you that still to this day, not just my employee, but the employee and family, I provide one hundred percent health payment to the premium. In other words, my employees do not contribute from their paycheck to the premium, and probably, as anyone listening to this right now knows, I am in a big minority in the United States.”
But the reason I still do that, even though many people question why I do that, is because of what I went through myself when I had that brain surgery. And the fact that whether or not the person would have a disability, it is so important that you believe in their disabilities and to let them know how important they are to you. So, I’m very big on health care. We still do that, but again, I would not be able to do that as a non-profit company.
So that’s how we started, and then I had to have an anchor company. I need someone that would help me get started, so what I did is I went to Bill Lowry, who at that time was the CEO of Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania, and I said, “Bill, I have an idea. I’m going to start this company where I’m going to hire people with disabilities. They will be consultants at companies and after they’ve worked there for a period of time, they then will be hired by the partner company. In other words, I’ll hire them. I’ll take the risk. I’ll put them on a six-month contract, and at the end of that time, if they perform well, they get to move to the partner company. But first, I would need a company that would take on at least six people for at least three years on contract and pay me money all that time, because I need one company that would believe in me. So I’d have revenues coming in, so I’d have time to go to other companies.
I want to tell you, it only took Bill Lowry and Keith Kappmeyer one day. They called me right back and they said, “We will do it,” and that is why, to this day, when I speak nationally, I always tell people, “If it were not for Highmark, there would not be a Bender. That’s a fact because, guess what, when Bill Lowry and Keith Kappmeyer retired, they took me to lunch to meet the new CEO John Brouse and the new COO, Jim Klingensmith. And so “We’re having this lunch just to introduce you to Joyce, and to let you know we want to keep this going.”
They passed the baton. When John Brouse retired, he took me to breakfast with the current CEO, Dr. Kenneth Milani, but I already knew Ken very well, and Ken has taken it to an even higher level, but think about that. In thirteen years, three CEO’s and they have stood behind me. I have to add to that the reason we have a Pennsylvania Leadership Business Network is that I went to John Brouse and said, “Will you, Highmark, be the lead company?” and they said yes.
When Jonathon Young was at the White House during the Clinton administration, he called me and said, “Joyce, I have an idea. We want to have a Disability History Month.” Well, he tried, but he couldn’t get enough support. So they said, "How about. What do we need the most?”
Employment. What if we have a Disability Mentoring Day, where on that one day, the third Wednesday of every October, high school students and college students, and now elementary students with disabilities could go to a company for a day of job shadowing.
Pittsburgh was the first city to participate. During that first year, the only other people to participate were all the Federal agencies. But Highmark had a Disability Mentoring Day, and of course Bender did, and Bayer did, and only one other city did, Newark, Delaware did because that was my other customer, and I got them to, but really, it was mainly Pittsburgh. And now, this coming year, we may have the first national launch of Disability Mentoring Day right here in Pittsburgh, which will bring the national media, but my point is that Highmark really has done more than people could ever imagine.
But you know what the most important thing is that they have done? Hire people. See, it’s so easy to talk about this. We don’t need people to talk about it. That’s why when I speak nationally, I always say, “Don’t tell me I’m doing a good thing. Don’t tell me how nice I am. Don’t tell me this is inspiring. Hire a person with a disability. Put your money where your mouth is. That’s the only thing that’s going to make a difference.” And Highmark has hired people for years.
Therefore, Bender focuses on information technology, finance, accounting and human resources. So it all started thirteen years ago, and now, guess what, today? We are in eighteen states and two provinces of Canada, because we now have a Bender Consulting Services of Canada and have hired over 360 people
The employment is the issue for people with disabilities. It is employment. Commissioner of the United States EEOC, Commissioner Christine Griffin, is right now leading the charge in Washington, DC, because the employment of Americans with disabilities has gone backwards by over twenty percent in the Federal government, and presently, less than one percent, less than one are employees with disabilities. Do you know, it’s the lowest it has been since, like, 1990.
Then I started here in Pittsburgh, Yhen I became involved with the American Association of People with Disabilities, with Andy Imparato, who is the CEO, and I also worked with Ted Kennedy, Jr. and Cheryl Sensenbrenner. But I don't think a lot of people realize how much has been done right here in Pittsburgh, like Variety, the Children’s Charity, like the work that Achieva did in the area of Special Education. So many things started right here in Pittsburgh for people with disabilities. Nationally, and many people still don’t know about that.
So I am on a crusade, 24/7 I think about this. It’s only by the grace of God I’m talking to everyone right now, and I am on a crusade, a civil rights crusade for equal employment for people with disabilities. In thirteen years, we have had ninety percent success rate of our employees transitioning with partner companies, great companies. Companies like Highmark, Bayer, companies like the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas, Well Point, Computer Sciences Corporation, and I’m so proud we work with the National Security Agency. As a matter of fact, former United States Attorney General, Dick Thornburg, Governor Thornburg to everyone in Pennsylvania, when he spoke at the New York Law School at the Tony Coelho Lecture Series, he said, “There’s a company in Pittsburgh that is known nationally, Bender Consulting Services, which I’m so proud of. I have something to say. They work with the National Security Agency. If they can work with the National Security Agency, what’s your excuse for not working with them?”
Our biggest issue is employment. Remember you will never ever be free in this country ever, until you have employment. You can’t buy a house, can’t go on vacation, can’t live the American dream that everyone else lives. They watch TV, they see all of this.
I’ve started a Bender Leadership Academy, trying to teach them about the world of work, working with young people in high schools with people with disabilities. because I see that our high school students with disabilities, the bar has been lowered; they have been labeled; they have not been given the same opportunities, and I do this with Bayer and Fedex Ground, and Computer Sciences Corporation.
I sadly have found out how high school students with disabilities and elementary school students with disabilities are the target of bullying to an enormous degree. As a matter of fact, over forty percent of the children who are bullied are children with disabilities. And even sadder, there’s a new phenomenon called Bullycide, where teenagers commit suicide as a result of bullying.
So now when I speak, I say to employers, “You know what happens? Kids will raise their hand and say, ‘I’m not invited. I’m not asked to go to a slumber party. I’m not included. I’m left out. Well, well, if they’re left out of employment, who’s the bully?”
Now we have grownup bullies.
Interviewer: The Federal government hires. What about our local government? Do they hire?
I do not see a lot of people with disabilities hired in any local government anywhere. And what I want to do as my next thing is, I want to try to meet with more people and say, “Why don’t we try to make Pittsburgh an example? Why don’t we try to make Pittsburgh an example?” A good example would be if you saw people with disabilities in prominent roles in our own government. Once again people with disabilities they just don't want to go to some rally and hear some legislature telling them whatever you know they want jobs. They want to be employed. How many people say that to me. They'll say I don't want any more volunteer work. I don’t want any more speeches, I don’t want to just go to Disability Mentoring Day, I don’t want to go to a National Disability Employee Awareness Month, I want a paycheck.”
Actually, my new company coming out is going to be doing web-based training for high school students with disabilities. It’s called, “Paychecks, Not Pity.” We don’t need pity. We need paychecks.
I do have people that I hire and find employment for, who only have an Associate’s Degree or only have a Technical Degree, and I have been successful in finding them employment. But I want to mention that several years ago I was in Washington, DC, and heard Alan Greenspan speak, and I’ll never forget what he said. “Some day there will be the haves and the have-nots. The haves will be computer literate.” He was so right, because today, even positions that you don’t think of as a computer job, being a mechanic, or working as an administrative assistant, or working in retail. What do you have to know? You have to be computer literate. So I want to tell you, education is the key. Education is the key.
You know what the other key thing is? We’ve got to change the whole way we think, because too many people talk about, “Let’s go to these employers and let’s tell them they have to start hiring us, and we have to change the way they think,” and they sort of talk to people with disabilities like they’re in an audience and they’re just sitting back there waiting. And unfortunately, that has created a system where that’s the way it is. A lot of people are just waiting. They’re waiting.
And that’s why now when I speak to people with disabilities, I tell them, “Remember when Ghandi said you’re the change? You have to change. You can no longer wait. No one is going to knock on that door and say, “Here I am. I want to hire you, I want to help you. Come on. I want to give you employment.” You have to start networking. You have to build social capital. You have to do volunteer work with United Way, or Epilepsy Foundation or Variety Children’s Foundation or Achieva or The Hill House, or whatever it is, you have to get out there and go to events where you meet people. You have to be the change. No more sitting back. No more sitting back.
I always tell people when I speak, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he was in Birmingham jail. He said, “There is a word ringing in the ear of every Negro in America, and that word is ‘wait. Wait. Wait.’ But wait almost always means never. That’s the same thing with people with disabilities. Wait.
Interviewer: What are you most proud of.
The proudest thing of my life is being able to found a company that would provide competitive employment yo people with disabilities. That is what it is, because there isn’t anything ever that is more rewarding than seeing a person with a disability go from poverty to competitive employment, to see that person have that one thing that everyone wants. Do you know what that is? Dignity. Respect. The first question you’re asked is “What is your name?” The second question you’re asked is “Where do you work?”
Rico Brusco is a manager of my company. One of the first people who I hired. He spoke at an event when we brought Tony Coelho here to Pittsburgh. He spoke at an event, and Rico uses a wheelchair. He said, “You know? My greatest day is when I went to the Social Security Department and said, ‘I don’t need your checks.’” And they said, “Sorry, the way our system is put together, you have to accept them over the next nine months.”
Think about that, Why? Why? Because of the assumption you won’t make it. How shocked were they when nine months later Rico went back and gave them all of those checks. He had saved all of those checks for nine months and said, “Here’s your money.” That’s because the power of dignity and self-esteem is overwhelming.
Interviewer: So, what has been the hardest thing for you in this journey?
The hardest thing is when you have a candidate with great ability and you go talk with someone, and they look you in the eyes and say the absolutely unbelievable things , such as -- the first time I ever started doing this, I talked to the CEO of a smaller company, who told me he would never hire a blind person. I could not believe anyone would say this, first of all. Things that people have said to me have shown me that people with disabilities sometimes even on the radar screen, it’s like they never heard of the Americans With Disabilities Act, as if we don’t matter or don’t count. And to me, really, the hardest obstacle has been ignorance. That is the hardest thing, is when you have a qualified person that you know can do that job and you cannot get the person in because of that person’s own bias. I would say that my biggest obstacle is when I talk to people who are ignorant and say just unbelievable things. And I’ll tell you what, I don’t give up.
Interviewer: Who has been the biggest influence on you?
Tony Coelho. No doubt about it, it’s Tony Coelho, because what happened to me was I went to Washington, DC, when I first started the company. So I go and I gave my two minute speech, and when I was done, this man came over to me and said, “Oh, I wish you could have met my boss. He would have loved you."
So, I’m leaving and all these cameras are going off. Some famous person was there. And I start to leave and someone taps me on the shoulder and says, “I want you to meet my boss, Tony Coelho. He’s the Chairman of the President’s Committee and reports to President Clinton,” and of course, that’s who they were taking the pictures of.
So I only talked to Tony for five minutes and told him what I did. And he said, “You need to hear my speech. We have something in common.” I went in to this luncheon, and that’s when I first heard Tony tell his riveting story of how he was rejected because of his epilepsy, and how, in fact, he ended up being the author of the Americans With Disabilities Act. He then told me, “I’m going to put you on the President’s Committee,” and when I told somebody that, they said, “Oh, yeah, you’ll never really be on.”
Well, the next thing you know, an official letter came with the Presidential Emblem, and I went on the President’s Committee, and then Tony got me involved with the Epilepsy Foundation, he is a great man, great Civil Rights leader, and it is he who has had the biggest influence on me realizing one person can make a difference. One person. And to never give up, to never give up, no matter what. He has done so much for me that I really can’t speak highly enough of him.