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Testimony of Joyce Bender at EEOC
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Commission Meeting on the Employment of Individuals with
Disabilities in the Federal Government
June 28, 2006
As a young adult who has always believed in civil rights and freedom for all people, I would never have imagined that I would have the great honor to give testimony before a Federal Commission that strives to protect freedom and equality for all Americans. It is my great honor to speak before this wonderful group of Patriots today, about fellow Americans being excluded from economic freedom in America, Americans with significant disabilities. I thank you for giving me, a woman with epilepsy and a hearing-loss, an opportunity to speak on behalf of my fellow Americans who are being left out of the American dream – economic freedom. I also commend the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for taking a stand for all of us in America.
I have a priceless treasure in my office, a shadow box that includes: a
signed copy of the Americans with Disabilities Act; a photograph of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act; a pen used at the signing by President George H. W. Bush and given to Chairman Evan Kemp Jr.; and hand-written notes to be spoken that day by former EEOC Chairman, Evan J. Kemp Jr. This was all graciously donated to the Disability Rights Education Defense Fund, by Evan’s wife. I purchased this at a DREDF Gala. I cherish this shadow box. Every day when I look at it, I remember that great day, July 26, 1990, the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the purpose of that great piece of civil rights legislation – freedom for all Americans, including Americans with disabilities.
We all remember those powerful and often quoted words that day from a great man, President George H. W. Bush, when he said, “Let the shameful walls of exclusion, finally come tumbling down.” In the area of competitive employment for Americans with significant disabilities, we have not and are not keeping the promise of freedom, as we should. Those walls are still up, even in our own Federal Agencies. Those walls of ignorance and fear are still solid; today I hope you realize we need to work together to see them come down now – as the President said – finally.
As we all know, the group with the most employment problems in this country
is Americans with significant disabilities. Based on my experience employing
Americans with significant disabilities over the past decade, they face enormous
barriers to competitive employment opportunities. The most significant barrier
is not accommodations or access – it is an attitudinal barrier. Hiring managers
today are seeing Americans with disabilities through glasses tainted with
misconceptions. We cannot change this problem in America, in the private sector,
if the Federal government does not first become the example.
I would like to tell you personally about my experiences trying to find
competitive employment for Americans with significant disabilities and the
obstacles I faced even in the Federal Agencies; then I will provide an example
of a Federal Agency that removed all barriers to find competitive employment for
Americans with significant disabilities.
In 1995, I founded Bender Consulting Services, Inc, a for-profit company that
focuses on providing competitive employment for Americans with significant
disabilities, based on my personal experience with disability. I had a seizure
one evening at a movie theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and hit the floor so
hard that I had an intracranial brain hemorrhage and broke the bones in my right
ear. That evening, I had brain surgery and had a miraculous recovery. I was told
for the first time that I, like 3 million other Americans, was a person with
epilepsy and also a 60 % hearing-loss in my right ear as a result of the
accident. Today, I take 450 milligrams of Dilantin daily and wear a hearing-aid.
This accident changed my life forever, as I joined the ranks of Americans with
disabilities. My prior employment background was in executive search; this
provided me with a solid business network and an understanding of employment. I
decided in 1995 to try to do something to change the plight of Americans with
disabilities facing unemployment and I founded Bender Consulting Services,
Inc.
I began by working in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with the
private sector – thanks to one company in Pittsburgh that believed in me,
Highmark, I was able to build a successful company and at the same time provide
competitive employment for Americans with significant disabilities. Today,
Bender Consulting Services, Inc. has employees in fourteen states and two
provinces of Canada. We have great partners in the private sector like
WellPoint, Bayer Corporation, Computer Sciences Corporation and many others. We
have provided competitive employment to over 270 people with significant
disabilities.
The areas Bender Consulting Services, Inc. specializes in are; Information
Technology, Finance, Accounting, Engineering, and Human Resources. We partner
with companies and place our employees from Bender Consulting Services, Inc. on
a contract, with the intention of the employee being hired by our partner
company; over 90 percent of my employees are people with significant
disabilities.
It took Bender years of hard work, dedication, and support from many great
business leaders to finally see real success – on-going competitive employment.
Over the years, I would often think of how exciting it would be to work with the
Federal Agencies and how much easier it would be. Easier, of course, because I
assumed that the Federal Agencies would be more welcoming and inviting, after
all, you, the government, are the role model we look at to see, not the workface
of America as it is, but as how it should be. I assumed that working with the
Federal Agencies would be so welcoming. Unfortunately, those doors of
opportunity were not easily opened when working to target positions for people
with significant disabilities.
As I started visiting Federal Agencies in the year 1999 and making
presentations to various Agencies about how I could work as a partner to provide
economic freedom for Americans with disabilities, I heard the same thing over
and over again about how they wanted so much to work with me, but just could not
figure out how to gain a contract to do so. It would begin with such enthusiasm,
but end with no employment opportunities. I had so many meetings with so little
success and it seemed to always be the same thing – we cannot determine how to
work with you at Bender Consulting Services, Inc. I would often be told that now
that they knew Bender, they would be able to hire hundreds of Americans with
significant disabilities; that is not what happened. I did gain in the end,
employment for only three people, not for thousands; after that – no other
opportunities.
After years of visits, I realized, it was not going to be easy and I almost
gave up – I was then contacted by the National Security Agency. The NSA came to
visit me on their own at my corporate offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The
NSA initiated a contract to partner with Bender and work on one thing only –
hiring Americans with significant disabilities on an on-going basis. This was
not to hire one or two, but as many as possible. These people with significant
disabilities would be hired to work in competitive areas and help the NSA do one
thing – protect our country. It doesn’t get better than that. They made it
happen. They somehow knew how to write and design this contract that no one else
seemed to be able to figure out. They have one of the highest levels of security
in our country. They wanted to hire people with significant disabilities. They
wanted to make it happen. This is the key – if you want to hire Americans with
significant disabilities – you can make it happen if you want to.
Richard Thornburgh, former Attorney General to President George H. W. Bush,
and former Governor of Pennsylvania spoke on October 19, 2005 at the New York
Law School, for the 3rd Annual Tony Coelho Lecture Series. He gave a riveting
and powerful speech. He is so proud to be part of this great piece of civil
rights legislation, but he knows there is one area where we are not keeping our
promise. He stated, “Nevertheless, I am sobered by persistent evidence that the
ADA is not delivering on one of our greatest expectations – dramatically
improved employment among people with disabilities.” He went on later to state
about Bender Consulting Services, Inc. and the National Security Agency
partnership, “Here’s the kicker. If the National Security Agency can commit to
hiring people with disabilities, why can’t every employer in the nation do the
same.” Ladies and Gentleman, every employer includes the Federal Government.
One thing about me is that if I state a problem – I will offer solutions,
which are based on my success at Bender Consulting Services, Inc. in the private
sector.
I believe that the Federal Agencies should take the lead in America
addressing this national tragedy of extremely high unemployment for Americans
with significant disabilities. First, I believe to create change it must come
from the top. Just as in the private sector, I need the commitment from the top
– the CEO. You will need commitment from the top, the Cabinet head. If the
leader of a Federal Agency embraces this initiative, it will happen.
Second, I believe each Agency should target positions for Americans with
significant disabilities and maintain the promise of opportunity and freedom
offered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Don’t talk about it – do
something. We need specific targeted positions in every Federal Agency for
Americans with disabilities and we need it today.
The change will not occur unless leaders in each Federal Agency take a stand
and demand that competitive positions are targeted for Americans with
significant disabilities. This means setting aside positions for Americans with
significant disabilities.
Third, if only 35% of Americans with significant disabilities who want to
work are actually working today, this group has an extremely high unemployment
issue. Do not target senior positions. The majority of Americans with
significant disabilities that Bender has employed are entry-level professional
candidates. They have the academic background and often internship experience,
but not hard work experience. If you understand this group of people has the
highest unemployment, you must be willing to hire at a professional
entry-level.
In addition, I believe each Federal Agency should make the competitive
employment of Americans with significant disabilities part of their diversity
initiative and educational programs year-round, not just within the month of
October. Celebrating for only one month is not breaking down those attitudinal
walls.
Finally, I believe each agency should put in place a Mentoring Program for
people with significant disabilities employed in each Federal Agency, to insure
success and promotability. People with significant disabilities do not need a
job – they need a career. When we see Americans with significant disabilities as
hiring managers, we will see true change.
This is not a partisan issue; it is not about Republicans or Democrats. It is
an exclusion issue – it is a human issue of bias. We all need to work together
to change this national tragedy. The fact that Americans with significant
disabilities have the highest unemployment rate in this nation is not what
President Bush intended, nor did any one in the disability community, when the
ADA was signed.
Evan Kemp Jr. stated, “ On that sunny day, more than 3,000 people cheered,
wept and hugged each other as they witnessed the signing of the act that
guaranteed that they were, at last, citizens, with equal rights, in a country
where their government wanted them to have the opportunity to participate in and
contribute to all aspects of public life.”
To have that ability to participate in economic freedom you need competitive
employment. If the government wants Americans with disabilities to have that
opportunity, you must make a decision to stop hiding behind reasons not to hire
and be the role model every hiring manager in America needs you to be.
Each Federal Agency must make a stand today to target positions and hire
people with disabilities to truly fulfill the promise made on July 26, 1990.
Americans with disabilties have great ability and opportunity, if you will
finally break down those attitudinal walls.
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