Gerald Homme: Employment Equity and Disability Pride

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hi everyone, welcome to the show, to everyone in the United States and around the world. Oh my goodness. I cannot tell you how excited I am when I see the listeners popping up in different countries, and I want to tell you, that means so much. Remember what I always say, no matter what country you are in, if you go spread the news to other people about listening to this show and quality of life for people living with disabilities, it will make a difference. And I hope that that is what you're doing. And then, oh my goodness, special shout out to Yoshiko Dart. Yoshiko, guess what? I have my disability pride tree. I wish you could see it, but I have all these great disability rights leaders with Justin Dart's hat. Well, a replica, obviously it isn't his, but a replica. Of Justin Dart's hat on the top of my tree. Oh, I bet I'm the only one in the United States that has this Disability Pride tree. But I just wanted to share that with you. And hey, going back to the State Department, you know, I travel around the world with the State Department. What happens is an embassy calls the U.S. State Department and says, we are looking for an expert on the employment of people with disabilities. And they frequently call me. And then when I go, I go for a week. So I've been there for a week in Kazakhstan, Japan, South Korea, um, let me— Panama, And guess what? I'm going to Brazil in the fall. And guess who I'll see? The great disability rights advocate Richard Roberts, who I always talk about. And I find it so just exciting when I get to meet other people living with epilepsy or meet people with mental health or conditions, or when I meet young people at schools. Oh, I love it. And Richard knows this about me. Morning to night, morning to night, no breaks. We're out there morning to night because, hey, I'm representing this country. I'm on a mission. It's not a vacation. And I want to make sure I'm doing everything I should be doing. Now, to our listeners, Senator Harkin should be with us shortly, but he does have some personal issues going on. So if he isn't, we will just continue on, and I have some different people calling into the show. But if you don't know, I am the CEO and founder of Bender Consulting Services, and I'm the chair of the Bender Leadership Academy. So in 1995, I founded Bender Consulting Services as a for-profit company that would focus on the competitive employment of people with disabilities, which means I do search and recruitment and find opportunities for people with disabilities all around the United States in executive roles like CEO through junior, through all levels in STEM areas, uh, at banks, at hospitals,, a lot in technology. So I wanted to tell you, since we are celebrating Disability Pride Month, until you have employment, you are never, ever, ever free in this country. You can't rent a car, you can't live the American dream unless you have competitive employment. That's why our motto is competitive jobs mean freedom. So if you have anyone that's looking for employment, www.benderconsult.com, that's anyone with a disability. I forgot to mention that we only place people with disabilities. You know why? 70% of people with disabilities are not even counted in the workforce. So to me, when you find employment, your life has changed and your family's life has changed, and we're going to talk a little more about that with my guest, Gerald Homi, who is the manager of talent programs right here at Bender Consulting Services. But first, we're going to go to break as we celebrate Disability Pride Month. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com. Don't go away, we'll be right back.

Streaming live, the leader in internet talk radio, VoiceAmerica.com. Are you currently receiving SSDI or SSI and wanting to work? Did you know there is a free Social Security program called Ticket to Work to help you try work without risking your benefits? My Employment Options is an authorized SSA Employment Network specializing in work-at-home and local job placement in 47 states. Our clients receive a personal counselor to help find the best job fit and a staff-certified benefits counselor for help with Ticket to Work protections. Ready to try working? Apply for free job placement help at myemploymentoptions.com. Since 1985, Bender Consulting Services has served as a national leader in advancing employment of people with disabilities including veterans with disabilities, with private sector companies and federal government agencies. Bender assists customers with achieving their diversity and workforce inclusion initiatives by tapping into a talent pool of individuals seeking professional positions, including those in the STEM fields. In addition, Bender services include disability employment consulting, training in technology accessibility through their HI-TESS line of service. For more information, please visit www.benderconsult.com.

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You're listening to Disability Matters. If you have a question or comment, call in toll-free at 1-866-472-5788. That's 1-866-472-5788. Now please welcome back the host of Disability Matters. Here's Joyce Bender.

Hi everyone and welcome to Disability Pride Month, where at Bender Consulting Services we are celebrating the 33rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Can you believe it? 33 years. And we have a caller called in, Gerald Homi, who is our manager of talent programs at Bender Consulting. Hello, Gerald.

Hello, Joyce, and happy ADAversary Eve today.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Gerald. Before you got on, I was talking for just a few minutes about employment and saying, if you have— know of anyone seeking employment, please get in touch with us, uh, and send your resume to benderconsult.com. Or if you are seeking employment, and I went through different areas like STEM, health, uh, finance, compliance, pharma, because we have so many great openings. And I was saying, until you have competitive employment, you are never free in this country. It changes your entire family. I thought maybe you could tell everyone how you met me and how it changed your life.

Oh, I would love to tell my story, Joyce. So, as you said, I work in our talent area. I run our team that does the work of placing people with disabilities into jobs all over the US. And I have learning disabilities, dyslexia, dysgraphia. I have mental health disabilities like PTSD and anxiety disorder. And so I have disabilities, but my father Jim is blind, and he was the first person with a disability that you, Joyce, ever placed into a job. And that was before I was born. That was in the '80s, back before the ADA was in law, where you placed them in IT. And I'm an ADA baby. I was born in 1990, actually on July 13th, on Friday the 13th, and 13 must be my lucky number because 13 days after I was born is when the ADA was signed into law. And considering I have disabilities and work in disability rights, that was very lucky for me. So, I grew up with my dad, who is blind, being the primary bread earner for my family, working in IT. And my dad was the first blind person to be certified in Lotus Notes development. My mom worked at Duquesne Light, a local gas company, natural gas company, and to provide electricity, and she took early retirement because my grandmother became ill with emphysema, moved home with us, and my mom cared for her, and my mom raised us. And that was only an option for our family because my dad had competitive employment. My dad got on the bus like everyone else, went to work like everyone else, and I grew up thinking that was normal. And you can't imagine what an impact that had on me to think that was normal and then to find out not everybody got that opportunity. And to realize that when other people told me that that was different, to question that they were wrong and to have that perspective that those outsiders not understanding why my dad was able to do what he did. That they were the ones that were wrong. And did that be my default position would change the way that I perceived disability. And of course, growing up with that and learning that really had a profound impact on me when I gained my own diagnosis as somebody with disabilities and how I advocated for myself in my own life. And of course, I grew up going to vendor events, just like company picnics, things like that, and seeing other people with disabilities who were competitively employed. And just knowing people with disabilities were like everyone else and that stigma was the primary thing holding us back from being included in society, whether it be people's individual stigma or the stigma that was then used to be built into the systems around us. But just having that perspective, one, really shaped me to becoming a disability rights advocate. But two, I had that person who was blind working for me or being my raising me. And Joyce, I'll tell the story real quick about when we went car shopping. And, um, when we were going to go on a family vacation, Disney World, and we wanted to get a new family minivan because we decided to do it as a road trip. And so we went to the car dealership, and of course the car salesman And most of the dealerships would spend the entire time trying to sell to my mom, who was driving the car, and would completely ignore my dad. Being blind, he was clearly not going to drive the car. My dad was the one who worked. And they would ask my mom all kinds of questions trying to figure out, you know, how much money she had, what kind of price range was she in, how much could they upsell her, what type of vehicle were they going to buy her. And they would ask her things like, "Well, what do you do for a living?", and she would say, "Oh, I don't work," and they would get frustrated and eventually ask, "Well, how do you expect to pay for a vehicle?" And then my dad would just reply from the back, "Well, I have a job," and they didn't even think for a second that they should be trying to sell the car to the blind person, but it was his car too. You know, that had a big impact on me for sure to shape how I view disability and civil rights.

You know what's sad is that that still goes on today. I mean, how many people go to dinner, people with a significant disability and friends or their family, overcomes the waiter or waitress and looks at those family members and says, What does he want? Or what does she want? So terrible, so terrible. You know, I'm working on a book right now called The Intermission, and, uh, it's about— as you all know, I had an accident at the movie theater because my disability was misdiagnosed. I used to faint all the time, but when I went to the doctor He misdiagnosed what was wrong. He said, oh, it's just some female hormonal problem. And why would I ever believe that? Because I was in my 20s and he's a doctor, but he was wrong. And one night in 1985, I went to see the movie Amadeus, and at the intermission— that's why it's called the intermission— I had a seizure and hit the floor so hard I fractured my skull, had an intracranial intracranial brain hemorrhage. Against all odds, after having brain surgery, I had a miraculous recovery. And this is when I find out I'm living with epilepsy. That's what the faints really were. Now, thank goodness I have medication that controls that. But, you know, in life, something will happen to you. And you have a choice of giving back or not. And right now in the disability community, we need all the help we can get. Gerald and I were talking about the only person that unified all the groups, Justin Dart. He's the only one. And Gerald, we were talking about that. How much more powerful would we be if all of the groups, disability groups, were united.

That's so true. You know, we are the largest group, and that's because disability is a normal way of life. Everybody, you live long enough, you're going to gain a disability at some point. We all stood up and stood together in, as the great Tony Coelho says, when you have the podium, speak up and speak out. And we just coordinated our efforts on the most important issues. Things would get done. You know, it's happened a few times. In disability history. It happened for the ADA. It can happen again. There's a lot of important things that need to change for the disability community right now. You know, so if you're out there and you're listening to this show and you have a disability but you're not involved in what's going on, go find a group local that's getting engaged. Find your local AAPD Rev Up Coalition or find your local, you know, support group or whatever is happening in your community where people with disabilities are gathering. Your BRG in your company, whatever it happens to be. And if you're a person out there with a hidden disability, start in those spaces being loud and proud about being a person with a disability. We have to be out there supporting each other, standing up, bringing our issues to the front, and not leaving our brothers and sisters from different disability communities behind. When we fight on education, on accessibility, on access, all these things are important for our community. On employment, which by the way, almost 70% of working-age Americans with disabilities today do not have jobs.

Which is tragic. It is terrible. But right now, hey, we're going to go to the news on the half hour with our own Perry Jude Radesik. Perry, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Joyce Bender. Just a shout out to Gerald, uh, say hi. Okay, I'm on the show.

Hey there.

So Joyce, today we want to talk about Long COVID. We talked about COVID vaccines last week, and this week we want to tell the listeners a little bit more about Long COVID, give an update on where things stand. The question I always get asked is, what is Long COVID, and is it recognized as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. So we're going to answer that question, but before we do, let's review how we came to learn about Long COVID. It was about late winter or the spring of 2020. People who had tested positive for COVID started sharing a new set of symptoms post-infection on social media. Symptoms included fatigue, continued disruption of smell and taste, muscle pain, and more. Early names for Long COVID included Long Haulers, Chronic COVID, and Post-Acute COVID. Data from the department— U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Center for Health Statistics— tell us that 40% of adults in the U.S. reported testing positive for COVID-19. 40%. And that 1 in 5 of us, or about 19%, are still having symptoms of what we now call Long COVID. And today the phrase Long COVID is the internationally accepted term, but unfortunately there's not one definition of what is Long COVID. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines Long COVID in part as returning or ongoing health problems that have been present in us 4 more weeks after we've been infected with that virus that causes COVID-19. There is good news. Federal health officials are studying Long COVID. And so many researchers are trying to find what they call evidence-based conclusions of frankly what we know, which is its existence of Long COVID, as well as trying to come up with a test for Long COVID and treatment. They're also looking into health disparities of Long COVID in the BIPOC community, women, and the LGBTQ communities. So back to that original question: Is Long COVID a disability under the ADA? So the answer is that it can be. So, how do you know? Well, we have to keep in mind the definition of disability under the ADA and determine if our individual experience falls in line with one or more of the prongs of the definition of disability. Uh, what does that mean? Well, um, do we have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities? Are we regarded as having a disability because of Long COVID? And do we have a record of a disability as a result of Long COVID? And also, are we associated with the person that has a disability related to Long COVID? So then the question is, do employers have to accommodate someone who has Long COVID? If you meet the definition of a disability under the ADA, the answer is absolutely. Reasonable accom— Accommodations could include a quiet workplace, changes to lighting in the workplace if lighting is an issue, rest breaks, flexible schedule, and so much more. Advocacy matters. It's so important that we stay up to date on the research, diagnosis, treatment, and accommodations associated with Long COVID. If you go to disabilityrightsPA.org, that's disabilityrightsPA.org, You can find the links to the information we've talked about in today's segment, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's updated technical assistance on Long COVID. It was just updated and re-released on May 15th, 2023. So Joyce, is Long COVID a disability? Does it have to be accommodated? I think, you know, if you meet the definition of the ADA, the answer is absolutely yes.

You know, Perry, I'm— it's interesting that one of the impacts, as you know, is the COVID fog. And there I read an article, there were many people losing their job because it was misinterpreted as poor performance. I wanted to ask you, do you have any advice to people if something like that happens?

Oh, absolutely. There's really sort of two pathways here. One, call your, your P&A in your state. That's the Protection and Advocacy. It would be an organization like Disability Rights Pennsylvania or Disability Rights California. Many of us have disability rights in our name, and, and we can give you more information about Long COVID and, and what are the accommodation opportunities for Long COVID and how to talk to your employer about the interactive process. I think the other option people have is if they've already lost their job and they feel like their employer didn't engage in the interactive process, you can go right to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and file your complaint free of charge with the EEOC. Again, if you go to disabilityrightspa.org, you live in Pennsylvania, we have lots of information about COVID-19, including filing with the EEOC. Check out our segment today. Look at the information about Long COVID and the information from the EEOC. You can get educated about what obligations your employer had to you as a person with a disability related to Long COVID.

That's awesome. And one last question, Terry, can you believe this is the 33rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and yet almost 70% of people with disabilities are not counted in the workforce?

Joyce, I've been listening to your show today. Gerald's been doing a great job, and I have to say it's, it's, it is still shocking that we've made some progress, but certainly not enough when it comes to the employment of people with disabilities. We need to get our communities employed in competitive integrated employment, and nothing could be more important moving forward. And I do agree, we do need to get our communities together, but employment is, is a key to, um, uh, to survival of our community.

Absolutely. Well, you're one that helps us.

You're such a great advocate. And Perry Jude Radesik is the CEO of Pennsylvania, uh, Disability Rights of Pennsylvania— Disability Rights of Pennsylvania. And Perry, what is the website?

Yes, Joyce, it is disabilityrightspa.org.

Everyone go. First of all, go to Advocacy Matters and read about this show, but while you're there, make a contribution. Thank you, Perry, and happy Disability Pride Month.

Absolutely. I'm disabled and proud, happy to say it. Happy to be part of the community, Joyce.

All right, thank you. She is so awesome, isn't she, Gerald?

Best news anchor in America.

That's right. But, and you know what, just so you all know, we are the only one that has this type of show every week with this news break, all about and only about disability. So make sure if you're listening to the show, share this with others, explain to others. You can go to benderconsult.com, you can go to voiceamerica.com, Spotify, or most social media venues and hear the show. Obviously not everyone can hear it on demand— I mean live— but you can hear it on demand and you can share it with others. So Gerald, back to you. I I wanted to talk again about employment. We were just talking about this high unemployment. My question is, what's your opinion why that is?

Well, there's still massive stigma. I mean, people still feel pity for people with disabilities. And When you feel pity, you think of someone as inferior. I was at an event, an information technology event where we were advertising the work that we do to work with companies and hire people with disabilities. And I was talking to a potential employer trying to advocate that we want to place people with disabilities into competitive employment. Their response was, "Isn't that nice? Special jobs for special people." Ah. And there's a lot of that mentality out there that this is a nice thing to do to help people that need help because they have a disability. But that's not what this is about. This is— people have been left out because the world was not made for them and because people think the wrong thing about them. We know because here at Bender, we're for-profit, meaning for us to continue to exist, the people we place have to do a great job. 'Cause if we place someone and they don't do a great job, that company's not going to want to work with us again. So all of the people we place are incredible employees, from the entry-level accounting and software developer roles to the vice presidents and project managers and intelligence personnel And any other type of role we filled in senior human resource managers, all those different types of roles, you have to compete and do a great job. Eat, eat, raise the bar, as Joyce Bender always does with our students. And people don't view it that way. They view it as charity. We got to stop in this world looking at hiring people with disabilities as charity and look at it as a business investment. You've got this talent pool that you're not hiring from, and you got to open your mind, change that channel away from the things that you think, let people get in there and prove their worth.

Yeah, and I— that is so true. That is so true. And I just want to mention the Bender Leadership Academy. I, for 22 years, did volunteer work, started in Delaware where my customer was, going to Delaware with this great woman, Leanne Thomas, that is now the chief of staff Joyce Bender, but she was in HR at Computer Sciences Corporation and the Delaware School District. They wanted a school-to-work program, so I there started the Bender Leadership Academy, and then I started doing this at Highmark with the Pittsburgh Public Schools, and then I started doing this at, um, Lanxess, now Calgon Carbon. Calgon Carbon with the Beaver Area Schools, Fox Chapel at Covestro, but still Delaware. 2018, we launched the Bender Leadership Academy as a not-for-profit focusing on Job preparedness for high school students with disabilities, fighting bullying, and the Mary Brocker Mental Health Initiative. And it is my pride and joy, these young people living with disabilities who deserve equality and equity in the workforce and people to stand behind them. And I wanted to talk for a minute about our Not Ashamed campaign. So Not Ashamed is a national campaign. We want to help these students by showing them you need to be proud, not ashamed. So what you do is get your cell phone, go to benderleadershipacademy.org, and make a video. Gerald, do you want to add to that?

Yeah, so this is a short video where you can talk about if you are a person with mental health disabilities like me, you can say, hi, I'm a person living with mental health disabilities and I am not ashamed. That's the most important part Breaking down that stigma, making sure you're not ashamed about having a mental health disability. I have PTSD, anxiety disorder, and I am not ashamed. Now, if you do not have a mental health disability, you can still make a video as an ally supporting those with mental health disabilities. If you have some kind of disability, we'd love for you to talk about that and saying that you support people with mental health disabilities and that if you have a mental health disability, you should not be ashamed. And something about why, something that's important to you as to why. So just a quick snippet of that. Not Ashamed is the, the campaign, so you got to say that in there and post that with the #NotAshamed tag. Send that to us. If you look on joycebenderleadership.org. You can see all the info on there. Send that to us. We've got some great people involved in the program that have signed on, made their Not Ashamed videos, like Ty Herndon and Valerie Jarrett. We were able to get Judy Heumann involved in this last year, and sports stars, and celebrities, and congressmen, and all kinds of leaders throughout our community. As well as people with disabilities, youth with disabilities, leaders with disabilities, and everyday folks just out there trying to help break down the stigma on the ground floor. So anyone and everyone can do this. So please get out there and sign up for that campaign.

I mean, it's so important It is so important. It is often about saving lives. So make sure, benderleadership.org, go today, make a Not Ashamed video, and then let us know you did it. Benderleadership.org.

Go ahead, Gerald. Remember what I said about being loud and proud about being a person with a disability? When you have a hidden disability like a mental health disability and you do that, you have no idea what— or maybe you do if you've been in this position— the impact that has when someone else sees that and they have that disability and they have not been out as a person with a disability. They've been masking. They've been hiding that. And they see somebody who is proud about that disability and not afraid to talk about it. And they feel that disability pride for the first time. How that can transform their outlook on themselves and their identity as a person with a disability. Those videos. That's what we're trying to do with this, and you can be a part of that.

Any— yes. And I wanted to also mention a couple other things. You know, Bender Consulting Services was founded in 1995, as I say, as a for-profit company for two reasons. Number one, I wanted to have a rich benefits program. And number two, No pity, because people with disabilities need paychecks, not pity. But, you know, here we are working so hard to try to get jobs for people with disabilities. So I said, okay, how can we break down this stigma? And that's when my team, now only people with disabilities, designed iDisAbility. An e-learning product, and it is fantastic. You know, if you don't want to— don't know how to interview someone with autism, or you don't understand the correct linguistics to use when you're talking about people with disabilities, iDisability is for you. Also, we have— we do digital access, digital access at work, right here Joyce Bender Consulting Services and strategic planning. And oh my goodness, we've been working with these multi-billion-dollar corporations doing strategic planning from beginning to end on assessment and so many other issues. So, you know, when I said I had that accident in 1985, it is amazing. What has happened since then? Oh, one other thing. There are 500, 600, 600 disability-owned business enterprises at Disability:IN. And guess what? I'm the first Dobe. So if you are in supplier diversity, got to get in touch with me. Got to call us. Staffing. Digital accessibility, training, consulting, we work in all areas. So, Gerald, do you have anything you want to say before the end of the show today?

Happy ADAversary. A great way, the best way you could celebrate, I would say, if you're a hiring manager out there, if you're in a company, is hire a person with a disability because That's the biggest area we need to progress. And since the ADA has passed, hire someone today. But if not, if you're a part— talk to somebody, raise awareness about disability and why people should be proud of disability.

Yes, we are at Bender Consulting Services, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, celebrating Disability Pride Month with my Disability Pride tree right behind me. As I said before, with that replica of Justin Dart's hat, and then from King Jordan to Tony Coelho to Judy Heumann to Maria Town to Yoshiko, on and on, Bob Kafka, of course, Joyce Bender. We have so many people, so many pictures, so many hanging on our tree that it is including Ed Roberts. So I just hope you are all celebrating your Disability Pride Month. We are at Bender. We're all about competitive jobs. Make sure, as Gerald said, if you are looking for a job or you know someone else looking for a job, make sure you get in touch with us today. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com. Happy ADA Month, and as Mary Brocker Joyce Bender says, remember today, choose joy.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America variety channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.