Walsh/Houghton: New CEO of iDisability and Co-Founder Discuss Direction of Organization Under New Leadership

At Highmark Health, we believe what makes us unique makes us better. Our differences broaden our perspectives and foster a variety of skills to complement each other, creating a stronger and more vibrant workforce. It's this belief that earned us recognition as the Best Place to Work for the 10th year for individuals with disabilities in a survey by the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN. We'll continue to celebrate and benefit from the inclusion of all people. To find out more, visit highmarkhealth.org. 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.

Hey everyone, hi, welcome to the show today. This is Joyce Bender with Disability Matters. So thank you to have such great listeners. Oh my goodness. I can't tell you. You have been so loyal. You know, we have— this is what, year 22? Can you believe that? I remember the very first show, and I was a nervous wreck. Oh my goodness. What am I going to talk about?. And I had the chief human capital officer from Highmark. And here's how little I knew. I made him come all the way out to my office and sit in another room, and he could have been at his office. But like, none of us really knew what we were doing at that time. And when the producer said to me, okay, now keep in mind, it could just be you. Ah, but it wasn't. It wasn't just me. It wasn't. But, you know, it has been so wonderful. And now to everyone around the world, all you great listeners. As I said last week, Germany, wow, you have the largest listening audience. But Russia, Australia, Samoa. It's amazing. I think it's over 147 countries. Remember when it used to be 17? Wow. Things have really exploded. And I just want to thank all of you. Now, what I want to tell you, when you're in another country, here's what you have to do. Find English-speaking venues. For example, When I traveled to Indonesia, Japan, all of the countries, every embassy had an American Center where you could go and they had presentations. And I spoke at those more than one time. Ask the consulate where that is and tell them about this show. So Thank you. Thank you. Hello, Richard in Brazil and Gangyung in South Korea. Miss you. Love you. Hello, Yoshiko. Yoshiko Dart. Sorry, Yoshiko. Had to take a sip of water there. Yoshiko is awesome. I love her. Special shout out to you. And to our fabulous sponsor, Highmark. Ah, I love you, Highmark. Well, I have to tell you, I was the most excited ever about this show today. This is a very important show. They're all important, but this is especially important because we are announcing a new CEO I am the first CEO of iDisability, who you will meet shortly. But you know what? How great is that, that I get to do that? I'm so thrilled about that. But I wanted to go back in time for a minute, and I have my good friend and partner, Andy Houghton, with us. Andy, why don't you tell everyone, in addition to being my partner and founder, first a little bit about you?

Sure. Hey Joyce, it's great to be with you on the show today. And I'm equally excited about our new CEO, John Walsh. There's so much exciting things happening with iDisability, and it's a great opportunity to be able to discuss it with you today. I've used a wheelchair for 38 years due to a motorcycle accident, and I've been very fortunate over that last 3 and a half decades to do some things that most people never in their life have a chance to do. Travel around the world, spend time in the White House, in Congress, you know, working with individuals with disabilities in post-conflict regions like Bosnia, Kosovo, and in Vietnam. It's really been an incredible run. And over these years, I've kind of taken a compilation of my experiences working with individuals with disabilities in corporate America and came up with an idea back in 2015, a way to educate these companies on how to better accommodate and work with individuals with disabilities in the workplace. And it was really about creating a series of e-learning modules that were digestible in a way that— and delivered in a way that people could easily understand and doing it in a, in a timeframe that is reasonable, 15 minutes or less. So It was not long after that that I called up my partner Joyce, my good friend Joyce, and said, "Hey, I got this idea here. I've got some content. Let's put together— are you interested in teaming up on this project?" And Joyce Bender had all of the elements that were missing and that were needed to make iDisability a success. That was, she has expertise, her team has expertise in making products accessible to the broadest range of users possible, and also had extensive experience in the areas of content specialties that we focus on. And that plus her long-lasting relationships in the corporate world and her reputation. So we partnered back in 2016, created a separate company called iDisability, and launched the modules, 45 modules, shortly thereafter. So the, the company has grown significantly since then, but it was time for us to bring on a leader who has the skills that are really exceeding our expectations for a project like this. John is an incredibly accomplished C-suite executive who I think is bringing his heart, is leading with his heart, but has the skills and experience to back it up. So, you know, just grateful to be with you today and to, you know, share what we do and to celebrate bringing John on.

Yes, and speaking about iDisability and then, as this relates to our new CEO, but Andy, don't you see for any companies listening right now, don't you see this as something needed globally, you know, with our customers that are global?

Well, absolutely. You know, it's in many cases, you know, globally, the different regions are, you know, catching up to the US and some are, you know, at our level already, but The needs of individuals with disabilities don't change from, you know, one country to the next. What changes are the understanding of our capabilities. So in many cases globally, iDisability is needed much more than it is in some places. And it's really about helping— iDisability helps employers understand the capabilities of individuals with disabilities and then how to accommodate them in the workplace. So, um, you know, with John on board and us going to be launching in multiple languages, it's really going to appeal much greater to a broader global audience than it ever has before. So it's really exciting to know that this product will, you know, grow to the extent that it's going to impact individuals with disabilities around the globe.

Agreed. I am agreed. Well, I am so excited to introduce the new CEO of iDisability, John Walsh, who I consider a long-term friend, but also a national disability rights leader. You know, where the rubber meets the road is employment. And let me tell you, this man has been there forever with me getting people jobs and high school students with disabilities. Um, so John, welcome to the show. This is the launch media-wise of our new CEO John Walsh.

Thank you so much, Joyce Bender and Andy, for the kind words. And I'm so excited to be given the opportunity to take two of my big passions, technology and helping people of all abilities, to market with what you both have done a great job developing and nurturing over the years. And it's an exciting moment in iDisability's history to be involved and help take it to the next level. And so I'm very thankful and honored to be part of your team and looking forward to growing and breaking down just, you know, the barriers that exist still today, even after, you know, legislation and just lots of education, but still plenty of work to do on making sure that businesses are taking advantage of the skills that people who have disabilities have not, you know, been able to find employment, but have the skills and are ready to go, along with just all the things that have changed recently with technology. During COVID a lot of technologies were put in place to enable people to work remotely, which has sometimes been a challenge. So super excited about this moment in history and time, and I think Eye Disability is in a great place to make a difference in the world with your help and just getting people to understand what it is and how it works and how it can help companies really be compliant legally, but also break down all those barriers and misconceptions and misunderstandings of simple things like accommodations. You know, everybody gets worried about that. I've run very large companies and businesses for years, and you hear the word accommodations as a business owner, you say, oh my God, that's money. But average cost, $500, right? Once you start digging into it. So a lot to unpack here, but excited to be here, Joyce Bender and Andy Well, John, you have quite a background.

That, that is one of the things that I think is so amazing at your very young age that you have accomplished all of this. But would you mind, uh, sharing with our listeners, uh, about your background, specifically from when I first met you, which you were already at the C-suite level around 2001 or 2002 or something of that nature. But you have had quite a background. Would you mind sharing that?

Sure, absolutely. No, uh, I've been fortunate to have been given a lot of opportunities, but also, you know, have leaned forward and kind of a run, run to the fire, not away from the fire kind of person. So I've jumping into challenges as early— in my early days, I actually worked for the Department of Defense, worked my way up the civil service up to the top within 9 years, worked on everything from weapons systems to IT-related services near the end. I said, hey, this IT thing has really taken off, jumped into commercial industry and have worked, you know, in the last 20-plus years at a variety of companies, CSC, Computer Sciences Corporation, where you and I met, Joyce Bender, for almost 18 years. And there I worked as running everything from a $15 million P&L running messaging and groupware to a $2 billion or $1 billion organization running all the data centers in the Americas, where you and I worked to hire people at both of those jobs, including others. So it's been a great run. I've also lived and worked overseas for over 9 years in 4 countries— Switzerland, Germany, Singapore, and Denmark— and have led people and delivered services in over 100 countries. So I understand, as we talked a little bit about the need globally for also how to engage and work with people with disabilities successfully to integrate them into your workforce, but also handle your customers who have disabilities. And as you know, statistically, 1 out of 4 adults have a disability. Over 70 million here in the United States, 1.2 billion globally. So it's a group that any of us can join at any time in our life spans. So to me, it's always been, for me, a business decision just because, as you say, Joyce Bender, and it's always stuck with me, "Paychecks, not pity." And I think, you know, when you give somebody employment and you give them the opportunity to pay for themselves and be independent and even take care of their families, it's such a huge move in terms of being able to be independent and have the purpose in life that all of us want. So for me, you know, it was a business opportunity because I could find great people, extremely loyal. And, and so I always wove that into any job, as you know, I went to. But just going back to my roles, you know, I was at CSC, moved all the way up to working up just under the CEO. One of my last jobs, I was running all their part of their Strategic Growth Group. But before that, I was in the Nordics in Denmark, turning around a business there for 4 years. And so just to really been kind of a turnaround startup guy. So that means I'm moving quite a bit. And if you look me up on LinkedIn and please reach out, connect if you're listening, I'd love to, always love to learn and meet new people and learn from anybody because there's so much out there to learn. But I've worked at Computer Sciences, as I said, SAIC, ASRC Federal. I was a CIO and CTO there. At SAIC, I ran a $2 billion group of all the infrastructure services. I've worked at Paraton as well, helping them enter the Homeland Security business with the TSA and other companies as well over the years. I also have my own board advisory firm, Red Summit Global, which you'll see I'm associated with as well. I advise startups, over 100 in the last several years. I have a global presence, sole source contract access to the US government, a trillion dollars worth of investment contacts I have if you need help growing. So that's been very exciting and again, an opportunity to shape artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other next-generation technologies to make sure that they think about people of all disabilities and make sure that there's not bias or other challenges created by this next-generation technology that's coming to market. So again, just a great place to be in technology and working with the disability community. Lastly, I'll just say I've done quite a bit of nonprofit work and humanitarian services. I'm on the board of the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region. I've been working with United Nations on AI for good. I've been on the board of the American Association of People with Disabilities for several years. I'm currently been the treasurer for a few years. And then I've been working with Joyce as well as a board member on her Bender Leadership Academy, a great— started working with her in 2000 on that in the early days before it was a legal entity and a real company, just helping to develop and coach and mentor and teach teach people, uh, you know, in the high school age or trade schools how to successfully enter the workforce. Uh, again, just creating channels and, and opportunities and networks for helping people that come from sometimes very difficult backgrounds and, and big challenges, but through that have built the grit and perseverance to, uh, uh, make a difference and get out there and, and find a way to get to work. So always happy to been involved with all of the work you've done, Joyce, over the years.

Thank you so much. Andy, hearing John's background here, what value do you think he's going to bring to the success, continued success, and dynamic growth of iDisability?

Well, So, you know, for, for years, iDisability has kind of had an organic growth. And, you know, I think we're, we're extremely proud to be able to claim that once our clients get on the platform and upload the modules to their learning management system, we have close to a 99% retention rate of all of our customers. So that speaks volumes for the content and the commitment, long-term commitment. And so it was time really to be able to take the product and the company to a next, to the next level. And in addition to John leading the effort to revamp and create a whole new look of our modules, really bringing them up to a much more compelling look and feel and interactivity, his experience in IT as well as his knowledge of operating and creating efficiencies within a startup or an existing company are invaluable. And frankly, you know, I think the upside is far greater than we could have envisioned, you know, with John on board. So in addition to that, his relationships with, you know, executives and board representatives on corporations really provide an invaluable vehicle for him to communicate the value of iDisability to senior executives and business leaders who, um, have the ability to make decisions, um, and pull the trigger on iDisability. So I think the overall package and his leadership and vision to create other avenues for distributing iDisability, like through an online learning management system where individuals can access the training independently or individually, where we can monitor, you know, the efficacy of the training. You know, he has all those skills that allow, you know, a full-time effort that really, you know, is so exciting for us. I I can't believe at this stage, you know, we are able to leverage somebody of his skill and talent. So I think over the coming months, there's a lot of things that are going to happen. You know, the, the new modules are rolling out quarterly between now and July. There's going to be a lot of other opportunities to distribute the content. So a lot of things are coming together that are going to add value to our customers that have never been there before. Beyond the content itself, the usability, the access, and the creativity within the new modules is really going to add value. And I think, you know, be a better value for our customers and future customers.

I agree. And it's also, you know, so wonderful that iDisability has taken off like this that I assure you, Andy and I, several years ago, we were not thinking, "Oh yeah, we're going to go out and hire a CEO with Fortune 500 corporate experience." But, you know, Here we are. And if you're listening, get on board now, because this train is a supersonic train. It's moving. So if you're listening, John Walsh— John, where do people reach you if they're interested in the product?

Yeah, well, absolutely go to our website idisability.com. There you'll find a 98-second— so 98 30 seconds of your time video that really explains all of the capabilities of the training offering that we have today. We are going to build some other offerings as well from our company, but this is our flagship, obviously, technology that we have today. You can reach out to me on LinkedIn and also my email is jwalsh, j-w-a-l-s-h-i-i-i, so 3 i's like the third, @idisability.com. So again, website, you can click in and also ask for us to reach out to you, LinkedIn, or send me an email.

Thank you. Make sure you do that. Remember, we're on the move here. This is exciting. Don't be left out. John, as we talked about, you know, CSC, $13 billion company when I was there. 60,000 employees or whatever it was, and that was way back. I mean, it would be 500,000 by today. But, um, as you know, I went there and I did training, and it was really great. You know, it was me one-on-one training or speaking to a group of managers, and it always made a difference. But not the same as software training, and there's a big reason for that. But what I wanted to ask you is, how important do you think the software training is for managers to be successful? And I think you can even look at the little teeny tiny training I did in comparison to company-wide. But it makes a difference. Do you want to talk about that, how training makes a difference working with and hiring people with disabilities?

100%. No, you know, first of all, you know, just comparing in-person versus, you know, online training, you know, of course, from a cost perspective as a business person, I always think of affordability, right? And scalability. And so having this content available available to your team on demand, anytime, anywhere, on any platform is amazing. So, you know, you could have a situation where you're going to interview somebody with a disability and you don't really know what accommodations even means, let alone what accommodations you should consider giving somebody when you do that interview. And you may not have worked with somebody who's in a wheelchair or is hearing impaired before. So these tools, having them available at any time, except, you know, as opposed to having a one-time training from— and believe me, I've had Joyce come to several of the companies and motivate my teams to understand the opportunity from a business perspective, but also just kind of the right thing to do in working with people with disabilities and all the nuances of, you know, and challenges that people with disabilities have, but also the opportunity that businesses have to take advantage of that. Closing that gap of stigmas, I'll say fear as well. If you don't understand disabilities, like a lot of people really don't unless you had one or had a loved one who had a particular disability, it's really important to understand this is just like anything in life, a challenge that this person has overcome. With other disabilities and sometimes superpowers, frankly, that offset whatever disability that may be visible or invisible. So having that training available to your team for leading people inside the company, but also I think really important is your customers. One out of four people, you know, in the United States and the world have disabilities. And when you're interacting with those customers, You also got to think about the loved ones of those customers. So if you treat somebody with a disability poorly for whatever reason, intentionally or unintentionally, most likely unintentionally, now you've alienated even more people. And so from a customer satisfaction and really creating a delightful experience for somebody with a disability really makes a difference in just your ability to grow, Statistically Accenture did a great study a few years ago working with the American Association of People with Disabilities, which Joyce Bender and I are on the board of. Created a great report really talking about, you know, the business side of why it makes sense to hire people with disabilities and have a way to engage your team to be effective in working with people with disabilities, either as an employee or a customer. Really, you know, statistically it's very clear. Companies grow much faster, double the profit, and have top-line growth year over year much faster than their peers when they're engaging a diverse workforce of all abilities. So from a business perspective, it makes sense. And just also raising awareness of disabilities you may not think are a disability, like migraine headaches. This is actually a major disability and affects millions of people. In an area where it's not well understood. If, you know, how do I work with somebody who has that kind of a disability? That's a new module actually we're launching this upcoming quarter. So excited to have that out in our portfolio of 47 modules. That's 12.5 hours of content in 15-minute or less bite-sized chunks. So just think about, you know, you're getting on the Metro at night, you can watch a module module or two while you're on the train. Again, it's designed, tested, and delivered by people with disabilities, and so it's very accessible. So if you're on a— captioning and you can just watch the video, you don't want to wake up your baby and you're watching your training while you're working. Again, very flexible technology, on demand, available to your team either situationally when they got an upcoming interview or just for awareness to make sure they're compliant. With all the laws and regulations associated with, uh, working with people with disabilities as employees or customers. So just a, just a tremendous platform. And credit to both you and Andy, this was kind of a slow organic growth, but over time you've built 4 million users. And having a robust platform that can deliver that kind of scale already is important to me as a business owner, as a purchaser from a business, making sure we're going to be around over a period of time. You've built that already, so that's a fantastic basis to just continue to grow this company. And excited again to be here to do it with you.

Thank you, John. That is so awesome. And you know, John, I was thinking about this. I was thinking, um, This is really an investment in retention. And what I just read this article here in Pittsburgh, how companies are having a hard time keeping talent, you know, whether it's engineering, healthcare, whatever it is. And I was thinking about that and I thought, you know what, that's what we have to really make clear to everyone. When you purchase iDisability, You learn how to communicate with people with disabilities. And when you learn how to communicate with people with disabilities, they're engaged, they're involved, and they're happy. And they're for once getting really great accommodations, and they won't leave. This is what I'm saying. No, education is retention.

100%, Joyce Bender. And the cost of retention, you know, Having been in this world and, and dealt with, you know, retention problems at a variety of companies that are in trouble, or whatever I'm working on at the time, is a huge cost to a business. So having, uh, you know, again, training on demand that allows you to understand how to best engage your employees of all disabilities is a great tool for retention and would pay for itself with just literally one employee leaving, by the way, uh, just the math that I do as a business owner. So Very important angle there, Joyce, as well that we should all think about.

And you know what, Andy, while we're talking about this, I'm talking about people not educated in communicating with people with disabilities. I'm sure over your life so far, you've had your share of people saying bizarre things to you.

Oh, well, you know, I, I could go story after story, but yeah, you know, I, I always— I, I did this video once on, um, on a guy. I was in Home Depot and, uh, I was shopping and I'm pushing a cart, you know. I think I had a propane tank in the cart or an empty one. And, um, and the guy comes up to me and he says, oh, oh, oh man, I hope that's not permanent. And then, uh, you know, he said, uh, you know, I was in a wheelchair once. I, I, I got in an accident. I had to spend 3 weeks in a chair. I've— I know, I know what you're going through. Oh, And, you know, I just kind of listened to him and let it go. Maybe in the old days when I was a lot younger and more spry, I would have had some choice words for him. But I always look at that as an opportunity. You know, I don't want to bust their bubble, right? It's really let him perceive whatever he wants. But he saw a guy using a wheelchair. That was shopping, pushing a cart. And the first thing he thinks of is, "Man, that would suck if you had to be in that chair forever." And so it's those kind of perceptions that, you know, that occur in the workplace. You know, people don't say it, but, you know, a guy like me who's, you know, who's pretty much— I've jumped out of airplanes, right? I've, you know, mountain biked down hills on 4-wheel mountain bikes, you know, ski. I've pretty much done everything that you can imagine in a wheelchair, from sports to other activities. And, you know, really, that people, though, still— and I got to tell you, I've worked in my other business, I've worked in 29 countries. So—

Hmm, wow.

You know, understanding cultures and different cultures is, and how they view individuals with disabilities is a big challenge, I think. And having people like, um, or having a product like iDisability, uh, to better educate those, uh, those employers in some of these countries where there's people who want to do good and they want to help. Um, and, you know, iDisability has modules that will show, okay, here's how you create an environment that is more universally accessible so you can bring people in to— here's how you can accommodate an individual with this disability. But so yeah, I've heard all the stories. Oh, I've got a ton of them, but just like we all do. And I just am grateful that we now have this platform to hopefully change some of those perceptions, not only in the US but around the world.

Thanks, Andy. And oh my goodness, I see a very famous guest has joined us, and it just so happens that I am his tormentor. He's my mentor, I'm his tormentor, and that would be former Congressman Tony Coelho, author of The Americans with Disabilities Act chair of the Bender Advisory Board and like my brother. Tony, thank you for calling in. How are you today?

All right, I was saying that Joyce is my sister by another mother, but she is my sister. And so I take the beating openly and without question. So it's great to be on the show, Joyce. Seriously, uh, it's great to see Andrew, and particularly great to see John. And congratulations, John, on joining High Disability. Uh, you're going to really do some great things. I know in following your career over these years, so it's going to be exciting to see what you can do. So I'm very happy that you're part of it.

Thanks, Tony. Now, excited to be part of this, uh, and, and really, uh, thank you for all of your support for your support and guidance to myself and Joyce Bender and your leadership in getting the ADA in place in the first place, right? So that started this journey, and we're about to celebrate another anniversary, big anniversary of the ADA. So really excited that you're here with us today, and thank you for the kind words.

You're welcome, John Bender. Listeners and the viewers, and the last two businesses that John has headed up, he's always reached out to Joyce in order to have her place people with disabilities in his companies. Now, we don't get many of that, Joyce Bender. John Bender has been consistent over the years and so on. So I love you for that, John. I thank you for Bender, but more importantly, I thank you for those of us with disabilities, that you have a desire to make a difference, and that's what counts. So again, thank you very much.

Thank you, Tony.

Tony, you know what? We're talking about iDisAbility, which of course trains people how to communicate with other people with disabilities. And just now when we were talking about that, I have my story about correcting someone, and without a disability, to say the right thing. Tony was the chair during the Clinton administration, meaning he reported to President Clinton of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. And I'm so honored he asked me to be on that committee. And when I saw him at that first meeting, I went running up to him and I said, oh, Chairman Cuomo, I'm so excited to be on here because just like you, I have a seizure disorder and I have to have the Tony Smackdown and him say to me, no, it's not a seizure disorder, it's epilepsy. So just think, when you take our training, you won't have to get that Smackdown anymore because you'll know what to say But may I say, from that day forward, I never said seizure disorder again. And Tony will tell you the problem is there's so much stigma with that word epilepsy, right, Tony?

Absolutely. And a lot of people have suggested that we change it to seizure disorder, but that is in effect bowing to the stigma. We can't let stigma determine who we are and really to a great extent create the bigger problem we have in regards to people being negative. So stigma is what we all face in the disability community and what we face in the epilepsy community. So we have epilepsy and the more we educate people about our epilepsy, then you will educate people in general to accept our epilepsy. And so that's what's important, is to be proud of who you are, proud of what you're doing, and proud that you do have epilepsy. I always say, Joyce, you've heard me a thousand times, I thank God for my epilepsy. It's made me a better person. It made me realize my positives and negatives. It basically directed me in what I do for the rest of my life, and that was to advocate for people with disabilities. But basically epilepsy changed my whole desire pattern in what I was going to do. I was going to be a trial lawyer. Then I decided I wanted to be a priest. I got Denied that because of my epilepsy. So all of a sudden epilepsy played a role with my family and so forth. And so I am very thankful that I have epilepsy and still have seizures, but it's epilepsy.

If that had not happened, there wouldn't be an ADA. And if that had not happened to me, I wouldn't be talking to all of you right now. So One thing, so many things, but Tony always taught me, you know, to not be ashamed, but also to talk about it, to talk about living with epilepsy. And that is why Tony also taught me, as you can see, that words are powerful. Words are powerful. And of course, he knew that He was a congressman. He got the ADA through. Words are powerful, and that's why iDisAbility is right for you, because people do not know what to say. You know, they say the wrong words. They say the wrong things, and it's offensive when people do that, just like people say, "Don't say disability. Don't say that word." Don't say that. Why? Oh, that's negative. And I always say, really, who told you that? I'll bet it was you told you that. Not people with disabilities because we aren't ashamed. You must be. You think that's a bad word. We don't. And Tony, isn't that true how people don't want to say that and yet it doesn't bother us?

Well, all of us have ability. The distinction is, is that people assume because of our particular disability that we are not in effect equal to them or whatever, that we don't have the same dreams, we don't have the same goals. And so we acknowledge that our disability makes us, in my view, more powerful and more demanding that we be considered like everybody else. I've told Joyce Bender, I've told you a thousand times, you know, don't deny me the opportunity to succeed. Give me the opportunity to fail. If I fail, then you can fire me, and so what? But if you give me the opportunity, I can then succeed and be very successful in the things that I want to do. Eye Disability is all about that. And so I feel very strongly, as Joyce knows, about this.

Yes, and I just want to also tell Andy, John, and all of our listeners, the first person on video to endorse Eye Disability was Tony. Tony was the first person John, always remember that when you're talking to potential customers, that the first person to endorse it was Tony Coelho, which, like Andy, what more can you say than that? If this is someone that has lived it, then has led the way, that's on top of it, and has just done so much for me. And he does say that all the time. He'll go somewhere and say, give us the right to be fired. And when he first said that, people were like, what are you saying? Why would you want to be fired? And of course, he explained, you know, what he meant. Just give us an opportunity. Just open the door. Just give us that chance. Well, Tony, thank you so much for calling in today. It is always a pleasure to see you.

Thank you, Joyce. Thank you, John, for going up.

Okay, thank you, Tony.

You're welcome.

Bye-bye. Well, John, you can't have a better person than that to call and congratulate you.

Uh, it's amazing. That's amazing. Love Tony. Great, great guy. And as you could hear on, on, on the call, just storied history and passion for this whole space, and for, for personal reasons, but also just, uh, that's the way he's wired. And he says it like it is, and he's got the gift of gab as a politician, but also can make sure that everybody understands. But that's the beauty of iDisability, right? We don't have to wait for Tony to show up and tell us personally. Now there's a platform available for everybody to use to help us understand those nuances like you spoke about and Andy spoke about in terms of his Home Depot experience, right? So, you know, it's those little things, those words, those actions all make a difference and sometimes get you in trouble legally. You know, litigation is doubling almost every year in this space, right? United States. So making sure you're protecting your company and training your employees to be successful is a big part of what iDisability's value is and really de-risks, you know, and enables your ability to interact not only with your employees but with your customers who are making your business thrive or not.

Yes. And you know what, Andy? Talking about community— and this is on our video— on iDisabilities modules are the correct terminology to use when you're talking to people with disabilities. And when you think about it, Andy, When someone says, uh, he's wheelchair-bound or confined, he's confined to a wheelchair, when you really think about that, which of course, so you all know, Andy is not bound, he's not chained to that wheelchair, he is able to get out of the wheelchair. But when you think about it, and I really never thought about it till right now, the negativity with that with saying that, you know, oh, so-and-so's wheelchair-bound. You know, that is negative, that is demeaning, that is, um, you can't do it. I mean, when you think about it, even that term that— I don't know how that came about, but I have heard people say, oh, and so-and-so, well, you know, they're wheelchair-bound. So just so you know, don't say that to anyone, okay? Or confined. But I'm sure, Andy, you've heard that, right?

Oh, I've definitely heard that multiple times and amongst, you know, a myriad of other unique phrases to describe a person who uses a wheelchair. But I just want to point out, you know, you and Tony talk about epilepsy, and there's a definite distinction between your disability and my disability, right? My disability, among the many other differences, is clear, right? You mentioned the term wheelchair-bound. Well, You know that I've got a disability, right? 'Cause I'm a guy who's wheeling in using a wheelchair. But the majority of disabilities are hidden, like an epilepsy or other mental health disabilities that are not readily visible or known to your coworkers. And that's where I think iDisability can really, really helps better educate us on some of those disabilities that are more, I think, difficult to navigate in the workplace, like migraines, chronic migraines, you know, certain neurodiverse disabilities and others where, you know, people don't know how to react to those individuals or don't know, understand their behaviors. And so they're automatically going to think negative or there's a problem with this person when it's really a disability that if it understood is something that will be more effective for that individual, that coworker to better communicate and understand their capabilities. So I think it's important that that's also addressed through iDisability, but being a guy who's obvious, it's pretty clear. And you call me wheelchair-bound, You know, I'll probably correct you, but, you know, it's not— it's just an education thing.

Yeah. And don't say fits either when you're talking about epilepsy. Someone asked me that, like, do you have fits? I said, are you saying am I fit? I knew what they meant, of course. Or I've had people say to me, 'You have epilepsy? Oh my goodness, you don't even look sick.' I mean, I'm sure Andy and I, we could have a sitcom. We could talk about all the things people have said to us, uh, through time. And John is very aware of all this, especially with AAPD and everything he has gone through in his life. Uh, John, one more time, if someone wants to purchase eye disability. And by the way, it's like 47 modules. It keeps getting up.

There's, there's 47 modules and growing. We're actually moving to a quarterly software release schedule with new modules each quarter. We're getting multilingual capabilities put in place, so we'll be able to train in multiple languages here in the next coming months. We also are putting a separate LMS delivery capability in place. So if you don't have an enterprise learning module system in your company, we can do that for you. And we're also working with universities and certification authorities to also get certificates and continuing education units as you take a particular curriculum in this set of modules. So exciting times. And again, just go to www.idisability.com. Reach out to me on LinkedIn or send me an email at jwalshiii@idisability.com.

And you won't regret it. John, do you have any last messages you'd like to leave with our listeners?

Just any company who isn't actively working on the engagement, and I'll say the compliance again because it is a big thing and getting worse, at least legally from a litigious perspective in the, in recent months and years. And, and just being able to delight your customers, just simple things like we talked about, language, and just making sure there's accommodations during an interview, or all those little things that can really make a difference to your customers, to your employees, and keep you out of trouble. You're really missing an opportunity here to really up your game on employing and engaging people with disabilities in a positive, constructive way and really educating your teams on how to delight your customers who have disabilities away. Again, prop— more profitable, grow faster. It's a no-brainer. I've made that decision multiple times, as you've heard, working with Joyce Bender. So take the time, take a look at us. Again, 98-second video right on our homepage. You can see exactly what we do and reach out to us and we're happy to sit down with you and tailor a program for you.

Thank you. And thank you, Andy Houghton, my partner, for joining. We are so excited. Once again, new CEO John Walsh. By the way, you could share this. It's almost on every social media platform such as Spotify. Listen to the show. Disability Matters with Joyce Bender on Voice America, and specifically share this show. John Walsh, CEO of iDisability. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com. Our final quote: Tony Coelho said, "Work gives us dignity." And so it does. In the words of Mary Brooker, when you go out tomorrow and you get up in the morning, remember, choose joy. Talk to you soon.

We'd 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.