Bill Lund, Abacus Corporation

Interviewer:  Bill, can you tell me what your first reaction was when you were approached about 
getting involved in this special initiative for hiring people with disabilities?

Bill:  Initially, when I heard about hiring folks with disabilities for state agencies, I was not 
exactly sure how that would work.  After meeting with Howard and Jennifer, I understood it a 
little better and did see it as an opportunity to draw resources from an area in which we had not 
previously drawn—pulling people with skills and abilities that we had not really utilized before 
to fill jobs for the state.  

Interviewer:  Did your company have much experience working with people with disabilities?  
Did this introduce you to a wider variety of disabilities?

Bill:  We did have some experience.  This experience came through hiring managers with the state 
who knew people with disabilities or their parents.  They would refer them to us.  Then, 
sometimes we took special accommodations for them.  We might have read them a test, where 
normally people would actually read it.  It would be a written test that they would do 
themselves.  I would say we had some limited experience.  Yes, this did bring us in to much 
wider variety of disabilities with the referral process and having those who we referred to us 
come into our office and interview.  It was the first experience we had with someone who is 
blind.  We had several candidates come through our office that were blind.  That was our first 
dealing with them. 

Interviewer: I am curious to know if you had any experience working with people with 
disabilities or know of people with disabilities in your personal life in addition to your 
professional life and how this initiative has affected it.  Prior to joining us for this initiative, did 
you have any personal experience with people with disabilities that you are comfortable with 
sharing?

Bill:  It was somewhat limited.  I am involved with my community.  I am also involved with my 
church.  Of course when you get that many people together, you come in contact with people 
with disabilities.  Two of the ones that stand out to merit are two folks that have been involved 
with head injuries.  They had some cognitive disabilities.  I actually spoke with one of my friends 
last night who is unemployed trying to help him.  Going through this initiative, I thought of a 
few ways he might be of service.  He sent me his resume last night.

Interviewer:  What have been the two or three major lessons that your have learned from being 
associated with our project?

Bill:  One of the biggest things I have learned is to have a new attitude about working with 
people with disabilities.  A lot of that has come from working with Jennifer and Howard and 
understanding better how we might be able to utilize folks with disabilities, including that the 
skills were more important than the disabilities.  It really comes down to how do that person’s 
skills rank?  Do they have the skills to perform the required duties of the job?  

I learned that the skills matter more than disabilities and also that the training that we receive was 
important.  I think what we take home from being involved with this project is the training that 
our staff received.  They became more well-rounded.  You might also say they obtained greater 
confidence in working with people with disabilities, in so much as we hired a couple of the 
referrals internally in some of our offices to work.  I know in one particular case, she could not 
work full time but she could work part-time.  That was perfect.  We needed a part-time 
receptionist in one of our offices so we could bring someone onboard. 

Interviewer:  What changes have you noticed, either in yourself for in your company, that you 
can attribute to the experience with our project?

Bill:  I think the biggest change I have noticed is the greater comfort level in working with people 
with disabilities and interviewing them.  It is very simple things even understanding appropriate 
interactions.  I learned this from Howard, when people use a wheelchair to make sure to be on 
their level.  Sit down with them.  It is the very simple things, but I think knowing some of those 
simple things is important.  For example, when working with people who are blind, it is important 
to learn how to offer them assistance without having them feel put down.  Some of those things 
we have been able to convey to our staff members and give them confidence.  I think sometimes 
there is some apprehension just because they are not comfortable.  I think with some training and 
some of the instruction from this has lead to greater confidence and ability to be more 
comfortable around folks with disabilities.  

Interviewer:  Thank you.  What two or three things might you do differently if we did this 
project over?

Bill:  I think I would do a few things.  I would provide additional training for our staff.  I think 
the training we received was well received, yet this year as we position ourselves to grow as a 
company we have made several staff changes.  The training that the original staff received did 
not necessarily pass on to new staff.  The other thing I would have done differently was to have 
established a better tracking system.  I know there was one established with the program that was 
followed, but internally I think we could have done a little bit better job of tracking.

Interviewer:  Have you seen changes in agencies or managers that you are working with that 
seem increasingly more open or perhaps more comfortable with people with disabilities as a result 
of this?

Bill:  I guess the answer to that is yes and no.  Some, yes, we did see some agencies that were 
more comfortable with it and wanted to utilize folks with disabilities in their workforce.  Then, 
there were others who did not.  As they looked to a temporary staffing agency, they wanted us 
to produce that perfect candidate that could come in a do the job right from the start and to hit 
the ground running and be immediately ready and up to speed.  I think they viewed some folks 
with disabilities as not being able to do that, which may or may not have been the case.  

Interviewer:  Have the webcasts served as a useful tool for training your staff? 

Bill:  I think that always we learn through the education process.  Many times we learn through 
repetitiveness.  I think it is nice to have some opportunities to go back and revisit something after 
it has been shown.  I think it is important.  It is nice to have online resources because we all 
cannot always meet.  I know there was an effort at the beginning of this to travel around the 
state and meet every person and perform trainings.  Those were fantastic.  That is not always 
possible so I think that the webcasts were very useful and very helpful for the staff.  

Interviewer:  Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for the future in how this can 
move forward even after our project has ended?

Bill:  I think education is part of it and I was excited to hear just a few minutes ago some 
opportunities that have come out with new managers with the state.  Part of the human resources 
with the state is that there will be some training on how they can work with people with 
disabilities.  I was excited to hear that.  I think the lack of that education and training really was 
somewhat of a hindrance to us in being real successful.  We did have some successful placements 
but I would have liked to have been more successful.  

I always like to see the numbers.  I think if there is more interactive tracking or a database type of 
system—I was just considering what we could have done a little bit differently.  I think the 
tracking would have helped.  I think it would have helped to have a monthly report where we 
could have seen a little better how we were making progress and contact with each person. 

Interviewer: A little report card—

Bill:  Exactly.

Interviewer:  Thank you for all your help over the last couple of years and all your willingness to 
give us access to your staff.  The training that we have been able to give to you and the training 
you have given to us has been great.  We have learned a lot about staffing agencies and a lot 
about the state and how it works through the staffing agencies.  You have given us another 
resource to help the people we represent with disabilities.  This is another tool in their toolbox to 
find another way to get into work.  Thank you very much.  We appreciate it.  

Bill:  Thanks.