Disability Matters
Competitive employment and empowerment for people with disabilities is the emphasis of this show. Broadcast live and captioned in real-time for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, we discuss how people with disabilities can secure career opportunities, and how employers, organizations and individuals can support employment and empowerment of people with disabilities.
Episodes
Highmark month continues with Karen Hanlon, President and Chief Operating Officer. Ms. Hanlon will share her background and her role in the organization. She will also share her insights into current health care trends.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
- Serves as CEO of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. and Board Chair and Founder of Bender Leadership Academy, a non-profit organi...
Joyce is starting 2026 with the returning champion of competitive employment for Americans with disabilities, David Holmberg, President, and CEO of Highmark Health and Chairman of the Board, Highmark, Inc. Mr. Holmberg launched an initiative in 2020 to hire 30 people with disabilities from Bender Consulting Services to honor the 30th anniversary of the signing of the ADA, called the Highmark 30/30. He and all of Highmark have cont...
Disability Matters Joyce welcomes Maria Town, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Jennifer Mathis, Deputy Director of the Baze...
Joyce welcomes Lisa Scales, President and CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to the show. Ms. Scales will share the mission of this organization and impart upon the listeners the heightened importance of donating to the food bank during the holiday season as well as year-round.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
Joyce welcomes Aaron Keller, Owner, VoiceAmerica Media and Producer/Engineer for Disability Matters with Joyce Bender at VoiceAmerica. Along with discussing his career, Aaron will share his reflections on having the pleasure of working with Joyce to bring her show to her loyal listeners for the past 20 years.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
- Serves as CEO of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. and Board Chair and Founder of Bend...
Joyce welcomes Dr. Calvin Troup, the current President of Geneva College. Among the topics discussed will be the direction he has taken the college under his leadership.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
- Serves as CEO of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. and Board Chair and Founder of Bender Leadership Academy, a non-profit organization focused on addressing the transition to work for youth and young adults with disabilities.
- F...
Joyce welcomes Charlie LaVallee, former CEO of Variety the Children's Charity back to the show. Mr. LaValle will discuss his long career with this vital organization. With a mission to empower children with disabilities to live life to the fullest, Variety the Children's Charity provides life-changing mobility and communication equipment to ensure its most vulnerable kids are no longer left out, behind, or excluded. Mr. LaVallee wi...
In recognition of November as National Epilepsy Awareness Month, Joyce welcomes Colleen Fulkerson, Senior Manager, Special Events and Andrea Zonneveld, Director of Community Education & Outreach from Epilepsy Association of Western and Central PA (EAWCP) to the show.
Joining them will be Logan Huwalt, a Baldwin-Whitehall high school junior living with epilepsy. He is a valued advocate for people living with epilepsy and works har...
Joyce welcomes Nanette (Nan) DeTurk, executive level leader with financial, strategic, and operational expertise in health care, insurance, and consumer product/service industries, to the show.
As the retired Executive Vice President, CFO & Strategy, Highmark Health, she will be discussing her extensive career in the healthcare industry. Additionally, Ms. DeTurk will discuss her commitment to finding talented people with disabili...
ENCORE PRESENTATION of May 27, 2025, Joyce welcomes Dr. Louis Olander, Ph.D., Director of Research and Veterans' Initiatives at Disability: IN. As a veteran and advocate, Dr. Olander will share his work with Disability:IN,...
As we enter National Epilepsy Awareness Month, Joyce welcomes Landis Wiedner one of the leading voices in epilepsy today. She's the founder and host of What the EF?, a top 10% global podcast which, was recognized by the California State Legislature with a Media Excellence Award. She will be discussing the latest advances in the treatment of epilepsy for those that are living with the condition.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
Responsible Joyce welcomes Molly Burke, a multi-hyphenate creative and advocate who uses her voice—on stage, on screen, and on the page—to educate, entertain, and drive meaningful change for the world. With over 5 million followers across social media, she has built a globally recognizable brand as a speaker, content creator, author, consultant, and model.
Diagnosed at age 4 with Retinitis Pigmentosa—a rare degenerative eye disea...
Joyce welcomes Melissa Anderson, Executive Vice President, Chief Auditor & Compliance Officer at Highmark Health to the show. She serves as the primary staff liaison to the audit committee of the board of directors for Highmark Inc. and Highmark Health.
She will discuss her support of the Bender Consulting Services, Inc. partnership with Highmark Health.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
- Serves as CEO of Bender Consulting S...
Joyce welcomes Joy Matoney, Vice President, Diversified Businesses & Growth Planning and Enablement at Highmark, Inc.
She will discuss her stellar career at Highmark, Inc. and her commitment to the Bender partnership to hire people with disabilities.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
- Serves as CEO of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. and Board Chair and Founder of Bender Leadership Academy, a non-profit organization focused o...
Joyce welcomes Congressman Steny Hoyer and former Congressman Tony Coelho to the show. They will be discussing the 35th Anniversary of the ADA and what progress has been made over the years and what has not been fulfilled.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
- Serves as CEO of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. and Board Chair and Founder of Bender Leadership Academy, a non-profit organization focused on addressing the transition to...
Joyce welcomes Mark Fleischer, Executive Producer, and Brady Patsy, Community Engagement Manager, with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (CLO) to the show.
Among the topics discussed will be current Pittsburgh CLO programs, the history of the organization, its partnership with the Bender Leadership Academy, and its plans for the 2025 Production of A Christmas Carol.
Joyce A. Bender Career Highlights
- Serves as CEO of Bender Co...
Joyce welcomes back to the show, Scott Hammerstrom, Manager of Programs and Partnerships with the Bender Leadership Academy and Gerald Homme, Manager of Talent Acquisition for Bender Consulting Services, Inc.
Mr. Hammerstrom will talk about Bender Leadership Academy and its resent golf outing in memory of Mary Brougher and plans for the upcoming Disability Mentoring Day, Wednesday, October 22, 2025.
Mr. Homme will share the n...
Joyce welcomes Jeanette Towles, Founder and CEO of Synterex, a Disability Owned Business Enterprise (DOBE).
Synterex is the home of AgileWriter.ai™, an AI-enabled authoring platform that prioritizes accessibility and gets your important information to the intended audience, be it plain language or technical content.
Ms. Towles will share her background as a seasoned and dedicated medical writer with extensive medical/regulato...
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