Just getting a business off the ground is a major hurdle. But for Debra Ruh, that wasn't enough of a challenge. The founder of TecAccess.net decided to focus on employing people with disabilities after thinking about the future of her daughter, diagnosed with Down syndrome. The move turned out to be a boon for the company, which designs websites and online learning tools. TecAccess got a surge of new clients after the federal government amended a law in 2001 to say that technology had to be accessible for people with disabilities. This year the company, which counts major corporations and government agencies as clients, will have $2.5 million in sales. Here is a recent chat with Debra Ruh.
How did this idea come about?
I woke up and started looking at my daughter's peers in her special-education class. So the idea [of starting a business that employed people with disabilities] took hold in my mind. I had some people say, "Open up bakery or a T-shirt shop." If you knew how I cook, you wouldn't want me to open a bakery. But I knew technology. I was working in banking, and my job was training and technology.
How did you get started?
I opened up the company in my house in March 2000. I immediately got some contracts, but it was work I had been doing for 20-plus years. That's not what I wanted to do. I wanted to hire people with disabilities. But because I was performing work, I couldn't build the company. So I cashed out my 401(k) and took loans from my husband, mom, and kids. My kids lent me their saving accounts; they had $750 in each. I started hiring people in March 2001.
How did you find employees?
I first hired a couple of people I worked with in banking who did not have disabilities. Then I went to the Department of Rehabilitative Services in Virginia and told them what I was doing. They turned me down for a grant but introduced me to a lot of candidates. I must have gotten 100 résumés. It was very overwhelming, but I hired four people in late spring. One person had mental health disabilities, and the other three physical.
How did you find your niche?
In June 2001, government agencies were told they could not procure or design a website that was not accessible to everyone, including the blind, deaf, and mobility impaired. So that's what we started getting into. We stayed with it and eventually worked with Hewlett-Packard, Canon, the Department of Education, the Patent and Trademark Office, the Internal Revenue Service, and other government agencies.
How is the company organized?
Everyone worked from [his or her] own home for many years. I did not get an office until 2005, because then there were too many assistants and managers at my house. Still a majority of our associates telework. Our main office is in Rockville, Va. Now we have 25 employees and a total of 60 associates. Over 80 percent have disabilities.
Isn't it tough working with people who have disabilities?
Yes, it complicates things a little more. There were more things I had to consider. I would say some of the challenges I ran into in the beginning were truly understanding the disability. Because my business model is so different and I choose to hire so many people with different types of disabilities, I better understand how to make employees more productive. I have a business to run. At first we failed with some employees. One had a mental health disability and could not self-direct and could not get out of bed. So I let him go. Years later, he came back [and] said, "I really got my head on right." So this time we brought him into the office, and he has done wonderfully. You better know who your employees are. If one has young children, he might need to go to the pediatrician more.
Sounds as if there was an upside, too.
I saw the value of hiring people with disabilities. I never saw it as a negative. In fact, we have a very low turnover rate. Most people come with us and stay with us. They are very loyal, dedicated. They do whatever it takes to get the project done, under budget and early. And their attitude is so good. It's allowed me to better compete in the marketplace. Another advantage I didn't realize I would get is that if you're a person with a disability, you have no choice but to think outside the box. Typically, our world is not made for people who can't see or [are] in a wheelchair or can't use hands. I've got very creative people used to having challenges thrown at them in every aspect of their lives. These people run into inaccessible websites all the time.
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