Ferguson got a job doing clerical work for the Ademco Security Group in Syosset, New York on Long Island. He slipped and fell on August 18, 1989 while standing on a stool to reach invoices from a filing cabinet, injuring his head, neck, and back, and the injury led to his termination. He filed a complaint with the state workers' compensation agency, which reviewed the matter over the next several years. Ferguson enrolled at Nassau Community College in East Garden City, where he made the dean's list three times. Also that year, he was forced to leave a class after a disciplinary hearing board found that he had acted overly aggressively towards the teacher.