50 Years, 50 Stories - Jodi Walters

This week’s installment of “50 Stories, 50 Years” comes from Imagine!’s Director of Innovations Jodi Walters. Jodi offers a great perspective of Imagine!, and offers even better advice about giving thanks to the employees who truly make organizations like Imagine! special. Thank you, Jodi!

Go Thank A DSP!

By Jodi Walters

Jodi Walters in 2005.

I started working at Imagine! in 1995 as a part-time weekend relief worker at the 19th Street Group Home in Boulder as I was finishing my degree at CU. At the time, my only other experience working with individuals with disabilities had been teaching at a school for people who were blind or had other disabilities in Taiwan. I was immediately smitten. The staff at the home was about the coolest bunch of progressive cats I had ever met. They were nearly militant about community inclusion and had many a conversation about what that meant, particularly for the individuals at 19 Street who had significant medical needs. It opened my eyes. Although the services at the school I taught at in Taiwan were both caring and quality, they were segregated. There were no expectations that those with disabilities might make a contribution to the community. Before Imagine! (then the DDC), I had not thought much about the strengths that individuals with disabilities had and the gifts they could give. I hadn’t really thought that community life mattered for an individual who couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, and had such significant needs. And, for the first time in my life, I relished the fact that I had been very wrong! Luckily, I would have many future opportunities to be wrong about something at Imagine!, and I have usually found that to be a good thing.

I found it exciting and meaningful to be around people who not only cared deeply, but expected to make a difference. My co-workers had quite an impact on my life, and over time these relationships fostered a life-long best friend and a husband. I was also impressed that the environment allowed for expression and change. Very early in my tenure, the staff at 19th had worked itself into a frenzy about something, the details of which are hazy but most likely had to do with low wages and lots of hours, and the whole staff was talking about “striking”. Then Community Living (the name for the residential program before Innovations) director Greg Wellems came to 19th and talked with the staff. He made it clear that our plan to strike would most definitely not get us what we thought it would, but that change was always possible, and ideas were wanted. As our ideas where listened to, with one even being implemented, I was hooked. That’s not to say the work has always been easy or that I have loved my job every day. But, I have always felt listened to, and I have always understood that the ability to partner with individuals and families, to dream, and to inspire change were within my grasp.

Years later, big in my britches from realizing opportunities to make a difference, I stepped out of Imagine! to work in the for-profit world. I was immediately sorry and missed the people, staff, and those we served, as well as the ability to contribute. I was shocked that the opportunities and expectations in my new job did not revolve around making positive changes in people’s lives as they did at Imagine!. I returned, and, thankfully, was welcomed back.

Some of the events that have had the most impact on me include transitioning individuals who were in non-community settings into the community, and then watching them blossom. Fortunately, this has happened many times, and seeing individuals with disabilities being a part of the community with access to technology and the expectation of growth . . . well, it’s cool. I give great credit in this process to direct support professionals (DSPs) who work every day with the individuals we serve. Their jobs can be mind-numbingly difficult and frustrating, but well worth every single headache. If you have read this far, promise me that TODAY you will locate and thank a direct support professional. They really are the people who make the rubber meet the road and are an incredible group of individuals, maybe even cooler today than when I was one of them (but don’t tell them that).

The years blur together, but the gist is the same -- wonderful people all around and lots of opportunity to make differences big and small. It really is a pleasure to watch both staff and individuals with developmental disabilities grow. At our recent groundbreaking for the new group home we are building in Broomfield for aging individuals with developmental disabilities, I again felt that excitement of being part of an organization that forecasts and meets the needs of individuals and families, and, by doing so, makes the community even better.

If you have read this far, thanks . . . and what are you waiting for? Go thank a DSP!

Are you interested in sharing your story for “50 Years, 50 Stories?” If so, contact Caroline Siegfried at caroline@imaginecolorado.org or 303-926-6405. We’d love to hear from you!