Championing Supported Employment (Part 1): The Journey of JR Stevens

Embark on a heartfelt journey with JR Stevens, a devoted advocate for the special needs community and a tech industry powerhouse, whose life's work has been shaped by his commitment to inclusion and empowerment. As someone who has witnessed the transformative effect of support on people with disabilities, I can't wait to share JR's inspiring tales from his days as a peer tutor to his influential position at Ooma a technology company. His personal anecdotes seamlessly weave into professional acumen, painting a vivid picture of the triumphs and trials faced by those with disabilities, while inviting us to reflect on the power of individualized care and advocacy.

Our conversation takes an uplifting turn as we celebrate the community-centric initiatives that spark meaningful change for individuals with developmental disabilities. The joy found in a simple game of bowling or the satisfaction derived from supported competitive employment is more than just anecdotal; it's a testament to the societal and familial benefits of such programs. Moreover, the Functional Academics Program by Specially Designed Education Services emerges as a beacon of hope, exemplifying how targeted education can unlock a world of potential for students with unique learning needs. Join us for an episode brimming with stories of empowerment and the resounding impact of nurturing inclusive environments.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey listeners, our guest today on the Fast 15 is a senior strategic partners manager at UMA Technology Company, where they lead business development, account management and strategy for reselling partners and telecom carriers. With over 15 years of experience at T-Mobile, including roles in sales team leadership and account management, our guest brings a wealth of expertise in the technology and consumer goods industries. They hold a bachelor's degree of arts from Whitman College and have dedicated significant periods of time in special education, volunteering in high school and college and conducting a senior dissertation on supported employment programs for special needs individuals. Continuing their commitment, they remain an advocate for people in the disability community, maintaining connections and mentoring for over 30 years. Please welcome our esteemed guest to the show. Today. We have JR Stevens with us on the Fast 15. Welcome, j. It's so good to have you with us today. How are you doing?

Speaker 2: 1:07

I'm doing great, barb. Thank you so much, very much. Look forward to the opportunity to chat with you today.

Speaker 1: 1:12

Yeah, me too, and I noticed from some of the information that you did share with us we have a lot of similarities, a lot of background and history in similar contexts, just with being really interested in supported employment with students who have disabilities. And I know I would love to get your perspective as far as how your interaction with the field of special education, where all that came about, your story. We love to hear from our community members anybody who can share their experiences and perspectives for our listeners. Can we start out just a little bit about yourself, where you live, and a little bit about your background, including how you have been involved in special education.

Speaker 2: 1:57

Absolutely so. Currently I reside in North Bend Washington in the East Cascades outside Seattle and been here well in the valley for well over 20 years and really love nature and the outdoors. I really like fly fishing and all that's easy to do out here and I like being close enough to the city and we'll have the space and the quiet and the solitude out in the woods.

Speaker 2: 2:17

So that's why I'm here, kind of the best of both worlds. It's right up the hill from the skier and I like to do that from time to time.

Speaker 1: 2:23

Nice? Yeah, it is. You live in a really beautiful area. I get to go out there. Sometimes we have some people that we know in common, which you know. You were invited onto the Fast 15 by somebody that I'm really getting to know and really enjoy working with Heather.

Speaker 2: 2:39

That's right. No, heather's great and wouldn't be here if she'd not bridged together. But kind of just to give you a little overview of my journey and how I got here. So I've spent the last almost 20 years of my career in telecommunications in various capacities many years with T-Mobile, generally leading and directing sales organizations, and then about two years ago I departed to work for one of their vendors, a company called UMA, which sells collaborative communication platforms for not only consumers but industries, and they also have a number of technological solutions that we sell in various industrial settings. But nonetheless, prior to that, I spent many years in consumer package good companies for a lot of brand leaders like Starbucks and Red Bull and some others.

Speaker 2: 3:24

I guess I've been a sales guy or a sales leader at heart for my entire life, but I've also kind of had great interest and also, you know, great empathy for folks that are with special needs and that kind of started back, I guess, in probably grade school or junior high, okay, growing up in Issaquah, washington, and at that time it was basically just interaction with a number of special needs folks on the school campus, out on the playground et cetera, and clearly, even when I was younger I could tell. Obviously, due to their special needs they had some different challenges and some differences compared to myself and others and that was very apparent. But I was also very curious but also felt, I don't know, an instinctive drive to be a voice for these folks Even early on. I don't know why, other than I just felt like I think these folks need more support across the board. So anyway, thankfully in about 1986, I think it was while in high school here in Eastside Catholic High School and back here to Seattle as well I was given an opportunity to work as a peer tutor in high school in a special needs curriculum at our school and it was an incredible opportunity, felt very much great fulfillment helping these folks, learning about them.

Speaker 2: 4:42

But I was also noticing that certain things were wrong in my perspective as far as how the curriculum around these folks to me I looked at as kind of early on with all due respect, I think we've evolved as a system. But back then my read was it was a one-size-fits-all approach where, despite what the special needs were, where they were on the spectrum, they were kind of all thrown into one curriculum and the approach to dealing with them was one-size-fits-all when each of them had different levels of different needs and challenges, but it was a single, consistent approach and I could see kids that were embracing it and I could see kids that weren't. And I could also see that some maladaptive behaviors except there would be kind of peers would feed upon each other if it was not dealt with correctly and I felt as if it was somewhat disrupted to the group and also triggering behaviors that may not have been apparent. More of an individualized approach and I get it with public school systems I mean, I was at a private school but at that time we have very tough budgets to more similar to public. I guess, and I think a lot of it was a budget limitation, not only for staffing but also for curriculum, and I also think there were opportunities for more innovative, progressive curriculums to be developed. But nonetheless, I had a great experience working for four years in high school with kids.

Speaker 2: 6:01

Daily. I thought about getting into the field quite honestly and doing it professionally Okay, and I made some other choices and had some other opportunities and didn't end up embracing that as a career. But I said I'm always going to at least in my personal life, I want to remain an advocate and remain a voice for people, and so a number of these young folks that I got to know not young now because they were my age as well at the time, but I guess a number of folks that I had at one time been a peer tutor to I've remained friends with and tracked their progress and their experiences A handful of them, and one of them in particular that I see regularly and I don't know.

Speaker 2: 6:39

I consider them an extension of my family and me. And so when I went on to university, I said I need to continue to be involved here. So, not knowing that ultimately I was going to do an extensive project as part of the requirements to graduate with the particular institution I was at, I'm like, regardless of where I go with this, ultimately I want to be involved. So I was going to Whitman College for university and I went to the nearest high school and I just started asking around. I said look, I got experience in peer tutoring and special education Do you have any opportunities? Do you need any help? And ironically, they're like absolutely. And special education Do you have any opportunities? Do you need any help? And ironically, they're like absolutely. And then, once they saw what I'd done and talked to me, they're like you've got to come and work with us and we'd love to have you do that.

Speaker 2: 7:21

So I did and I started doing that my freshman year in college and stayed the course throughout my time in university and as a result of that, I got to network and meet other folks in the field, and I was more curious about what next?

Speaker 2: 7:30

What are we going to do with all these individuals, what are the opportunities for them when they leave high school? And I've heard some of the stories of good or bad, and I'm like so many of these kids, and again I was still seeing a whole spectrum, not, you know, more of a one size fits all, similar to what I saw when I was in high school Some improvement, but generally speaking, I did not see a real individualized approach to it, and so I wanted to learn more about everything around that and directionally what might be available to these folks. So, anyway, I got in touch with an entity called the Lilly Rice Center in Law, and at that time they're still around and they basically provide employment opportunities for special needs folks that are in the Walla Walla Valley. They help, they network and they have job training, coaching, so forth.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:18

So, along with volunteering in high school in the special needs program, I said I would like to look at your system and can I volunteer here as well? And there again? Absolutely as well and there again, absolutely. They were a little curious as to why. It was kind of caught them off guard that this young college student was coming in so passionate and wanting to be involved, and I think I had to earn some credibility and so I ended up, when I had time off from my coursework I would be involved, taking various individuals into the community for social activities and recreational stuff, and it was very fulfilling and great. But at the end of the day they all went somewhere and I was curious and I wanted to learn more about what happens next. What do these people do when they're not out bowling with me? A lot of them, I found, were at that time basically living in group homes and when they weren't out with us, they were in many cases put in front of a TV or in front of a board game and left to just be there.

Speaker 3: 9:14

Wow.

Speaker 2: 9:15

And me that was real disturbing because I'm like I could see these people perk up when they were interacting in the community, not only with their peers but with us and other folks involved, wherever we were out having fun or recreating. And I would also see times when if they were not neglected but let's just say, if it wasn't their, not their turn to be involved in the activity.

Speaker 1: 9:40

Not given any opportunities to be included in things that your typical age peers are doing and experiencing.

Speaker 2: 9:50

That's exactly right. And I could see them like when we would pull up to their home or residence wherever they were living at the time they would immediately perk up. They knew exactly where we were headed and what was in store for them, and that definitely made their day and week, and mine too. And at the end of a particular daily activity or adventure, I could see them almost as we were getting back to home to drop them off, slipping back into the routine, like, wow, well, that was the great part of my day. Now I have to go back to whatever. And I also could clearly tell, despite varying levels of developmental disabilities, they all had a lot of great capability that I don't think was being discovered, and I'm like a lot of these people could be trained and supported and find a career Right. And so then I started asking the Lilly Rice Center I'd like to do more here.

Speaker 2: 10:37

At that time I think it was about my junior year and I was starting to formulate in my mind what I was going to do for my dissertation, okay, and I said I want to study this. I want to figure out how do we take these people that in the past have just kind of been housed somewhere and not maximizing their capabilities and there's got to be more. And what are the different pathways and what are the impacts that they do or don't do that? So I went to the Lilly Rice Center. I said, look, I'd like to build a project around your programs. I'd like to take a few individuals that you're sponsoring and supporting and I'd like to follow their journey and I'd like to see the good and the bad, and I'd also like to demonstrate it in a control group or comparatively against folks that are in the committee that aren't benefiting from this for whatever reason.

Speaker 1: 11:20

Gotcha yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:21

They were fully on board, and that's where I began my dissertation. Basically, individuals supported competitive employment Kind of verbose, but that's what it was at the time. Individuals supported competitive employment kind of verbose, but that's what it was at the time. And so I picked a host of characters that were involved in the program and got permission from their families and their employers and I said I just I want to be. I want to be a fly on the wall or overshadow these folks. I want to follow their journey, and then I want to capture those thoughts and I want to put it somewhere and then, hopefully, we can build upon this and make the good things a lot more readily accessible for these folks.

Speaker 1: 11:54

That's amazing. That's amazing how long was the study and then, and what were some of the key takeaways that you discovered with your control group and with the students that benefited from that?

Speaker 2: 12:05

Yeah, I think my gut in the end was validated that clearly across the board, any individuals that can benefit from this program not only are they going to develop mentally and physically and emotionally and really be able to maximize hidden skills and capabilities, but it was going to greatly benefit their families and their peers. I mean, let's face it, it's a difficult task to raise and be a family member with someone with a disability or even moderate developmental disabilities. It's a lot of work and it's hard and it's oftentimes a lifetime commitment for parents. Whereas functional young person they might go out on their own in their early twenties. But in many cases these individuals are there for life because they need help and support and this was a great way for people to be on their own, maybe pay their own way, be able to live on their own ultimately and give their families a break because they deserved it and basically make people functional, contributing members of society in as many ways possible. So that clearly was the case.

Speaker 2: 13:11

And to your question, I studied individuals over about, I want to say, 90 to 120 days all in and it was not only just shadowing them in the workplace but interviewing them, interviewing their families, interviewing their coworkers and their employers and even documenting how folks would interact with them. I'll give you an example. We've probably all seen folks within grocery stores, often at the checkout counter helping package up and bag groceries and assisting customers wheel it out. That was a very common. That was an early one. I saw that was adopted across the board and I spent a lot of time in grocery believe it or not, with the candidates who were in that program Everybody I'd mentioned that were observing them. There was a tremendous improvement and change and opportunity from that.

Speaker 2: 13:58

And when I even had a chance to just randomly grab some folks that have recently been helped by some of these individuals that were working in this support employment and I said how was your experience with this person? Did they provide you great service today and across the board, absolutely. And I and some were like I'm just amazed that they're here and I I I didn't know these programs were available and I think we should make this program more readily available everywhere. So anyway, that was a big one. And then I also one of my controls I looked at were folks that were basically living. That were you know, I guess I would call it. They were at the tail end of legacy programs that did not involve individual competitive support, employment and basically, when they became adults, they were basically being housed in a group home with people from all spectrums.

Speaker 2: 14:43

They were not being challenged to do anything, they were basically just being housed and it was like a lot of maladaptive behavior, a lot of issues with outbursts, sometimes aggression, and some of the folks I guess were in between both worlds. They were kind of part of a legacy group home situation with unemployment, but then I was able to introduce them or get them access to begin doing some and again kind of similar to what I'd seen when we would get done with field trips or events. When we returned home I'd immediately see them go back into their shell and it was like very deprivating for them to leave normally functional society and go back into a small, controlled world that they were restricted to the same thing was not really apparent with employment.

Speaker 2: 15:28

So I guess, in summary, what I clearly confirmed were any individuals that were involved in this program were far less burden on their families. They were providing a valuable service in filling a void where employment was needed, and their personal self-worth and their overall attitude and confidence considerably developed as they went through this, and I think it was mainly because they were challenged to operate and function like any other individual out there Right.

Speaker 1: 16:01

Hey friends, I hope you noted what JR just commented on about the importance of staying centered on supporting individuals with disabilities and building confidence and self-worth, while never placing limits on potential. I'm confident that as we do this as a community, we will see young adults with disabilities thrive. We will revisit our conversation in the next episode, but for now, have a fantastic week and until next time, keep being the champions that you already are.

Speaker 3: 16:29

A heartfelt thank you to our generous sponsors. Specially Designed Education Services. Publishers of the Functional Academics Program. Please take a moment to learn more about the only true comprehensive functional academics program that enables students with moderate to severe disabilities to improve their ability to live independently and show meaningful growth, both both academically and personally, while creating accountability with data-driven, evidence-based results. Visit wwwsdesworkscom to learn more.