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Birmingham disability center hopes to reduce violence with employment opportunities: ‘They motivate you’

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Birmingham disability center hopes to reduce violence with employment opportunities: ‘They motivate you’

This is another installment in Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 joint series “Beyond the Violence: what can be done to address Birmingham’s rising homicide rate.” Sign up for the newsletter here.

In 1994, when Lorenzo Brown was 17 years old, he was shot in the neck, leaving him quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chest down.

Now, Brown is the executive director of Is Able Ministries, where he helps others learn how to navigate life with disabilities.

“It was a very painful journey for me as a quadriplegic, navigating things. The Lord really touched my life and opened up some amazing doors that brought me out of what I was going through,” Brown said.

Is Able Ministries has been helping people with disabilities for 26 years. The Is Able Center helps people across Birmingham with setting goals, self advocacy, conflict resolution, financial literacy, resume building and college and career readiness.

Experts say that expanding public health services targeting the underlying causes of violence, poverty, poor education and poor mental health can prevent violence in underserved communities. Brown said he hopes Is Able will help people with disabilities realize that they do not have to navigate life on their own, find meaningful work and break cycles.

“My mother was a drug addict and an alcoholic. My dad wasn’t in my life. Of course I made a lot of bad decisions. I got shot. I sold drugs. I did all of those things. But when I got exposed to different opportunities and took advantage of those opportunities, it just shifted the whole course of my life. I wanted the youth that I work with to know that they don’t have to use their circumstances as an excuse, but as a reason to succeed.”

In 1998, Is Able Ministries opened its doors to help other people with disabilities thrive. Brown went into communities to share what healthcare services and rehabilitation programs were available to people with disabilities.

Brown founded the Is Able Center in 2017 to take his community outreach even further, helping community members with rent, transportation, social engagement, development and life skills classes, accessible computer training, job training and employment.

In Alabama, about 1.3 million adults have a disability, according to federal estimates. Many people with disabilities can and do want to work, but it can be hard to match up people with the right jobs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 25% of the adult U.S. population has a disability; out of the working-age population, only 7.6 million people with disabilities are employed, for an average employment rate of 22.5%.

Last year, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 7.2%, about twice that of those with no disability, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many people with disabilities want to work full-time, but are stuck in part-time jobs, according to federal data.

After Brown was shot, his family was unable to take care of him, so he was placed in a Tuskegee nursing home at 18 years old, where, he said, he experienced neglect and abuse.

In 1996, with help from the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, Brown was able to move out of the nursing home into a transitional living facility in Birmingham.

The transitional living facility taught Brown how to live independently and helped him to go back to school, live in his first apartment and get his first power wheelchair and van.

“All of these things just really set the foundation for my life to be successful. In doing all of that, these things helped to rebuild my life. It really developed this passion inside of me for others that were disabled, but also for youth that are struggling as well, who are losing their lives, being shot and left paralyzed from gun violence, like me. That’s how Is Able came about,” Brown said.

On each wall of the Is Able Center are posters with motivational messages about perseverance and determination.

Every Monday, Brown hosts a free social engagement and development class.

“For myself, early on I was so self conscious about myself, I had no confidence. And so I just mute, you know, I couldn’t find my voice. And so we put that class together to help people find their voice,” Brown said. “People with disabilities having the opportunity to socialize will help them have a more productive life.

Every Thursday, Brown said the center is packed with people who want to participate in the free computer classes.

Accessible computers that can be controlled by the sound of a person’s voice or eye movement, with keyboards made for people with low vision and mouses made for people who can’t move their fingers are available for those in need.

“The way I thought of this was in college, I didn’t have access to a computer, so I would go to the local library. But when I got there, nothing was designed for me,” Brown said. “So I wanted to create a computer lab designed to meet the needs of people with various types of disabilities.”

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