Employment First Storytelling: Dreaming and Believing - A Conversation with Jules Hyde
By Nicholas Love (featuring Jules Hyde)
This month Arizona Office of Employment First (AZOEF) introduces you to Jules Hyde. Jules is the Associate Director of Employment at First Place Phoenix – a developmental disability service provider. He is also the President of the Arizona Association of People Supporting Employment First (AZ ASPE).
When asked why Jules works in disability employment, he takes us back to when he was four years old. That is when his Nana (grandmother) acquired a traumatic brain injury (TBI). His Nana was the head of the family. The TBI took her ability to use the left side of her body and her speech. Jules talks about how he witnessed his Nana go from being the strongest woman he knew to the strongest person he knew. The TBI did not change who she was, it intensified her unconditional love and strength. It also taught her grandson, Jules, those same traits and to look for them in others.
Jules was a single father without a college degree. He did many jobs to care for his son. Those many jobs taught Jules a lot of diverse skills that has helped him in job coaching. They have also taught him what a wide range of employers need in an employee.
Jules did not seek out working with disabilities. A large severance package allowed him to test his dream of being a stand-up comedian. The instability of stand-up comedy led Jules to find something more solid. A fellow comedian suggested Jules try a job helping people with disabilities. Jules was interviewed to work either in a day treatment program or as a job coach. Since the job coach paid a dollar more an hour, that is the position he accepted.
He knew nothing about employment services and researched his new role and responsibilities adopting Virginia Commonwealth University description of employment services. His first assignment was to work in a hospital with a group supported employment program that had been regarded as unsuccessful. Individuals had been doing the same functions for the hospital for six years without officially being hired or paid. Jules observed the individuals and the functions they performed. He detected the ineffectiveness. He learned duties of the individuals were based on policies of six years ago when the program began. Communication with the hospital, data research, and a few adjustments led to the individuals being successful. With the success, new duties were added. Yet, the hospital still did not offer paid employment. The program in the hospital and the free labor was ended.
Jules continued to witness employers unwilling to directly hire people served in the employment services because the employers did not want to address any possible disciplinary issues. These “possible disciplinary issues" implied the incorrect beliefs that negative behaviors and situations would occur if they hired a person with a disability – not to mention the loss of free work. Jules learned about “capitalism as it comes into context to our (employment) services and supports”.
Jules says he has always approached employment supports with a “dual customer perspective”. Fifty percent is client based. Fifty percent is employer based. It’s a recruitment viewpoint that he is offering an employer an “amazing employee”. He states that is why he is successful as an employment professional - that, along with his “toxic positivity”. “Whatever challenge is out there, we can overcome it,” says Jules.
In the fifteen years Jules has been working in disability employment, he states he has seen people “doing what they truly believed in their hearts of hearts they were incapable of doing.” He says that is why he does the work he does. “Because sometimes you just need one person to believe in you.” He continues, “Society doesn’t allow this population to dream. And I can’t imagine not being able to dream.”
He said no one questioned his dreams or abilities as a child. No one ever interfered with his ability to make mistakes. People with disabilities are not allowed the same respect. If a client makes one mistake or gets one thing wrong, they are labeled not capable. The client then believes themself as not capable. “I find my joy in this work and helping individuals doing what they believe they weren’t capable of,” Jules says.
Jules shares he has learned a lot from working with the disability community – the clients he serves, their families, and the other professionals in the field. He says this has guided him to be his best version of himself.
Jules admits we are having the same fights and conversations of employment professionals from 30 years ago. And it’s very easy to get frustrated. When asked how he deals with challenges in this work and maintains his “toxic positivity”, he says, “I remember that small changes lead to big changes. Those interactions that I had with someone that I saw as small were big changes to them.”
He says past clients have shared those big changes in their lives with him. They share how they have gone from being dependent on a guardian to living independently. They share how they now have friends and strong connections. They share how their low self-esteem has shifted into believing in themselves. He says it “Takes it back to dreaming and believing.”
Jules shares his belief that if children were integrated at a young age, especially in our schools, it would improve employment for people with disabilities. Children without disabilities would understand what it means to work alongside someone who looks, talks and acts differently from them. In exchange, children with disabilities would have a better understanding of societal expectations. Many hiring managements have their first interaction with a person with a disability later in the adult years. They are unsure what to expect if they hire a person with a disability. With early integration, they would know people with disabilities are capable. Early integration would also produce “more equity in society – more strength and empathy on both sides” says Jules.
Employment First affirms everyone can and should work. Jules said he has always been labeled “Jules the something”. Those identities brought value to him. Employment is a way we connect values to ourselves.
“The creation of the Arizona Office of Employment First means this philosophy and perspective is finally being taken seriously,” states Jules. “We are finally moving into what we know now as best practices currently,” he continues. “Simplified, Employment First turns traditional models on their head. Instead of asking a person with a disability to prove they can work… it’s ‘give me the job like everybody else. And I will see if I like it or not – if I’m good at it or not’.”
Jules believes the establishment of AZOEF means “that our state and community have committed to the philosophy.” He hopes that Employment First beliefs expands throughout our community “wholly from K-12 to the twilight years”. He would like the next generation of employment supports to say, “Those guys did something and because of it we are all better off.” “AZOEF is proof positive the work is paying off.”
“We don’t do it [employment services] to become millionaires; but we are so healthy in heart and spirit,” says Jules.
Jules says he is able to stay motivated in his work because he has an intense internal desire to be a strong positive force and “maybe to leave the world a little better”.