A Champion for Change: Jennifer David’s Lifelong Commitment to Disability Advocacy
I've been an advocate for people with disabilities pretty much my entire life. I have a sibling who's about 4 years younger than me who was born with cerebral palsy. I've spent my entire professional career working with people with disabilities. I started as a direct support professional in college. I’ve worked as a residential house manager, both while living in Minnesota and while I was working on my bachelor's degree in social work. In 2000, I moved to Indianapolis and worked as a case manager and support person member of the business team with Indiana case management services. That was the longest job I ever had. I worked there for 5 years. I was very independent, and I worked for a wonderful person named Chris Saint Paul, she was just somebody who really valued people's ideas and opinions.
From there I became a behavior consultant and had attempted several times to start my own disability provider agency. The first time around 2005, the state went through a period of waiver changes and illuminated or changed some of the services I was planning to provide.
A decade later, I started the process and then the state enacted a moratorium on new behavioral providers. Finally in 2018, following, and in part because, of my mother’s passing that January, Outward Bound Support Services, LLC was born in May 2018. Following my autism diagnosis, coming out as autistic, a change in management, and a coup, we are now Outward Bound Community Services, LLC.
I have always had a passion for people with disabilities. Oftentimes I've been the only person in the room who seemed to understand what they were trying to say. And so many times I felt like I was the only one advocating for them, especially when they were older people who had limited communication skills. Many of those folks had spent times at State institutions. I moved to Indiana at the time that many of the State institutions were being broken down and so I worked with many clients with significant behavioral needs. And I just learned so much from that experience. Plus, autistic people do have connections with each other, if they are open to feeling those connections. So many times, over the years, I have heard parents say,” Oh, he never just walks up to people like that!” The best comment I received when I came out as autistic was from a friend with a disability. He said, “No wonder you are so good at your job!”
I was involved with opening the 1st ESN home out in Shelbyville. That's an extensive support home, and that was a very difficult experience. I now recall that I had a meltdown on the way to work one day and quite a few days later. In autistic fashion of course.
In 2023, my family was blessed with a beautiful granddaughter, who was born with down syndrome. Right around this time, the State of Indiana announced a billion-dollar shortfall in their budget and in the process of changing the medical model waivers, the A&D and TBI waivers. One of which my granddaughter would have probably been eligible, for in a short period of time, now it will be years. My autistic self, not knowing that I was autistic at the time, wanted to spread awareness about the Medicaid shortfall. And so, I decided to run for State representative. I decided to put all my eggs in one basket, and I stepped down from my second term as the President of the Indiana Association of Behavioral Consultants, a situation that I was more than happy to step out of due to rising internal conflicts and lack of support.
I ran for State representative. I had been diagnosed previously with ADHD as an adult and started to look more and more into the ADHD because I was just having so many interpersonal issues. I had spoken to several women who were also running for office about ADHD and autism, and the more that we talked the more that I realized that just wasn't all that I was dealing with.
I started to do more research on ADHD, watching reels on Facebook and just gradually moved over into seeing a lot of content about traits and health issues of women with undiagnosed autism. One day in September 2024, I stumbled upon a video by a psychologist who herself has ADHD and autism, and PTSD. I watched her video about 20 signs that you might have undiagnosed autism or ADHD or both. And I literally started to cry. When the nearly 30-minute video ended, I went into the living room, and I told my husband that I thought I might be autistic, and he just looked at me like he thought I was crazy. It took me 2 weeks to convince them that I was autistic. Fun Fact – My husband, Julio, and I have been married for 11 years, he quit his career in logistics and went back to school several years ago to study Applied Behavior Analysis. I am so very lucky to have a supportive spouse and partner who has at least a basic understanding of autism.
With the help of a peer, I was able to be connected to a psychologist who was able to diagnose me within a couple of months. In November, a week after losing my campaign for State Representative, I was diagnosed with Autism and PTSD and that is an entire book waiting to be written. I am thrilled though to learn that I am autistic! Autistic people do not merely think outside of the box, we don’t even acknowledge its existence. This is what has helped me my whole life, being confident in my abilities, my intelligence, and my off-the-wall ideas. I am excited for my future, to continue the unmasking process, which is often scary and painful, yet also freeing! Professionally, I will be providing BCBA supervision and concentrating on the foundation that my family created for my mother and sister, the Kimberly Renee Foundation. My focus is on bringing supports and information to rural communities, creating jobs and opportunities for teens and adults with disabilities, and public speaking engagements. I have also started a podcast of sorts, called Disability Indiana. I plan to continue with my role as the Secretary of the Independent Living Council for another term and also make another run for State Representative for District 66 in 2026!