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Latoya Maddox, an Independent Living Specialist at Liberty Resources, and a Participant Council member for the Rehabilitation Research Training Center on Home and Community-based Services at SRAlab, never expected to work in her position. She was interning at Liberty Resources, Philadelphia’s independent living center, when, shortly before her birthday in 2014, the director of the Independent Living Services department asked to speak to her. “I thought, ‘Oh, no! I’m in trouble!’” Maddox said. But instead, she was hired as an administrative assistant for the Adult Basic Literacy class. She held this job for two years, until the adult-literacy program lost its funding, and she was laid off.
Between losing her job and returning to Liberty Resources as an Independent Living Specialist, her colleagues told her that she didn’t have the people skills necessary for the job. “You’re really quiet. You don’t really mingle and get to know the consumers as much as you should,” they said. “So that broke my heart, but it actually woke me up to realize I need to stop being in my own head. After that, I was good” Maddox recalls. She tries to support her consumers in staying persistent, and she aims to give her consumers “a sense of comfort,” since she also works with people who need housing services or family advocacy.
I like being a person with a disability working with people with disabilities. People see you before they hear you, so if a person with a disability sees that you have a disability, they’re like, ‘Oh, maybe she might get it.’ A lot of times, I do get it. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Latoya Maddox, Independent Living Specialist at Liberty Resources
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“Whenever they have a problem, I tell them, ‘We can break this down. We’ll work it out,’” Maddox said. “I like being a person with a disability working with people with disabilities. People see you before they hear you, so if a person with a disability sees that you have a disability, they’re like, ‘Oh, maybe she might get it.’ A lot of times, I do get it. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.”
Maddox holds an associate degree in behavioral health and human services and a bachelor’s degree in social work. She spent years looking for jobs, and said if it weren’t for Liberty Resources, her job search would have been even more difficult than it was. “I would go into interviews, and I wouldn’t tell them before I got there that I had a disability, because that’s something that we don’t have to disclose,” she says. “I would show up to the interview, and people would ask certain questions. I’d think, ‘Shouldn’t you be worried about whether I can do the job or not?’”
We live our lives; we take care of our children. We take care of our homes, the way anybody else does. When you see us, don’t assume.
Latoya Maddox, Independent Living Specialist at Liberty Resources
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Currently residing in Philadelphia, Maddox’s goals for the future are to help people with disabilities better integrate into accessible, affordable housing communities. This is an area of work she believes needs to be streamlined and easier for both consumers and landlords. But the desire to normalize disability connects all her work. She cites raising her ten-year-old son as an example of her success, “I’ve gotten compliments from nurses who tell me they have able-bodied parents who aren’t this involved with their kids,” she says. “We live our lives; we take care of our children. We take care of our homes, the way anybody else does. When you see us, don’t assume.”
In her free time, Maddox likes to watch movies and play games with her son. She loves to travel, and her favorite place to go is Disneyworld. “There’s just a comfort that I get being in Florida and the Magic Kingdom,” she said. “When you’re not in your own hometown, you feel a sense of calm that you don’t get when you’re home.” She hopes to travel to Hawaii one day. For now, she remains in the continental U.S. as a Participant Council member to the Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Rehabilitation and Research Training Center team at the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research, supporting the work to improve the quality of services and supports for HCBS recipients.