Easterseals Iowa — 2025 Catalysts Honoree
Path to Independence: Disability & Employment
“We underestimated what people can do.”
That’s what Mindy Burr, director of vocational programs at Easterseals Iowa, shared with the Catalysts crowd, and it sums up her nearly 25-year journey of supporting individuals with disabilities to live, learn, work, and thrive.
At the 2025 Catalysts Live event on July 17th, Burr took the stage to explain more.
Easterseals Iowa’s mission is to provide exceptional services to ensure that all people with disabilities or special needs have equal opportunities.
Mindy Burr, director of vocational programs, likes to put a special flair on that statement: they like to live, learn, work, and play at Easterseals.
Burr has lived out that mission since she joined the organization nearly 25 years ago, shortly after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in family services. At the time, she was living in her parents’ basement and knew it was time to get a job. She looked at the help-wanted section in the local newspaper and spotted a listing for a “job coach” at Easterseals. Intrigued, she applied.
“Thank goodness I got that job,” she recalled.
Now, more than two decades later, Burr is in a different role than when she started. She has good days and bad days, but she feels lucky to work for an organization where the mission truly matters.
Burr shared that one of her earliest and most valuable lessons came while working with an individual named Curtis. As a job coach, her responsibility was to help individuals with disabilities succeed at their jobs — things like clocking in and out, making friends at the job site, using a timer to stay on task, and more.
When she was assigned to work with Curtis, who was hired to mow lawns, Burr realized she didn’t know the first thing about lawnmowers. So she researched all she could. On their first day together, Burr told Curtis she’d start the mower for him “to keep him safe.” But it wouldn’t start. She pulled and pulled. Nothing.
Then, calmly, Curtis tapped her on the shoulder to indicate he’d like to try. He clutched the handle, pulled the lever, and got to work. Burr was stunned.
“He taught me a very valuable lesson that day. I thought I needed to go in to keep people safe. But first and foremost, that was not my job. It was his job.”
That moment changed her perspective. She realized she needed to ask permission and learn how each person wanted to be supported. To this day, she often asks herself, “Are people learning from me at the job, or am I learning from them?” She knows it’s the latter.
Burr shared this story to highlight how far the world has come — and how far there’s still to go. Not that long ago, people with disabilities were seen as “unemployable.” Laws even prevented them from earning minimum wage.
Then, in the mid-1980s, a movement began to better integrate people with disabilities into the community. If they could live and work alongside others, they could truly belong.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in the 1990s, changed things forever.
One of the biggest shifts that came with the ADA is the ability to request accommodations in the workplace. And in Burr’s 24 years of experience, she’s found that most accommodations are either low-cost or free. Many apps on people’s phones can be helpful. Need a timer to boost productivity? Super cheap.
And, ultimately, making small accessibility accommodations can have a significant impact on a company.
Burr also shared how Easterseals partners with local organizations to create opportunities. One example is Project SEARCH at Mercy Medical Center, which places Des Moines Public Schools seniors with special needs into real work environments to gain job skills. While interning, participants receive job support services to help them grow more independent.
Another example is Athene@Work. The program, in partnership with Athene, started with two positions for individuals with disabilities. It offers paid training on-site, with the goal of transitioning participants to full-time employment. A vital part of the program is helping participants build peer networks and connect with Athene leadership.
And the program works: it has a 100% retention rate of participants being hired on full-time.
But there’s been a surprise:
“We underestimated what people can do."
The participants could do far more than the positions required, and they needed more tasks. So now, more roles are being explored.
Burr ended her talk with a challenge: “What can you do?”
She quoted Angela Jackson, senior vice president of human resources at Athene, who was instrumental in launching Athene@Work:
“You can open your doors and invite people with disabilities, visible or invisible. There is so much opportunity. It’s an untapped resource.”
That’s Burr’s message: take the next step in supporting individuals with disabilities — whatever that might look like at your organization — and start now.
Explore more stories from this year’s honorees:
