Feature Issue on Employment and IDD

Katrina Simons (left) and Dupree Edwards in the ICI media studio.

I volunteered for a long time before I started working, but my first paying job was at The Hair District, a salon. I worked there for six years folding towels and making sure dishes and bathrooms were clean. I’m really good at making sure everything runs smoothly.

My second paying job was at Lunds & Byerlys, a grocery store chain, and I worked there for seven years. I bagged groceries there. It was hard at first, having to bag the groceries at a fast pace, but every time I went there, I made sure I was doing the best job to make the customers have a great shopping experience. I saw repeat customers a lot, people who came in every single time, and I had to remember how they wanted me to bag their groceries, but that’s what they liked about me—they appreciated that I remembered their name and if they liked their groceries bagged light or heavy. The older customers especially gave me lots of compliments for remembering.

A coworker actually taught me how to bag. He also lives with a disability, and he’s been there a long time. He trained me, and he and I worked together a lot. I also had a job coach with me at first to help me achieve my goals and keep the job. At one point, I had some points against me on my attendance record because I had some difficult personal things happening in my life, and my job coach helped me get my attendance back up and really turn things around. I’m really proud that I was able to keep this job for a long time, because that’s something I thought I wasn’t able to do. I wasn’t bouncing from job to job to find the right fit—I found the right fit there.

I worked at Lunds & Byerlys right up until 2023, and then I came to The University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration to work on projects that make communities more inclusive of people with disabilities. It’s a different kind of work than I had done before, but the transition was an important steppingstone for me because I’m very passionate about inclusion and disability justice. I wish I could work full time, but I have to work part time to keep my benefits. A lot of people here want me on their projects, though, because they’ve followed my work and know what I’ve done. They were really excited to hire me, and ready to work with me right away. They especially want me involved in advocacy projects, because I want to do more policy advocacy work. I want to be directly involved with policymaking and networking with politicians. I like to get things done and hear from a lot of people. I like to bring people together. I have big ideas for a task force on disability rights policy for the upcoming election.

Ebony Johnson (left) and Dupree confer at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain.

I’ve also done some performance work. I’m a teaching artist at Upstream Arts, where I teach communication skills through the arts. I also write and perform my own rap songs, and I’ve emceed some big events. It all started when I created my own Sunday radio show through KFAI. I had a very good voice back in the day, and I sound good on the radio. That’s also how I got started in advocacy work and speaking for myself. That radio show helped me to grow and mature, because I started it when I was just coming out of high school and moving into a transition program.

I wish I’d had the opportunities I have now when I was younger, though. I think I would have been able to build a better resume and be more recognized for what I do. When I was coming out of high school, people with disabilities mostly thought about going into day programs, but now there are more opportunities. They think about jobs, or college, or wanting to live on their own. I’m so happy for people with disabilities who are growing up today, because they have the opportunities and resources I wish I could’ve had.

I’ve been trying to help give people those opportunities, too. When I was in my transition program, I was feeling stuck, and I wanted to see everybody and have everyone come together. I asked, “What can I do to bring this school together?” I talked about it with a teacher and with the student council, and I got the idea to create a talent show for people with disabilities. It’s a way for people to meet each other and come together, and it brought lots of positivity to unite the school. By some miracle, nobody started drama, and all the programs came together with this one idea to share their talents. It still happens today, and I’m proud of their progress.

In my future, I see myself continuing to grow and learn. I don’t necessarily want to be in a leadership role, like a supervisor, but I like to be the talent. And I want to continue my advocacy work and continue this fight we’re on to see things like subminimum wage go away. I was never in a sheltered workshop, but I knew a lot of folks who were, and some of them are scared to give up the old way of doing things. It’s important to understand their perspective, but also to help them understand that you have to have money to be able to live. If you’re making $2.50 a day, you won’t be able to get the things you want—like a new cell phone to replace a flip phone, or a computer, or a trip to go on. They can’t do these things because they’re making under $800 per year, and that’s nothing compared to what they could make in a job like mine that pays me above minimum wage.

Now that I can make money of my own, I feel like I understand money now. I understand the value of a dollar, what it takes to make that. And it takes a lot of motivation to get up and go to work every day, but I have to keep motivating myself because if I don’t go to work, I’m not going to be able to get the things I want or the things I need. Having people to support me has been so important, too. I love my mom, and my family and friends. They tell me I’m talented and that they’re proud of me. They support me through this journey that I’ve been on and encourage me to use my gifts. I couldn’t have done it without them.

People with disabilities are capable of work. We can hold down jobs and contribute important things to our work. We may look different, we may act different, but it doesn’t mean that we’re not able to do things, or be in the community, or do things that people think we’re not capable of doing. We can do anything we put our mind to.

Dupree Edwards fights for others with disabilities through rap

Dupree Edwards is featured in a local television story about disability pride.