Committed to empowering people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Tennessee’s Medicaid program creates access to integrated employment opportunities.
Wearing a black polo shirt stitched with a Vanderbilt University logo, Sean Jefferson, 26, nestled his large frame into an armchair in the compact living room of his studio apartment in Nashville, Tennessee. Leanne Brooks, a social worker, sat across from him on the matching loveseat. It was a hot, humid late afternoon in July. Jefferson is autistic and speaks in quick, monotone bursts. But Brooks knows him well. She easily drew him into a conversation about sports, a passion they share. Jefferson, a football and wrestling fan, lit up as he told her about the tickets his aunt has said she’ll buy him to an upcoming WWE professional wrestling event.
“That’s gonna be a blast,” Brooks said, smiling at Jefferson.
Brooks and Jefferson met in 2017, when Jefferson enrolled in a program called Employment and Community First Choices (ECF CHOICES) for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) that was created and paid for by TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Brooks is his support coordinator, part of a team that helps Jefferson work and live independently. He’s a cashier at a Vanderbilt University student store and has lived on his own in a small apartment complex since 2016.
“I get up every morning happy and ready for work,” Jefferson said. He has a team that supports his independence,...
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