Joni ThomasAfter working steadily full-time since 1988, Joni retired in November 2023. Her career spans over three decades, primarily in disability system change, advocacy, awareness training, and managed care. Joni has lived with a significant physical disability since the age of 2 1/2 after contracting polio during a resurgence after the vaccine was discovered. Joni began her personal advocacy training alongside her mother, who argued for her daughter's right to be educated at age five. Times were very different then. There was no right to education and no in-home services like today, and accessibility wasn't guaranteed in public places. Schools were segregated, and education typically stopped after the eighth grade. The fight to get an education beyond junior high and high school was real. College in Nebraska was also difficult in the late 70s because it was inaccessible.
After retiring, Joni founded Tectonic Change, a nonprofit dedicated to changing how businesses and corporations view hiring and serving people with disabilities. Tectonic Change conveys the message that people with disabilities are not only valuable employees but also more dependable and have higher Longevity than their non-disabled counterparts.
Tectonic Change also promotes the use and education of an independent living philosophy in home care services. Services where those receiving the care have a say in how the Customer’s services are delivered. The individual receiving the services needs to be an active partner, along with the personal care aid and the home care agency. Three-legged stool of sorts, each leg carrying a significant portion of the weight. A piece of the total sum. This is Joni’s vision and purpose for creating Tectonic Change.