Page 12 - Demo

Beth Imperial-Rogers
LMSW
Retired Community Support Team Leader NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities
“ There is nothing like the collective trauma of a pandemic to bring out the empathy. None of us is unaffected.
Suffering is all around. Who among us is unable to put their feet in the shoes of the stranger while every person on the planet is forced to reckon with their own vulnerability? Hopefully, we will carry it “ forward, even after the masks come off.
- Jonathan H. Kopp
How is empathy demonstrated when the people you work with are from a variety of cultural backgrounds (some very different from yours), especially when empathy is key to effective, quality work?
I recently retired from leading a team that is part of a regional Front Door office for the NYS Office for
People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD). OPWDD oversees the agencies in NYS that provide services to people with developmental disabilities (DD) who have conditions like intellectual disability, autism, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy that occur prior to age 22 and have a lifelong effect on the person’s daily functioning. The Front Door team guides people with DD in the process of accessing services through determining eligibility, assessing strengths and needs, and authorizing person-centered services/support plans. “The goal of the Front Door process is to provide supports and services that help individuals and family members in ways that are respectful of their abilities, language, and cultural values and traditions.” For more information, visit https://opwdd. ny.gov/system/files/documents/2020/05/040_front-door-access- to-services_342020_0.pdf
Front Door staff must have competency and integrity, but also communicate empathy across language and cultural differences to correctly identify appropriate services. Our region includes Latino, Asian, Creole, and Chasidic (ultra-orthodox Jews living in closed communities) people with DD who communicate in non-English primary languages and honor a wide variety of cultural customs.
Creating an
Empathy Bridge Across Cultural Divides
11