In 1981, Lewis Stephens jumped headfirst off a pier into shallow water while drinking.
The resulting C-4.5 complete spinal cord injury paralyzed the 20-year-old from the shoulders down. “It might sound weird saying this, but it changed my life for the better,” said Stephens, who is a security background specialist at Dominion Energy in South Carolina.
Stephens said that he was going down a bad road before the accident. But after he recovered and had time to “feel sorry for himself,” his parents pushed him to take back control of his life. And the work ethic he had from growing up as the son of two parents in the restaurant business kicked in. He went from “somebody who couldn’t pick up a piece of paper” to graduating from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, getting a job at Dominion and learning to drive again.
This was 1985, five years before the Americans with Disabilities Act passed. Dominion, says Stephens, was always inclusive. The company made sure he had the little things others might not think about, like a door opener for the restroom. “One of my buddies said, ‘They just did the right thing.’ They always included me and never thought of me as disabled,” said Stephens.
For his part, Stephens is always advocating, whether he means to or not. “I don’t think I ever met anyone who doesn’t love Lewis,” said Celina Ortiz, communications specialist at Dominion Energy. “He’s so positive about everything. And with everything he’s gone through, he just finds light in everything. … It’s just what he does. It really helps motivate people in the sense of he’s accomplished so much, and they can too.”
Stephens also serves on Dominion’s DiverseAbility employee resource group, is the chair for the South Carolina Spinal Cord Injury Association and is a board member for ABLE South Carolina. Previously, he served as a commissioner for the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. At the time of this interview, Stephens was preparing for ABLE South Carolina’s 10th annual Advocacy Day for Access and Independence on April 16, where he spoke about transportation issues before the South Carolina House of Representatives.
His passion for giving back is simple: “I just think it’s the right thing to do. If you don’t give, don’t pay it forward, that’s a shame. I was dealt a card 43 years ago, and there were two ways to go: negative or positive. My parents set out on day one: ‘You’re going to be a positive difference.’ I have hope [that] people remember for a long time the good things, the positive things I’ve done to help people with disabilities advocate for themselves.”