Jaylon Evans

Lithonia, Georgia (Senate District 43)

When a basketball player sails a long shot through the air, time can feel suspended. You hold your breath with anticipation. Is it going to go in?

Jaylon Evans is a 22-year-old man from Lithonia, Georgia with an intellectual disability and mood disorder who is just about to graduate from Roosevelt Warm Springs Vocational Rehabilitation Academy. He's a young man with many dreams; he just wants to land that shot.

 (Story continues below after slideshow.) 

Unaware that she was pregnant until the sixth month, Jaylon’s mother took lithium during most of her pregnancy. Unfortunately, lithium is linked to a number of developmental delays. In addition, Jaylon and his siblings experienced malnourishment and trauma in their early years, which can lead to cognitive delays. When he was three, his Aunt Malia rescued them from a precarious situation. They’d been abandoned in Florida with strangers in a two-bedroom apartment full of nine children and two adults while their mother was on a 72-hour psychiatric hold. Jaylon has lived with Malia ever since.

When he was about eight or nine, Malia, a recruiter for Emory’s School of Nursing, had Jaylon tested because he still wasn’t able to tie his shoes and wasn’t meeting other important developmental markers. “We're very educated in this family, with master's and doctorates between me, my mom and dad,” she says. “Education was big. I was hiring tutors, and we were doing all kinds of things, but he wasn't learning like we thought he needed to learn.” After a full battery of psychological testing, the reports that came back were surprising. “Everything he can do is amazing,” the doctors said, “because where he’s testing at, he shouldn’t even be able to brush his teeth.” Malia says it was simply evidence for the coaching, strong love, and support within their family, as well as Jaylon’s commitment to himself.

Roosevelt Warm Springs (RWS) is a training facility run by the GeorgiaVocational Rehabilitation Agency that was originally created to treat polio patients in the mid-twentieth century. As the polio crisis waned, it transformed into a vocational training facility for people with disabilities so they could work independently in their communities. People from all over Georgia can come, tuition-free, to receive this training. In 2022, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, RWS readjusted and streamlined to an 18-weekcurriculum with six different pathways, including hospitality, auto detailing, low voltage wiring, certified nursing assistant, heavy equipment operator, and CVS/retail management.

Twice a week, Jaylon takes an elective class with Amanda Green that helps with the soft skills young professionals need to go about seeking, landing, and keeping a job: writing a resumé, interview skills, job searches, the importance of following up with a thank you, body language, financial literacy, etc. In the perspective of today’s job market, it’s the kind of practical training you might wonder if more young people might benefit from. “I'm seeing them excel,” Amanda says. “Our students always blossom because they're stepping out on their own for the first time, away from mom or dad, grandparents or guardian. They're allowed to become themselves and kind of come into themselves, and they open up.”

As an auto detailing student, Jaylon has been enjoying his OSHA class with instructors Matt Dorman and Cary Sizelove. As the class prepares for exams, they are reviewing a range of topics, including safety devices and ergonomic design, to ensure workplace safety. Matt describes Jaylon as “very attentive in everything he does. He's done a great job there. He's a real go-getter when it comes to the hands-on stuff and really wants to learn everything he can.”

Basketball is an equally important part of Jaylon’s life and, although he’s been focusing a lot on his professional studies at RWS, he feels torn about how much he still wants to pursue his “hoop dreams.” Recently, there was a staff/student basketball game, a huge tradition near the end of every semester. The game ended with a score of 43-42 in favor of the staff. All of the students, especially Jaylon, were heartbroken. He’d scored over half of the students’ points.

While at Warm Springs, Jaylon met Shakyrah Pride, a hospitality student from Americus, Georgia. They hope to stay in touch after graduation, but they know it will be much harder to maintain their relationship without seeing each other every day.

Jaylon has been approved, but is on the waiting list, for the NOW/COMP Medicaid waiver for over six years now. With a waiver, he would be able to have transportation, a job coach, all kinds of support that would help him continue in his pursuit of economic independence. As Malia says, though, when she calls to check in, she either gets a voicemail or someone who just says, “He’s still on the list, he’s still on the list. But there’s just so much stuff to do to manage his other stuff, and my 91-year-oldfather, and my own work.” It’s the sort of administrative overwhelm echoed by so many families of people with disabilities.

After he graduates, Jaylon will be moving back home to live with his Aunt Malia. They are both a little nervous about it. Attending Warm Springs has been an opportunity for Jaylon to experience some independence, to build valuable life and professional skills he will need. When he comes back home, Jaylon will attend a day program and begin working at a carwash. He’s excited to begin applying those skills. Perhaps, one day, he could even open his own auto detailing business. Both Jaylon and Malia are also hopeful they can keep him connected to basketball in a way that will be productive and supported.

“I want to stay on the positive road and think positive,” Jaylon says. “I want to hang around a positive crowd and stay away from negativity.” It’s that winning attitude and ultimate charisma that helps you know that, with the right support, Jaylon can land the shot.

Writer: Shannon M. Turner Photographer: Jessica Whitley