Tom Walz

I direct the Disability Enterprise Foundation, a 501C nonprofit organization whose mission is to help persons with disabilities, and the retired elderly, start up and sustain micro-enterprises.

At our nonprofit, we follow a philosophy that views disability (and age) as both an enhancer as well as a potential barrier to creative expression.

Our current focus is the Iowa Disability Creative Works Gallery for artists and artisans who have a history of disability and are in need of a venue both to display their talents and to create an opportunity for selling their creative works. We feel that building a website and gallery to showcase the creative artworks of this population fits our mission and enables us to bring to public attention the talents of people with barriers to promoting their artistic endeavors.

I was influenced in this direction by my experience in providing a mentally-challenged man a job in our department at the University of Iowa, where I worked until retirement 15 years ago. This man later became the subject of three movies made about his life including the film “Bill” (1981) which won the Golden Globe as best picture. I wanted to continue to discover the unrecognized talents and strengths of people like Bill after my retirement, which is the focus of the nonprofits I have since founded.

One of our clients is a man with a dual diagnosis, including alcoholism, whom I met when he was homeless. For the past 15 years, he has helped me with the start-up of our nonprofit enterprises. He is now one of the small businesses that we are affiliated with – Mick’s Workshop, a woodworking shop, which also does chore services for elderly and handicapped.

Since retirement from the University of Iowa, I have founded and directed two nonprofits and logged 40,000 hours of volunteer service. Given my experience as a social worker and administrator, I feel I have accomplished more since retirement, than I did prior to retirement. This work has given new meaning to the lives of many persons with disabilities in our community.

(Read more about the Disability Creative Works Gallery here.)