Ms. Bernadette Thompson

Bernadette Thompson has made a career of advancing the causes of people with disabilities.  Photo: Urban News

Bernadette Thompson lost her ability to walk more than 25 years ago, but she has never stopped moving.

by Sarah Williams

The daughter of the late Gertrude Avery Thompson and James O. Thompson, she grew up imbued with intellect, determination, and a valiant spirit. She needed them all when, as a college student driving home to Asheville, she fell asleep at the wheel. Her car went down an embankment, her neck was broken, her spinal cord permanently injured, and she could no longer walk.

Instead of letting her loss of mobility break her spirit, Bernadette moved beyond her injuries, becoming an effective advocate for disability rights throughout the community. Driving her motorized wheelchair and a specially outfitted van, she attends public events, seminars, and the countless meetings of the many boards of directors on which she has served.

“People view people with disabilities as handicapped; I stand to
correct them by saying it’s not a handicap, it’s a disability,” she
says.

For most of her adult life Bernadette has worked as a Rehabilitation
Counselor with the state’s Vocational Rehabilitation Services, which
helps others with disabilities live productive lives. And in keeping
with her own experience, she has spent more than 20 of those years
working in the Independent Living Rehabilitation Program, providing
services to individuals with severe disabilities to help them function
at home, in the community, and in the job market.

She also has been a board member, and for several years chairperson, of
the Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council, primarily because
of its mission to reach across all of humanity to break down barriers.
The ABCRC incorporates the Asheville-Buncombe Fair Housing Commission,
and when the federal government amended the Fair Housing Act to include
people with disabilities as a protected class, her service on the
Commission opened Bernadette’s eyes to the extent of discrimination in
housing, a problem she has worked hard to address and correct. As part
of her advocacy, and in pursuit of her strong belief that everyone
should have access to decent accommodations, she has served in several
capacities on the board of Mountain Housing Opportunities, working to
improve housing situations for low-income citizens and, especially,
people with disabilities.

In one of the most memorable honors during her career, Bernadette was
appointed by Governor Jim Martin to the Governor’s Advocacy Council for
Persons with Disabilities, the state’s Protection and Advocacy System.
His successor, Governor Jim Hunt, reappointed her, and during that term
she chaired the Council’s board.

Bernadette has also been active locally on the boards of the Western
Alliance Center for Independent Living, The Educational Initiative, and
The Western North Carolina Radio Reading Service, and as president of
The Greater Asheville Chapter of the American Business Women’s
Association. She has served on Statewide Task Forces for Nursing Home
Transitions and traveled to Texas to represent the State of North
Carolina at a conference entitled “Going Home.”

Bernadette says that her motivation is always to serve Jesus Christ, to
serve mankind, and to make a difference in whatever way that she could.
“Without God,” she says, “I could do nothing. I hope that what small
success I have accomplished in my life points others to Jesus Christ. I
give Him all the honor, glory, and the praise.”

Recently Bernadette Thompson was inducted, along with six other alumni,
into T. C. Roberson High School’s Graduates of Distinction, and she has
already made plans for her retirement, for which she’ll be eligible in
just a few more years. She says that God has laid it on her heart to
write a book about her life, and she also plans to start a business
making ceramic figurines.

Meanwhile, she stays active and engaged at St. James AME Church, where
she leads a Moments with the Children ministry, sings with the choir,
and is a member of the Missionary Society and Superintendent of the
Sunday School. She is also deeply grateful to the churches,
individuals, and organizations across Western North Carolina who helped
her with her van and house several years ago. “Everything was amazing,”
she says, “thanks to the hand of God who touched hearts.”

As a woman with a disability, but definitely without any handicap,
Bernadette Thompson is a role model for anyone who doubts his or her
own potential, for she has achieved goals far beyond many people’s
capabilities.

Bernadette Thompson is an Asheville native. She has one brother, James O. Thompson, Jr.