Member Spotlight: Brett
What's your story? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Brett shares that he was born with two speech disabilities, Apraxia of Speech and Dysarthria. The earliest his speech affected him was when he was a few years old at Disneyland, where an elderly couple complained about him “screeching like a monkey”. Throughout his childhood, he was in speech therapy in school, summer school, and children’s hospital. He explains that it was very hard to see the other kids “graduate” from his speech therapy groups, and he always wondered when it’d be his turn. Still to this day, his speech disabilities are apparent, but he has finally accepted that this is something about him that will never change. “I had big dreams about where I wanted to go to college, what career I wanted to be, and the life I wanted to live. I had hoped I would “grow out” of my speech disabilities by age 18,” he says.
Pulled out of in-person school freshman year by his mother, Brett started attending an online school before COVID. Socially, he was isolated, and he felt segregated due to his disability. He explains that he always wanted to go to private school as a young kid as he felt it must be better quality education; however, his mother would tell him that they would never accept him due to his disability. Systematically, he feels that the school system failed him as the bias of teachers had a major effect on him. “When I was 18, I was thrown into the world without any path of transition between school to workforce,” he tells us.
Brett never felt like he could go to school or apply for most jobs because he felt like his speech disability prevented him. He interviewed about 100 times before someone finally hired him for his first job. “I remember every interview where I was discriminated against without any way to prove the ADA violation. I felt like I was forced to look for only cleaning and dishwashing jobs as those didn’t involve speech for my whole life. Furthermore, it was very hard making social connections, as I would not speak to anybody,” he explains.
Over the years, as Brett got older, he felt like he failed, failed again, and kept on failing; however, he kept on learning and gaining new experiences. He says that these failures helped him develop faster due to his own stubbornness that I wanted to at least find a place in society for myself. Eventfully, he was acknowledged as a hard worker, and he gained the confidence to seek promotions. Still, he was denied due to his disabilities sometimes.
Finally, Brett found himself promoted after arriving to a new employer under a European version of his name “Bretislav”. He explains that people always come up to him and ask him where he’s from and try to guess the country. It happens every month, and many will refuse to believe him when he says, “I’m from the southside of Milwaukee” and keep on imploring. Through adversity, he learned to love business management and leadership, where he found high sales, metrics, and employee retention. Teaching and training, servant leadership, having a mentor mindset has all led to him loving being a manager. However, he got burnt out and saw a new opportunity. He attended Moraine Park Tech College for their Health and Wellness Program to learn how to be healthy. He succeeded and became an all-A student for the first time in his life at age 29. When he made this decision, he stepped down to become a van delivery driver through his company where he makes grocery deliveries into people’s homes and fridges. Many of his customers are people with disabilities who are unable to shop in store.
How are you involved with self-determination? What advocacy things are you involved in?
People have always called Brett stubborn, but now he sees that it’s his self-determination. He has just graduated from Wisconsin’s Board for People with Developmental Disabilities’ Partners in Policymaking class of 2026 where he made many bonds with advocates all over Wisconsin who he’ll be working with long term towards achieving their goals. He has also been active with political parties and grassroots organizations. He had recently run for Treasurer of his local pollical party, where he received the first election ended in a tie in the party’s history. Unfortunately, he did not win the tie breaker, but it really showed his community acknowledging him.
Brett is starting to use social media as a way to project his voice and influence. “Public speaking will be my next goal, which is crazy to think of when you have a speech disability,” he says. He’s looking to expand into community education and engagement. He shares that his big goal is once he’s out of university, he’s planning to run for offices in his community and State--such as Assembly or Senate. He excitedly exclaims, “these elections I will win, as it’ll be through the community’s acknowledgement of my worth of a person!”
Tell us some good news - what's the most exciting thing happening for you (or in Wisconsin) in terms of self-determination?
Brett is looking forward to graduating with a Health and Wellness degree from MPTC with high honors, and he received the “Campus Impact” student award through his leadership as President of the Health and Wellness Club. He has recently accepted a full scholarship for a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Leadership at Bellevue University. As mentioned above, he was in the 2026 class of Partner’s in Policymaking where he will forever be grateful to his fellow partners. He’s also looking forward to applying for a new leadership job position now that schedule accommodates it with school. “Most importantly, I am looking forward to my wedding with my wonderful fiancée who has supported me the most,” he says.
What tip or resource would you like to share with people who want to be more self-determined?
Brett encourages people to be stubborn but be accepting, be prideful but be humble, and be curious and be patient. Every day, he wakes up and says, “This is my life. This is my life. Nobody can decide what happens to me. I choose to be myself. I look forward, I look towards everything in my future, I reflect on all the good that I have done, I embrace those positives around me in the present.” He says do not segregate yourself. He shares it has been his greatest struggle. Brett’s boss once told him while he was trying to earn his first promotion, “I want to see how you handle adversity.” Brett didn’t know what he meant, so he asked what kind. His boss said, “any kind.” Upon reflection, Brett noticed that, all his life, he has been handling adversity, and that’s when his leadership grew.
What are some of your hobbies?
Brett’s biggest passion is history. “I studied far and wide, and in a world without needing money, I would have a PHD in history,” he says. Local adventures keep his mind fresh; however, he hopes to have adventures farer one day. He likes to stay engaged in his community and is looking to start a YouTube channel based on community education and engagement. He loves meeting and talking to new people. Late at night, he likes to end the last hour of his day relaxing and accidently falling asleep on the couch as he and his fiancée watch tv, movies, or play video games.
***We love hearing the views and opinions of Network members. We need to mention that the views and opinions expressed on this site are those of the person who is sharing them. They do not necessarily reflect InControl Wisconsin or any of our supporters and funders.
