By: Lindsay Jeffords
The moment behavior becomes difficult, curiosity is often the first thing to disappear. Reactions are documented, consequences are considered, and the individual can become secondary to the problem professionals are trying to solve. Jordan Smelley is working to change that pattern. “Behavior is not always a choice,” he explains. Sometimes, what appears to be resistance is communication emerging through the only channel available.
Drawing on lived experience and systems-level work, Jordan helps professionals across support systems examine the sensory and environmental forces behind what they see. His message is grounded in a practical principle: person-centered support begins by asking questions before reaching conclusions about behavior.
Experience Shaping His Approach
Jordan’s expertise was shaped through both professional training and direct experience with the systems he now works to improve. His experiences with intellectual and developmental disabilities, neurodivergence, mental health recovery, and complex health conditions revealed how differently support can function in practice compared with how it is designed on paper. That divide gave him a perspective that adds another dimension to conventional professional training.
He has since converted that experience into professional knowledge. In institutional conversations, Jordan contributes lived experience as a form of expertise that can reveal gaps within established policies and procedures. “The peer is the expert on themself just like I am the expert on myself,” he explained in a Shoutout DFW interview.
Bringing Peer Knowledge Into Professional Systems
At Integral Care, Jordan holds a position designed to bridge the gap between institutional decision-making and lived reality. As the first IDD Peer Support Specialist on its Transition Support Team, he advises and educates professionals serving Texans with IDD and co-occurring mental or behavioral health needs. His contribution brings the perspective of the person receiving support closer to the center of professional conversations.
Jordan views peer support as a distinct source of knowledge that can complement professional care. It changes the flow of information by recognizing that individuals understand dimensions of their own lives that may not be fully visible to an external specialist. As he wrote for the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, “Peer support does work,” particularly for people with IDD whose perspectives are too often absent from decisions about their support.
Understanding the Environment Behind Behavior
Jordan formalized this perspective in the ASSUME – a Sensory Reason Framework, which prioritizes contextual inquiry over immediate interpretation. It asks professionals to assess whether sensory overload, discomfort, limited communication, or environmental disruption may be shaping a response. This distinction matters because behavior that appears intentional may sometimes serve a regulatory or protective function for the individual.
The framework does not place every behavior under a sensory umbrella, nor does it erase responsibility. Its purpose is to create space for further assessment before an interpretation becomes fixed. Jordan asks professionals to collect more information before deciding what a reaction means. That pause can redirect attention toward understanding what conditions may be contributing to the behavior and what adjustments could support a more appropriate response.
Applying Understanding in Professional Practice
Through keynotes, workshops, consultation, and professional development, Jordan helps support systems respond to people with greater awareness of their individual context. His training turns sensory processing and self-regulation into practical considerations that can influence communication, environmental design, and the handling of challenging situations.
That purpose also shapes his work as a Certified People Planning Together Lead Trainer. By helping people with disabilities articulate their goals and preferences, the model places them closer to the center of decisions affecting their futures. For Jordan, progress depends on involving people directly in the planning processes that shape their lives.
Turning Personal Experience Into a Practical Resource
Jordan’s systems advocacy is equally rooted in experience. After a life-threatening medication reaction, he spent more than two years navigating the Texas Medicaid Fair Hearing process while seeking alternative care. The experience showed him how difficult it can be for individuals to understand and exercise their rights within a complex administrative system.
His response was to write the Texas Medicaid Fair Hearing Survival Manual for Appellants and make the electronic edition freely accessible. In doing so, Jordan transformed a punishing administrative journey into a map others could follow.
Recognition and Continued Advocacy
Jordan’s work has received recognition across disability advocacy, psychology, and professional support communities. AAIDD Texas recognized him with its 2023 Empowerment Award for Excellence in Promotion of Self-Advocacy and its 2024 Dr. Ollie Seay Knowledge Award. In 2025, he received Best Presentation at the International Conference on Applied Psychology and the Mental Health Professional distinction from Persons of the Year.
His appointment to the Rehabilitation Council of Texas has since given him another opportunity to contribute to discussions around rehabilitation, employment, and disability policy. Jordan intends to expand his speaking engagements, publish additional resources, and increase recognition of sensory-informed support. These plans reflect his broader goal of increasing the role of lived experience within professional training, organizational practice, and systems-level decision-making.
Encouraging Better Questions About Behavior
The future Jordan Smelley is working toward places greater value on professionals knowing when to reconsider their first interpretation of a situation. His work emphasizes the importance of lived experience and the context surrounding behavior. By encouraging institutions to pause, gather information, and consider sensory and environmental factors before reaching conclusions, Jordan is helping professionals develop more informed and person-centered ways of responding.
As Jordan Smelley often says, “Behavior is not always a choice. Sometimes it’s communication. Sometimes it’s protection. And sometimes…. It’s the body asking a question we were never trained to hear.”
