01/09/2026
🎉 Celebrating a Legend Dixie Patterson 🎉
Today we honor and celebrate Dixie Patterson on her retirement, a remarkable woman whose dedication and vision helped shape our organization and our community.
Dixie and her family were among the founding parents who helped start Better Living for Special People in 1981. What began as a small group of families coming together to create better options has grown into the organization we are today. In 2026, that legacy represents 45 years of commitment, advocacy, and care in Bloomington.
For more than four decades, Dixie’s work as a parent, staff, volunteer, advocate, and leader helped push forward the idea that people with disabilities deserve real choices, meaningful independence, and full lives within their communities. She did not simply help start an organization. She helped shape its values, grounding our work in lived experience, family involvement, and dignity.
In a recorded interview reflecting on her journey, Dixie speaks about how far the disability community has come and what still matters most going forward. She emphasizes the importance of community acceptance, meaningful employment, strong advocacy, and ensuring that people with disabilities always have someone looking out for them as systems change. Even as services evolve, her hope remains focused on people continuing to live active, connected lives in the communities they call home.
If you would like to learn more about Dixie Patterson in her own words, we invite you to watch this interview, where she reflects on the early days of the organization, her role as a founding parent, and her hopes for the future.
https://media.dlib.indiana.edu/media_objects/sb397x74m/section/hx11z4475?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Thank you, Dixie, for 45 years of leadership, heart, and unwavering dedication. We wish you a joyful and well deserved retirement ❤️ We truly appreciate everything you and your family have done!
To learn more about the work we do today and the legacy Dixie helped build, please visit our website at http://www.dsiservices.org.
