Hard work pays off in flashy reward

David E. Nilsen has accomplished a lot.

He worked at Albertsons during high school. He earned an Eagle Scout award. He loves singing and acting for audiences. He has great taste in cars (his current ride is a yellow 2014 Chevrolet Camaro) and just as good taste in the kitchen, as neighbors who have enjoyed his cookies can attest. And, he has a definite head for computers.

It's a pretty impressive resume for someone who's only 27 years old, and one made all the more impressive given that David was diagnosed at the age of 4 with high-functioning autism.

For the past five years, David has been working at Nellis Air Force Base's mail facility under an Opportunity Village contract. Lisa Simmons, contract manager for Opportunity Village and David's supervisor, says David "is unique in his disability. He's got a great memory. He remembers things very well. He's a great worker."

Among David's on-the-job achievements, according to Opportunity Village Chief Executive Officer Ed Guthrie, is David's being "able to figure out a work-around" for a computer problem early in his tenure there.

David says he likes the job, mostly because of the people with whom he works. If there is a downside, it's that commute between Nellis and David's home in Boulder City. On the other hand, David does get to make the commute in that Camaro, which he bought with his earnings.

"It has my color," David says, a bright yellow, and bears the license plate LN KING, in honor of his favorite movie.

"I also named my car," he adds. "Simba."

In a way, David's Camaro can be considered a physical representation of his philosophy.

"He follows his dreams," says David's mother, Shirley Nilsen. "He has taught me to follow your dreams and do what you want to do if you can. So he does follow his dreams, and that's his dream car."

In the summer of 2014, David's pursuit of his dreams took him and his mother to Washington, D.C., where he and Guthrie met with Nevada lawmakers.

"It was an honor," recalls David, who also had some time for sightseeing with his mother. His favorite sights?

"There are just so many to think of," David says, although he counts as trip highlights seeing the Lincoln Memorial and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Opportunity Village officials each year "make a visit to Washington, D.C., to visit all the members of Congress," Guthrie says. "And we bring one of the people we serve, and usually one of their family members, to visit with us so (legislators) can see the real people that are served by our program."

At Opportunity Village, "we're here to provide support for individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families," Guthrie says. One way in which the agency does that is by offering clients vocational training and placement in jobs throughout the community.

Nellis Air Force Base is "one of our largest federal contracts," Guthrie says. "We have somewhere around 50 individuals working in the dining facilities at Nellis. Last year, they served about 275,000 meals to folks at Nellis Air Force Base. David works on the mail room contract."

"I think David is at the higher spectrum of people we serve," Guthrie adds, noting that Opportunity Village "serves people with all severities of disability," among them people who have suffered a disability through accident or trauma.

Whatever the disability and however it occurred, holding down a job — and being paid for doing it — offers Opportunity Village clients satisfaction of the sort that most of us "often take for granted," Guthrie says. "It is a sense of pride and purpose that comes from earning a paycheck, and I think it means a great deal to David."

Absolutely, says Shirley Nilsen. "He does know he's helping and I've never had to beg him to go to work, never had to wake him up, never had to pack his lunch. He does everything.

"David would never be content not working. He wouldn't be content just sitting at home."

David is a 2006 graduate of Boulder City High School. School "was a challenge," both academically and socially, Shirley recalls.

It was while attending school that David received credit for work experience at an Albertsons store, his very first job. David says that, on that job, he most enjoyed helping people.

Among his purchases with the first money he ever earned: a moped. Also during high school, David took on a more informal job, baking cookies that he'd distribute to family and friends. Once a dozen of his cookies were auctioned for $60 at a Boy Scout fundraiser.

David has another avocation that he enjoys pursuing: Performing. He already has performed in front of audiences at theater programs and parades and recently sang and danced as a participant in Boulder City's Christmas parade.

In conversation, David is friendly, thoughtful and articulate. But Shirley says her son still experiences difficult moments. Looking at other people, "he knows the difference," she says. "He knows all of his friends are getting married and he knows he'll probably never get married, and he has learned to accept that."

Social situations still can be a struggle, she adds, so David continues "learning all of that, trying to figure all of that out."

"But, really, people are amazing and people compliment me (about him) all the time," she says, smiling. "I say, 'No, it's him.' "

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280 or follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.