Local therapist turns personal challenge into powerful advocacy
May 01, 2025 02:47PM ● By Rebecca Olds
(Courtesy of Insightful Beginnings Counseling)
This article was written with the help of AI
David Dodds, Sandy resident and Murray business owner, knows firsthand that life's greatest obstacles can become powerful opportunities for growth and service. At 16, when most teenagers are dreaming of athletic scholarships, Dodds faced a pivotal moment that would reshape his entire life trajectory: losing his ability to play baseball due to retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive eye disease.
Diagnosed in kindergarten, Dodds gradually lost his vision, experiencing a defining moment during a night game when he could no longer track the baseball.
“I remember standing out there, and I remember following the ball, and then it hit the bat, and then I lost sight of the ball, and left and right fielders are running at me, going, ‘What are you doing?’” he said. “That was probably the first memorable moment I realized this disease is going to affect me in life.”
By 18, he had surrendered his driver's license, becoming legally blind. But for Dodds, this was not an ending — it was a beginning.
"I've got this moto that those feelings happen, but we're not going to let this beat us," Dodds said.
This resilient attitude propelled him through significant life transitions, from a successful retail career to becoming a licensed clinical social worker.
After working his way up to store director at Smith's Food and Drug, Dodds decided to reinvent himself. He enrolled in the Training and Adjustment Services (TAS) program, a rigorous one-year initiative designed to help visually impaired individuals navigate life completely blind. Remarkably, he completed the program in just six and a half months.
Social work, though, was never in his plans and essentially “found” him.
“I was looking more like a lawyer or some type of psychologist, the doctor route,” he said. “But when you're blind, you struggle just to figure out what kind of a field you could fit in, where you're not going to be judged, and can you even do that?”
He went the social work route because the field allowed him to interact with all of those other career fields he was interested in, and allowed him a meaningful way to help people.
Dodds earned a bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Utah, becoming a top 10 finalist for university speaker. He then entered an advanced standing master's program, typically accepting only 24% of applicants, and graduated with a 3.997 GPA.
But Dodds didn't just succeed academically — he transformed the system. Encountering significant barriers during internship searches, he advocated for visually impaired students. He worked closely with university departments to establish 15 internship programs that would welcome students with disabilities, ensuring future students wouldn't face the same challenges.
Now running his own private practice, Dodds specializes in complex trauma, grief counseling, and couples therapy. He uses assistive technologies like JAWS, voice over and Braille to manage his practice, demonstrating that technological innovation can bridge accessibility gaps.
His approach to therapy is deeply personal. "Therapy isn't about getting fixed," he explains. "It's about understanding accountability and learning to live life for yourself."
Dodds is acutely aware of societal perceptions surrounding disability. "Visually impaired people just want to be heard, want to be understood, want to matter," he said.
His practice reflects this philosophy, offering a holistic, genuine approach that prioritizes client trust and individual needs.
Beyond his professional achievements, Dodds is a passionate advocate. He works to challenge misconceptions about disability, educating others about the capabilities of visually impaired individuals. His message is clear: disability does not define potential.
For Dodds, every challenge has been an opportunity for growth. From losing his baseball career to becoming a respected therapist, he has transformed personal adversity into a powerful platform for helping others navigate their own complex life journeys.
He suggests when interacting with anyone with disabilities to ask questions and communicate with them, see the person not just the disability, treat them as individuals, and respect their autonomy.
"Visually impaired people just want to be heard, want to be understood, want to matter,” Dodds said. “We're going through life, just like anyone else."
