Like many folks, Gerald Stopa likes to unwind with a beer after work. This being Boulder, it’s a craft brew, usually a Billy’s Chilies from Twisted Pine.

For Stopa, the beer is a perk, provided free for working at the brewery. But unlike other workers who enjoy the same benefit, Stopa’s job is a little different. He helps with inventory with the aid of assistive equipment and the help of a brewery employee and a caseworker for Imagine!, a local organization that provides services for the disabled.

Stopa has cerebral palsy and uses his head to guide his wheelchair. A device called a DynaVox allows him to communicate with phrases that go beyond the slight nod of the head, facial expressions and “yeah” that were his outreach to the world in the past. The laptop-size, tablet-like computer also is programmed with the Twisted Pine inventory, organized in a manner that allows Stopa to use a button strapped to his wrist to make selections on the screen of the DynaVox, which is strapped to his chair.

Stopa got the job mostly on the strength of his personality, says Chris Baumgart, an assistive technology specialist, who works at Imagine’s Smart Home, where Stopa lives. Over the years, Baumgart and other Imagine! staffers had taken Stopa out for the occasional beer at Twisted Pine, where employees got to know him.

“Truth be told, Twisted Pine would have hired him to hang out and be Gerald. They love him,” Baumgart says.

But brainstorming among folks at Imagine! and Twisted Pine yielded a better idea: Stopa assisting with inventory. To execute the idea, wheelchair ramps would have to be installed to get Stopa through the brewery and into the cooler. In addition, Baumgart would have to program the DynaVox with the brewery’s inventory, setting up the program as a series of menus and choices that Stopa would be able to access and use.

“One of our primary philosophies is overcoming barriers to help people lead the life they want to lead,” Baumgart says.

In Stopa’s case, that meant working outside the Smart Home, as does his wife, Donna, who is also a resident.

Reaching that goal required getting over one other hurdle: teaching Stopa, age 50, how to count for the first time. At the same time, Stopa began to learn how to read. He now knows his letters and sounds and is in the process of learning how they form words.

Richard Lowe, a supported employment specialist with Imagine!, tutored Stopa on his numbers.

“It was a long process of experimenting,” he says. “At first, we tried methods that would be just like (what you would use if) you were teaching anyone how to count.”

Lowe discovered, however, that Stopa began to get bogged down as the numbers got larger. He found that Stopa could master numbers if they were divided up into sub-units of 10, and Baumgart programmed the DynaVox accordingly.

On a recent morning, Lowe and Stopa arrived at Twisted Pine for work. Justin Tilotta of Twisted Pine, who works with Stopa on the inventory, greeted him and started working on clearing a path for Stopa’s chair through the hops-smelling brewery.

Stopa, with an ear-to-ear grin on his face, was clearly excited to get to work. With the path cleared and a sweater draped over Stopa to help him cope with the chill inside the cooler, the process began.

Stopa chose the first beer he’d like to inventory: Ghost Face Killah, which made him smile.

Tilotta hopped over boxes and walked around the cooler, counting, and then gave Stopa the number to record, 10 first, then 18, to allow Stopa to understand the number as 18. Then, Tilotta told him the size: 16-ounce bottles, and Stopa moved through the size categories to click on it. They continued through the sizes and on to another beer.

In the beginning, Stopa recorded only the numbers, but that became too easy, so Baumgart sought to challenge him further, programming the DynaVox with the sizes.

Lowe says he admires Stopa, because he’s so determined. Pushing the button to manipulate the Dynavox, for example, is a challenge, even when the button is positioned correctly on his wrist.

“He uses his left hand, which is almost completely folded down,” Lowe says.

He describes Stopa as “engaging, enthusiastic, joyful, very playful, polite, very funny.”

Lowe also uses another adjective: “frustrated.”

“Frustrated, because he’s not able to communicate everything he wants to communicate. And it’s in there,” Lowe says. “He inspires me very much.”

About an hour after starting, the inventory was complete. Stopa mades his way through back through the brewery the way he came, with two workers holding up a hose, so he could maneuver under, up the slight ramp and into the taproom.

Tilotta of Twisted Pine says he enjoys working with Stopa, who likes to have the brewery’s stickers on his wheelchair and other places.

“He’s like all of us,” Tilotta says. “He takes a little pride in Twisted Pine.”

As the beer was tapped, Lowe positioned a napkin around Stopa’s neck.

“This is my time of day to be very jealous,” Lowe says of the 11 a.m. brew. He placed a straw in the glass and held it for Stopa to sip.