Episode 96: How para-powerlifter Garrison Redd is disabling limitations

Garrison Redd is a TEDx speaker, para-powerlifter, model, dancer, and most of all, an advocate for disabled rights. He founded an organization called “TheGarrisonReddProject” to provide resources and services that improve the well-being of disabled individuals.

On this episode, Garrison shares:

• Why he left his government job to start his own organization
• The job searching challenges faced by many people with disabilities
• How he realized his impact as a positive role model for the younger generation
• How he discovered his talent for competitive para-powerlifting
• How he controls his fear when doing something new or challenging

You can follow Garrison on Instagram @garrisonredd to see his workout videos and other fun & motivating posts, connect with him on LinkedIn and learn more about TheGarrisonReddProject at www.thegarrisonreddproject.org.

 

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The episode transcript is below:

 

Carolyn Kiel: Today on Beyond 6 Seconds:

Garrison Redd: That’s the thing that I like most about my not for profit organization, is that I get to connect with individuals who sometimes I won’t say feel hopeless, but they feel as if they cannot do certain things that everyone else could do or everyone else their age can do. And it’s me who tells them, you can live your best life, whatever you want to become, you’re gonna become it. You’ve just got to have the determination and the will, and you can’t take no as an answer. And that’s the most impactful stuff that I’ve ever done in my life.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds. The podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories and achievements of everyday people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Garrison Redd. Garrison is a TEDx Speaker, para-powerlifter, model, dancer, and most of all, an advocate for disabled rights. He founded an organization called TheGarrisonReddProject with an essential goal of bettering the well-being of disabled individuals through a variety of methods. Garrison provides resources and services like advice, motivation, inspiration, health and more to improve the quality of living for disabled individuals. Oh, and the place where Garrison and I are talking today is a little bit noisy, so you may hear some background noise throughout our conversation – but in case you miss anything due to the noise, you can also find a full transcript of this interview on the Beyond6Seconds.com website.

Garrison, welcome to the podcast!

Garrison Redd: Thank you for having me. Carolyn, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to speak with me.

Carolyn Kiel: Thank you. Well, thank you for spending the time with me. You have a really amazing story and you’re involved in a variety of different things. So why don’t we start off learning more about TheGarrisonReddProject? So how did you get the inspiration to start that?

Garrison Redd: I was actually working at the IRS for six years, and one day I was at my desk and I said, I’m way too cool for this. I’m a young man. I have good qualities and I wanted to leave something impactful on the world. So I woke up one day and I pretty much went to my manager and said, today will be my last day. I’m off to better things. And my inspiration really came from seeing kids with disabilities, and they would come up to me, like if I’m outside or wherever I was. And they would say things like, how I stay motivated and how much I inspire them to be something great. So through that I just woke up one day and said, I’m going to start an organization. I’m going to start speaking around the world. I’m just going to do many of the great things that will inspire and motivate so many individuals that was in circumstances like myself.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow, that’s incredible. And I guess I should mention, since no one can see us on the audio podcast, that you yourself are a disabled individual, or would you describe yourself that way?

Garrison Redd: Well I consider myself able with limitations, because the reason why I say that is because I pretty much can do anything that anybody else could.

Garrison Redd: For instance, if there’s a staircase, I may not be able to walk up the stairs, but I am able to get up a flight of stairs whether I have to scoot up or my backside, or someone may have to carry me. At the end of the day, I could get to the next flight. So it’s just a limitation to how I would be able to get there.

Carolyn Kiel: True. So, we talked a little bit about in your bio that TheGarrisonReddProject provides all kinds of resources and services. What kinds of projects or some of the things are you working on right now through TheGarrisonReddProject?

Garrison Redd: Well, right now I offer a host of adaptive events, and those events could consist of rock climbing, adaptive basketball, hackathons, things of that nature, just to spread awareness to individuals with disabilities and to give individuals with disabilities an opportunity to participate in different activities. Because there’s a lack of resources in I think America and specifically in New York, where individuals are able to get out and be in the world. And I think it was real important for me to try to showcase some of these individuals’ abilities in an effort to increase inclusion, because a lot of people don’t know that the disabled population is the largest minority demographic population in the world. 20 percent of individuals identify themselves as being disabled. But on the other hand, 70 percent of individuals with disabilities are currently unemployed. So I try to create inclusive events as well. So I may have an adaptive basketball tournament, but I will actually have able-bodied individuals playing basketball right along with disabled individuals.

Carolyn Kiel: Very cool! So you really provide a whole range of help with employment and sports and involvement in that way. And we mentioned that you’re also a TEDx speaker. And in your TEDx Talk, you shared a little bit about your own challenges at first with finding employment. Do you find that the disabled individuals that you work with have challenges around finding employment, and are you able to help them with that?

Garrison Redd: Yes. Typically, a lot of individuals come to me and inquire, you know, ways they can find employment. And a lot of times these individuals have their degrees, have the appropriate qualifications. However, employers are reluctant to hiring them. So that’s when I’ve decided to create inclusive events where individuals can learn from one another. So, for instance, an able-bodied manager or CEO or executive could come out to one of my inclusive events and participate with individuals with disabilities, but they get an opportunity to ask questions and to learn about some of their abilities in order to increase awareness and help these individuals find employment. Because a lot of times people feel that it’s unethical to ask a disabled individual what they can and cannot do. So there’ll be a misconception where they assume that this individual is unable to do certain things. When in actuality, they are completely able to do so. So like in my case, what I was noticing is that employers would think they would have to accommodate me with different types of reasonable accommodations when that’s totally not the case. As long as I could wheel under my desk, I was completely fine and I was completely able to carry out all the job duties as if I was an able-bodied individual.

Carolyn Kiel: Right. As you said, you have these abilities. You know, there are just different things in the environment that need to be shifted around and then you can pretty much do anything that anyone else can do.

Garrison Redd: Exactly. And like I always tell people, the wheelchair isn’t a restriction. Society places restrictions on wheelchair users. So for instance, if we made everything accessible, then there would be no restrictions and there would be no limitations at all, because we would be able to do anything anyone else could do. And that’s the same for other disabilities as well. So if we work on universal design, where everybody can access all facilities and all places of employment, all social arenas, then there would be pretty much no difference in a disabled individual and an able-bodied individual.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, definitely. That’s a really good point. I’d love to hear a little bit about some of the people that you’ve been able to impact or reach through TheGarrisonReddProject. You know, you must either speak with people or help them get resources, whether it’s employment or participating in sports or improving health. Do you have any success stories of someone that you worked with that are memorable to you that you would maybe want to share?

Garrison Redd: Oh, yeah, definitely. All right. So I met this gentleman. Well, he’s a gentleman now, but at the time when I met him, he was around 17 years old, getting ready to graduate high school. And he had spinal bifida, that’s an injury that typically individuals are born with. So it’s acquired at birth. So he lacked the ability to ambulate. And this young gentleman, Patrick, he reached out to me to participate in some of my organization activities. And he would come every weekend, and whatever I was hosting, whether it was a basketball event, a baseball event or a climbing event, he always made it on time and showed up with enthusiasm. So one day I asked him, like, what are you going to do after high school? And he said, I really don’t know because I would love to go to college, but I don’t know if I’ll be accepted if I attend any universities. And so I was like, what type of school? I started inquiring more like, what type of school you go to currently? And he said he goes to a school where it’s mostly disabled individuals that attend that school. So I told him, you know, like in my case, when I went off to college, I was 19 years old and I said, people are going to accept you for who you are. So once I told him that, like, instantly he felt motivated. And I told him, you know, you can stay in a dorm just like everyone else. And it will help with your independence overall, because at the end of the day, I want you to be out in the world. You’re a young man and you’ve got to get out in the world. You got to see the world and get to enjoy your life. And you can’t stay home for the rest of your life now that you’ve graduated high school. So right now, he’s in Arizona. University of Arizona. It’s his third year. He’s a junior. And he just completed an internship not too long ago, and he was telling me how it was a wonderful experience and if it wasn’t for my events and just speaking with me on a continuous basis, he don’t know where he would have been at this point in life. Of course, I was joyful of that. But at the end of the day, he put in the work and it was him that actually went on to do what he aspired to want to become.

Garrison Redd: And stuff like that is fulfilling for me, due to the fact that I didn’t know I could have so much of an impact on individuals that start out as complete strangers and then they become like family. And that’s the thing that I like most about my not for profit organization, is that I get to connect with individuals who sometimes I won’t say feel hopeless, but they feel as if they cannot do certain things that everyone else could do or everyone else their age can do. And it’s me who tells them, you can live your best life, whatever you want to become, you’re gonna become it. You’ve just got to have the determination and the will, and you can’t take no as an answer. And that’s the most impactful stuff that I’ve ever done in my life. So I love it!

Carolyn Kiel: That’s awesome! And it sounds like certainly for this young man, he saw you as a role model. It sounded like maybe he wasn’t sure if he could go to college or would be accepted there because, I don’t know, maybe he just didn’t see an example of someone who had gone to college and had a disability and still is flourishing. So it sounds like you were able to provide that example for him. And, you know, even just knowing one person who is in your situation who can achieve big goals. I think that can help inspire people. And it sounds like that’s what you did for him.

Garrison Redd: Yeah. And see, another thing, when I started my organization, a big issue was that there’s not too many individuals with a disability that people could aspire to become like a Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan or Mariah Carey or, you know, one of these influential individuals out here that people could look up to. And I said, I could be that person. So that was one of my main reasons for starting TheGarrisonReddProject. I just wanted to be a person that other individuals with disabilities can look up to and say “if he did it, I could do it.”

Carolyn Kiel: That’s awesome. And you’re right, we don’t really see a lot of examples in the media or popular culture of people using wheelchairs who are doing a whole variety of different things. So it’s hard to kind of see what that example is. And it sounds like you’re involved in a lot of different things. I mentioned in your bio that you’re a, you’ve been a model, you’re a dancer, so, you know, you’re in the media in that sense, doing those things. And you’re also an athlete as well, a competitive athlete. You were always involved in sports since you were young and now what you’re competing in is powerlifting. Is that correct? Your latest thing?

Garrison Redd: Yeah.

Carolyn Kiel: How did you decide to get into that?

Garrison Redd: It’s funny how I got into it, actually. One day I was in a gym and a gentleman came up to me and he’s like, you should play on my wheelchair football team. So I’m like, wheelchair football? I’m like, I never even heard of that. It sounds like dangerous! Like if I fall and break a leg, what happens? Like, it just doesn’t sound like something I should be doing. But he was like, no, you should come out, meet some of the other athletes and some of the other people that’s involved with it. And going to that wheelchair football practice actually changed my life and my whole outlook on adaptive sports.

Garrison Redd: Prior to my injury, I played football, and my whole life was pretty much dedicated to going to the NFL, buying my mother a big house, that’s all I thought about. And then when I got injured, my dreams was cut short. So I pretty much said to myself, I’m not going to get involved in any adaptive sports because I don’t want to put 110 percent into something for it to not go anywhere. So years passed. I’m in the gym. Guy comes up to me. He’s saying, come out to my wheelchair football practice. I come out and I meet this gentleman by the name of John Hamre, who’s the president of the Wheelchair Sports Federation, and he’s like, you know, you’re in great shape. You should be involved in some type of athletics. And I said, like, I was like, I don’t want to do team sports! Everybody does wheelchair basketball. I just wasn’t into that. So he said, there’s other sports, there’s thousands of other sports. So I’m like, name some of them. And he says, you ever thought about wheelchair track racing or wheelchair field sports? And I said, you know, I never trained in track when I was in high school or anything, and I was an able body. So when he told me that, I automatically was intrigued. I’m like, they have that? So he said, yeah!

Garrison Redd: And he did me a favor. He said, I’m going to hook you up and put you on the best track team, junior track team in the nation, which was the New Jersey Navigators. So from there, I started doing field sports and wheelchair track racing and I was loving it. And then one day my coach, Jimmy Cuevas said, I put you in a para powerlifting meet. He said, you don’t look like you weigh that much and you’re pretty strong. So he puts me in this meet — since there’s not a lot of facilities I could go to weigh myself because doctors and hospitals typically do not have a scale for wheelchair users — they did! So he’s like, how much you think you weigh? I’m like, 140 pounds. I get on a scale and I weighed 120 pounds. And I was able to lift 250 pounds with no training at all.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow!

Garrison Redd: Which was at that time, and it still is, one of the strongest lifts in the country. This is approximately two years ago. And then from there, the Team USA performance manager reached out to me the next day instantly and informed me that I should vie for a spot on Team USA para powerlifting. And then from there I went to a level one camp, that’s where they give you like educational stuff in regards to para powerlifting before you can even compete. And then after that, they invited me to the Olympic Training Center, which is in Colorado Springs, Colorado. And at the Olympic training facility, I was able to lift about 270 pounds weighing a little bit more, weighing about 130 pounds, which from there they knew I was like the real deal, and invited me to a para powerlifting national qualifier. And that’s when I originally qualified to go to world championships in Kazakhstan, which was a year and a half ago. So it was like overnight I got into para powerlifting.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s amazing! You basically could lift double your weight, you’re saying, without any training, just because you were in such good shape from being athletic and going to the gym! That’s amazing.

Garrison Redd: Yeah. So fast forward, I just competed in a national qualifier in Missouri, which I’ll be attending world championships in Bogota, Colombia, on March 16th to March 22nd. And I’m really looking forward to that. Actually I finished 2019 competing against able-bodies, and I was second in the world competing against able-bodies at 123 pounds. I lifted 290 pounds at a powerlifting meet which placed me second in the world.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow! And how often do you train?

Garrison Redd: Typically I train three times out of the week with my strength coach John Gaglione. I’m his first para powerlifter he’s ever coached, however he has over like fifteen years of experience in powerlifting and powerlifting coaching. He has his own gym and he coached a lot of nationally and world ranked powerlifters, so he’s an excellent coach. Him training me, we’re off to a new venture in which I’m doing pretty well. So he’s actually moving up the ranks as a para powerlifting trainer and he’s going to become the head trainer of Team USA para powerlifting team.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow, that’s cool. And then the world championships that you’re going to, is that a qualifier for the Paralympics?

Garrison Redd: Yeah, it is a qualifier for the Paralympics. With this qualifier, I have to rank seventh in the world in order to compete at the Paralympics in Tokyo later this year.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s really cool. You’re well on your way! That’s so exciting! Wow. Very very cool.

Garrison Redd: Yes. I manifested a lot of these things, too, because I saw myself as an individual just doing great things. And all of those things are coming true. But at the same time, I’m inspiring others that whatever you believe you could aspire to be, you can become that.

Carolyn Kiel: Definitely! And you’re proving that right in so many different realms from athleticism and the nonprofit that you run, and even public speaking! So I think I first learned about your story from watching your TEDx Talk, a recording of it that you did in 2018. How did you get that opportunity to do a TEDx Talk?

Garrison Redd: Well I got the TEDx Talk, actually a friend of mine’s name, Connie Chi one day, informed me that I should do a TEDx Talk. And when she informed me that I should do a TEDx Talk, I said I don’t even know, at the time I didn’t even know what it was! Which is funny. So I did the TEDx Talk, and from doing the TEDx Talk, well, she informed me what it was. So I went and did some research and I was like, this is something I can do. So fast forward, I found out ways to go about it. I contacted an organizer that was holding a TEDx Talk in Long Island. And from there I said, let me apply. And I applied and I was selected! And that was the first talk I did on that scale. I never spoke in public ever prior to that  TEDx Talk.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow! Wait, ever? That’s amazing! To go from like never to something as big, like that’s a pretty significant stage and, you know, I’ve never done anything remotely like a TED Talk or a TEDx Talk, but I hear there’s a lot, you know, potentially it’s a lot of pressure to get your message out in a relatively short amount of time. Did you have to coach or practice a lot before you got on?

Garrison Redd: Not really. And I’m saying that’s the reason why not really, because I already had my story in my head that I’ve been replaying for years and years. And I just, that was my opportunity to get it out to the world. And so I did, you know, I did practice in a mirror like every night for like the 30 days prior to the TED Talk. However, I was prepared. I just felt confident that I’ll be able to do it. What a lot of people don’t know is that I’m a very sociable person. So like, I don’t mind speaking to anyone. So it’s like talking on a stage to me was just the same thing. It wasn’t much different. So I think I built my confidence over the years, of just been able to express myself. And it was just another day, another thing!

Carolyn Kiel: That’s fantastic. Yeah, you can tell from watching it that you have a real connection with the audience. And, you know, like you said, it’s a conversation. I think that’s probably the best way to approach something like that when telling our stories.

Garrison Redd: Yeah. One thing I don’t have or I try to control, which is very important, I try to control my fear with anything that I’m doing. And I think that’s one thing that sets me apart from a lot of other individuals, that I’m able to control my fear and I’m able to take a chance. So it works out for me.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s good. Yeah, I think a lot of us are fearful when we’re doing something new or that we aren’t sure if we’re going to succeed. But, you know, as you said, it’s managing that fear and acting and doing things despite maybe being afraid. That’s the action. That’s how we achieve our goals and get new experiences.

Garrison Redd: Exactly. Exactly. So, yup. So if you could control your fear. I mean, that’s what holds a lot of people back in life, is just fear. So, you just got to manage it.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Do you have any tips for how to manage it? Do you have any like meditations or things you’d say to yourself or deep breathing or anything?

Garrison Redd: Breathing! Yeah, yeah, deep breathing. I like doing a lot of breathing exercises and that goes for everything I do with powerlifting, with speaking, with modelling. It’s all the same thing in my mind. So I try to do a lot of like, breathing exercises. I take five minutes out of the day, each day, just to breathe. And I think that really helps me. And before an event, I’ll take five minutes and breathe like before the event. And I do a lot of deep breathing trying to expand my stomach into my fingertips and things of that nature. Holding my breath. Also, like breathing through my nose and things of that nature. Just different ways to relax myself.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, it’s really powerful. Most of us throughout the day don’t breathe properly. So if you do take that time to really concentrate on your breath and take those deep breaths, it works wonders with a lot of things, like fear and just general health. You know, that’s great.

Garrison Redd: You’ll be surprised.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely. Well, so, Garrison, you’re already achieving so many things and you’re still a young man yourself. What big goals do you still want to accomplish in your life?

Garrison Redd: Well, I want to win a Nobel Peace Prize. That’s one of the main goals. And then I would like to be mayor of New York City one day. I also mentioned that in my TED Talk as well. I feel that I will be able to impact the world on a larger scale if I win a Nobel Peace Prize. And if I’m mayor of New York City and I can implement so many changes, that could just benefit everyone. Because right now there’s so much chaos going in the world where people just need to realize that we’re all the same and we are all equal to one another. So I think I could really, you know, have a strong impact on the whole entire world in a few years, once my messages get across on a worldwide tip.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, that’s amazing. Yeah. So you’re really expanding into every sphere, you know, going into, wanting to go into politics as well. And you’re right, that is a completely different way to really make policies and implement a lot of change on a large scale. Well that’s great.

Garrison Redd: Exactly, yup.

Carolyn Kiel: Very cool. So, you know, how do you usually get in contact with people through TheGarrisonReddProject? Do they usually come to you? Do you do outreach? Or how does that usually happen?

Garrison Redd: I do a combination of both. So like, I will host events where I’ll collaborate with other organizations. They don’t have to be necessarily a disabled organization that’s catered for disabled individuals. It could be any type of organization. The reason being is because pretty much everybody knows someone with some form of disability, whether it is visible or not able to be seen. It’s still a disability. So I try to connect with as many organizations and partner and do tons of collaboration. I have on my website people can  subscribe, which is pretty cool because I can, you know, send them out updates and mail and things of that nature on upcoming events that they can attend. So that’s really helpful. And also Instagram! Social media works well also. Through Instagram, people can contact me and I always have my contact information on my page. So it’s very easy to access me or reach out to me through private message or direct messaging, you know, depending on the social media. So those are some of the avenues they can go about reaching out to me. But yeah, it’s tons of ways!

Carolyn Kiel: Very cool. So, yeah, I can put a link to your website, to your Instagram and any other social media, I’ll put them in the show notes so that people can, you know, reach out to you and learn more about your work that way.

Garrison Redd: Yeah, and I definitely will send it to you.

Carolyn Kiel: Perfect! Garrison, this has been a really interesting conversation. I really enjoyed learning about all of the different things that you’re involved in and just all the different ways that you’re inspiring people. And I’m sure will continue to inspire people as you expand your own sphere of influence and enter politics and pursue winning the Nobel Peace Prize and pursue your athletic competitions and all of that. As we close out, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know or anything that they can help or support you with?

Garrison Redd: Well, if there’s anybody out there that’s looking to sponsor me, a lot of the activities that I do, I have to fund myself or fund through grants. So if there’s ever any individuals that would like to sponsor or partner with me, feel free to reach out to me. Also, as far as para powerlifting, I do have to fund that a lot on my own. Typically, Team USA only gives us small amount of dollars to help each athlete. So, you know, I’m always looking for endorsements or sponsorships as well, as far as para powerlifting. So if anybody wants to get in touch with me after hearing this interview, please do so and we can discuss more!

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely. Yeah. Please get in touch with Garrison. He’s doing really amazing work. And, you know, any way that we can help him continue to do that great work is much appreciated. Wonderful. Yeah. Well, thank you, Garrison, thanks so much for being a guest on my show today.

Garrison Redd: Thanks, Carolyn. I really appreciate coming on your show. I really appreciate you taking the time to hear my story.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help us spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give us a shout out on your social media or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of our episodes on our website, and subscribe to our free newsletter, at www.Beyond6Seconds.com. Until next time!