Life After Paralysis with Tiffiny Carlson

Rick Futia was a bodybuilder and that good-looking, popular guy in high school when his entire life changed at the age of 17. The year was 1982, and his journey since that fateful day has been epic.

Supported by his large Italian-American family, he refused to stop living life with joy. Rick quickly became notorious for his appearances at clubs and parties throughout San Jose, California, the city where he was born and raised. And he leapt back into dating, realizing women could still see past his injury.

Rick's legendary comeback story has been chronicled in a new biography, "Rickicello," written by his nephew Jag Jefferson, who also joins him in this episode.

— Buy "Rickicello" and connect: https://rickbio.com/— Watch: Rick Futia's Comeback Story

When you look good, you feel good. Travis Iverson, a C3-5 quadriplegic from Ottawa, Ontario, has enjoyed fashion his entire life. The founder Iver Fashion, Travis created his brand post-injury to bring awareness to the importance of adaptive fashion. On his site you'll find accessible carry all pouches, stylish urine bags with tube covers and shirts and pins with his logo, a red cardinal, as well as his slogan, "Never give up."

In this episode, Travis shares his injury story, how he was inspired to start his own business and how he was able to make that a reality with help from local students. Episode runtime is 29 minutes.

— Iver Fashion: https://iverfashion.com/

— Follow Travis: https://www.instagram.com/iverfashionlifestyle/

Paralyzed at just 9 months old, Alex Jackson, a C5-6 quadriplegic from South Carolina, has lived nearly his entire life from a seated perspective, and that has greatly influenced his advocacy. Becoming both a disability advocate for improved accessibility as well as improved accessible transportation, he also works as a Public Affairs Specialist at Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic.

And Alex was also included in SC BIZ Charleston Regional Business Journal’s 2025 "Forty Under 40," which recognizes future leaders in South Carolina under the age of 40.

Episode runtime 32 minutes.

— Follow Alex on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jalexjackson/

— Talk Tuesday with Alex: https://tuesdaytalkwithalex.wordpress.com/

Living in a home that's accessible yet beautiful is one of the many passions of Rosemarie Rossetti, PhD, a universal design consultant and keynote speaker paralyzed since 1998. Not only did she pivot her speaking career after her injury, she became an expert in universal design and built the Universal Design Living Laboratory in Ohio; a home that people can visit and learn about the principals of universal design.

Also an author and accessibility consultant, Rosemarie shares her injury story and her professional successes post-injury in this episode.

— Visit her site: https://www.rosemariespeaks.com/

Accessible homes don't have to to be out of reach for the average working-class person with a disability. This is the mantra of Angela Fox, a paraplegic since birth, who went on to become a civil rights lawyer and mediator for the FDA after college. During the great recession of 2007, she purchased for first home and made it accessible, and she learned a lot, which she shares in her podcast, "Accessibility Is Home," as well as in her book, "My Blue Front Door."

Her podcast is both a podcast and Facebook page to link for realtors, builders, and the disability community. Also a resident of Maryland, she shares home grants and loans available for disabled homeowners.

Note: Episode ends abruptly due to Zoom time limit.

— Angela's site: Horizontal Houses Hub

— 8 Ways Disabled Marylanders Can Buy or Modify a Home in 2025

It's not every day you see an actor with a spinal cord injury on the big screen, but thanks to actors like Danny J, Gomez, a paraplegic from Los Angeles by way of New Orleans, it's becoming more common and that's a great thing for the disability community.

In this episode, we chat with Danny not only about his acting career, which began in 2018, just two years after his spinal cord injury, but his journey, including his injury story and how he was able to secure an acting scholarship from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. His acting credits include NBC's "New Amsterdam," "NCIS: Hawai'i," "The Deadline" (a short film) and multiple commercials.

He also shares what it's like working on-set in a wheelchair, getting his accessibility needs met, auditioning as someone with a disability and his experiences creating films for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, which highlights shorts made and acted by people with disabilities that challenges disability stereotypes.

Episode runtime is 30 minutes.

— Follow Danny

— The Deadline short film

— Rocky Monologue

— Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

In this episode, we learn about the world of wheelchair bodybuilding from Genesis Del Bosque, a C5-6 quadriplegic from California. A passionate bodybuilder before his injury, Genesis went right back to doing what he loves within months of his injury. He shares his injury story, how he trains, what he eats and how quadriplegic bodybuilding - for quadriplegics who still have partial arm movement - is becoming bigger than ever. Episode runtime is 30 minutes.

— Contact Genesis via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesis.delbosque.5

After falling in love with traveling as a child after being taken from hospital to hospital to determine her disability, Renee Bruns, 41, from Atlanta, Georgia, knew it was her destiny to travel the world. Not only has she visited all 7 continents, she also holds the Guinness World Record for the most countries visited in one year by a wheelchair-user (66 countries). Renee shares her story, travel tips for those with mobility challenges, as well as the lessons she's learned from humanity while traveling.

— Visit her site: reneebruns.net

Life with a C4-5 spinal cord injury may be challenging, but Ricky Chang, paralyzed since 2008, has been undeterred. After fighting hard for many things after his accident, including getting his driver's license using a modified steering wheel, he shares how he's been able to stay strong over the years thanks to his dry humor and solid friend base.

Also interning for NASA in their Communications Department last year while attending VCU, as well as a new grad with a Communications degree, Chang, 35, proves it's never too late to achieve your educational dreams.

Taylor Nichols, a former professional motocross athlete from Texas injured 7 years ago, went on to discover pickleball post-injury. A sport offering both physical and social benefits, he quickly fell in love and was hired by Chicken N Pickle, a national pickleball chain in Texas, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma that offers free use of two sport wheelchairs at every location, as their National Adaptive Pickleball Coordinator.

Chicken N Pickle also offers "Pickleball for All" once a month. Taylor shares both his injury story and his love of pickleball in this episode. Contact Taylor to learn more about adaptive pickleball via the links below.

- Taylor on IG

- Taylor on Tiktok

- Taylor on Youtube- Chicken N Pickle