Tiffiny Carlson is our latest Spinal Cord Injury Superstar!

Why she’s fearless:

Tiffiny, hailing from Minnesota, is an accomplished freelance writer who has spread her creative and insightful posts all over cyberspace, starting her website, Beautyability.com in 2003. Tiffiny is a columnist for New Mobility Magazine and writes their Spin 2.0 blog. She also freelances for blogs, including our blog here at SPINALpedia! She has even been published in publications like Penthouse, Playgirl and Nerve.com. She has been decoding, sharing and demystifying all things spinal cord injury for years in all of her writing and on her own website and in her podcast. Really, this girl is on fire.

A wheelchair user since her early teens, Tiffiny is a beautiful blonde who understands the true value of personal style, especially after dealing with something as traumatic as paralysis. She’s about as real as they come, painting a picture of life with spinal cord injury that isn’t sugar coated, but finds a way to be optimistic, while still being realistic. Her spirit and honesty has gotten her a growing followership, all of whom appreciate her insights and stories.  She has opened up herself and her story and mentored thousands (including my dad!) who has sought out her advice, and is also a peer mentor for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. She opens up about her struggles and triumph, helping people relate to her.

She has developed a particular interest in areas that affect women with disabilities, including wheelchair fashion and style, with confidence that motivates others to discover their own inner beauty while feeling confident about their external beauty as well. She has shared her invaluable tips and tricks for everything from applying makeup without the use of your fingers, to stylish adapted clothing. Her videos are around on the internet, and are featured on SPINALpedia as well.

Why we love her:

Tiffiny just celebrated her 100^th SPINALpedia post—profiling anything from cooking to going back to school and anyone from Rick Hansen to Chelsie Hill, and we wanted to make sure that as more and more people read our blog, you know the incredible woman behind the text!

In the words of Dana Brown Ritter (whose ebook was featured here) from Love Like this Life, “When Tiffiny wrote about our blog, and complimented it, I felt like we were seriously legit!…I knew she was a big deal in the SCI community, so I was honestly honored she would write such nice things about us!” Tiffiny is not only legit, but she’s a huge player in the SCI scene and has worked her butt off to get herself where she is today.

Tiffiny is still always finding new ways to get herself and her message out there. Making herself available to different organizations and companies looking to put a face on spinal cord injury. She’ll tell you how it is and will always look to support others who share the same challenges. She embodies what we aspire to do through SPINALpedia, and we wouldn’t have grown as much as we have without her steadfast support and amazing writing skills!

So whether you’ve followed Tiffiny online or know her personally, we know that you’re better for her influence (as we are here at SPINALpedia!) and hope that you can join us in congratulating her and thanking her for her first 100 posts. Here’s to the hundreds to come! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

How has Tiff impacted your life? What’s your favorite Tiffiny memory? 

Thank you to Jennifer Gorman, content producer at The Mobility Resource for sharing our latest guest post!

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Singer/Songwriter Daryl Holmlund sat down with Jennifer Gorman via skype to talk about his made-for-YouTube song, “No More Wheelchairs.” Gorman is a Content Producer for The Mobility Resource.

When I was a young adult, I knew this neat old couple who in their sweet earnestness would tell me, “I’m praying for you.  I pray that you can be healed.” Thus saying one day I wouldn’t need a wheelchair anymore.

What do you dream about?

I knew their hearts were pure.

Most people gag me when they talk like that. But if you knew Mrs. Rowland, you’d think she was the sweetest thing since apple pie.

So I would just smile and say thank you, then think to myself, in our dreams.

Later in life, as I thought about Mrs. Rowland, it got me thinking, “What would life be like without a wheelchair or more importantly a wheelchair van?”

I knew there had to be others pondering the same question. So I plugged a few keywords into Google.

To my surprise, I came across a song titled No More Wheelchairs.  And I thought to myself, “Oh, here we go.”

I hit play anyway and was punched immediately.  The tune is not only catchy, but also soothing and clear, just enough tempo to have you tapping your toes, your fingers or your nose—whatever it is you can tap.  It’s so catchy, I had to share it with the world.

“No More Wheelchairs” by Daryl Holmlund, isn’t a protest song or a pity party. Instead, it’s a song describing a dream world in which wheelchairs simply aren’t necessary.

After suffering a spinal-cord injury in a 2004 car accident, Holmlund was inspired by Sunday school kids at his church who tried to cheer him.

“They prayed for me and drew me a picture,” he said. “At the bottom, they wrote, Daroll Homelanand – Good Player Guirtar – No More Wheelchores .”

Here’s an excerpt:

When I am deep asleep
sometimes I dream of doing things
that I can’t normally do:
Running, climbing,
jumping, flying –
and sometimes I’m dancing with you.
But no dream ever compares
to when I dream that there are no more wheelchairs!

Despite the daydream he depicts in the song, Holmlund says he never thinks about what life could be like, because he’s too busy living it. He’s a high school teacher in South Central Los Angeles. Most of his students are minorities in low-income households.

“I think it’s a benefit for them to interact with someone who is very different,” Holmlund said. “They’re not used to seeing someone who has a disability and is out and about and that is a positive.”

“Other students with disabilities will sometimes come and hang out in my classroom,” he added. “When I first started, a student in a wheelchair looked at me for a second and said. “Wanna race?’ I said, ‘You’re on, let’s go!”

Holmlund recorded the song on his MacBook Pro, and his brother produced the video.

“He does Internet marketing and he said ‘I love this song!’ so he put together a collage of people inspired by the song.”

I love the song.  So much so, that as I’m writing this I had to turn it on again. It’s really difficult to depict my favorite part of the song. The song is so creative and thoughtful; I refuse to file it under “Just another inspirational disability song.”

A Few Favorite Lines:

Missing limbs are regrown,
spinal-cord patches are sown,
and everyone walks on their own feet.
New legs for Lieutenant Dan (Forrest Gump anyone?)
and Chris Reeve is still Superman!

The video is available along with others on Holmlund’s YouTube channel.

No More Wheelchairs Music Video

He also performed for several years with a band called Sauni’s Big Jump. The group has released two albums; Anything Can Happen and Electronic Christmas, and an EP called Open Road.

His music is available for purchase at www.saunisbigjump.com, iTunes and other digital outlets.

“Anything Can Happen was inspired right after my accident,” Holmlund said. “I was processing a lot of life changes.”

Holmlund doesn’t have a lot of time to make music during the school year, he said, but “I’m always playing recreationally. I’m almost certain I’ll make more music in the future.”

He acknowledges that entertainers with disabilities have become more prominent, citing the movie Avatarand the TV shows Glee and The Glee Project.

“People with disabilities are often seen as a forgotten segment or are stereotyped,” Holmlund said. “Those stereotypes can be broken, but you don’t see a lot of musicians out there with permanent disabilities.”

It was really important to him to be totally independent and to have insurance due to his disability; and that can’t happen right now playing music.

Holmlund doesn’t see his own future as having no more wheelchairs and he’s at peace with that reality.

“I have some friends that do a lot of rehab and try to walk again,” he said. “My goal is to make the world a more beautiful place, where everyone can get around easier and have access to good education and possibilities.”

Daryl Holmlund

“I don’t just want the world to be a better place for me,” Holmlund added. “I’d like to see better access to what people need to be successful. Even though independence wouldn’t be through making music, I’m very passionate about teaching.”

Music and Lyrics provided by Daryl Holmlund

What is in your dream?

Contact Jennifer Gorman of The Mobility Resource and let her know!

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