Episode 369- Finding Your Voice Through Disability Advocacy with Tracee Garner

A wheelchair, a notebook flipped over in a failing math class, and one contest win that changed everything. That’s the origin story Tracee Garner brings to our mic, and it opens into a bigger conversation about disability advocacy, mental health, and the kind of access that lets people actually live their lives.

Tracee is a disability advocate in Northern Virginia and a published author with 22 books, and she’s refreshingly honest about what it takes to keep creating while living with muscular dystrophy. We talk about how community college became the right-sized environment to rebuild confidence, how writing can carry you through depression and stress, and why journaling does not have to mean pen and paper. Tracee shares how tools like Notion and dictation support her day-to-day as her hand strength changes, and why flexible systems matter more than “perfect” routines.

We also get into the policy side of disability rights: finding your voice, learning to deliver a clear message to decision-makers, and pushing for basics like transportation, accessibility, and caregiver support. From automatic doors to accessible stalls, we explore the truth that inclusive design usually helps everyone, even the people who resisted it. Then we zoom in on remote work accommodations, what the pandemic shifted, and why accessibility at work still has a long way to go.

Finally, Tracee walks us through her fiction, her love of backstory and triumph, and what’s coming next, including “Gather” and “This Too Is Life,” a collection of essays by authors with disabilities timed for October awareness. If you care about accessibility, assistive technology, inclusive workplaces, or creative resilience, hit play, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Resources Matter

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hi, thanks for joining the SG Child show today. I am so happy to have Tracy Garner with me this afternoon. And we are going to dive deep into her passions and what got her there and into this community. So without further ado, Tracy, thanks for being here with me.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Sure, Sarah. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yeah, it's really great to meet you. And you know, sometimes resources available just around the nation are so important too, because some people might be looking or listening in a place that's right there, right? And and you never know. And it's like it's so hard to reach the people you don't know need you. Those are the hardest people to find.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

And everybody needs something and someone. So and it's getting worse. It's getting worse. We need more people and more resources. And sadly, they're dwindling, but there's still a lot of good people and a lot of good services out here for everybody to take advantage of and everybody to chip in.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

And tell us a little bit about yourself, and and we'll go from there and introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Sure,

Meet Tracy Garner And Her Work

SPEAKER_02 1:16

sure. I live in Northern Virginia, just outside of DC, and uh about 45 minutes. And I am an advocate for people with disabilities. I've worked at a Center for Independent Living for um 17 years. Wow. In September. And I'm also a published author. I've written and published 22 books. Wow. Yeah, coming out in hopefully October, fingers crossed. Oh I have two books that are supposed to come out in October. And I just think, what a what a crazy mission I did. But to me in for a pound, I'm gonna see if I can do it. And uh it's gonna be it's gonna be amazing if I can pull it out.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Wow. I I you know I have seven, and that always seems like a lot, but it is a lot. I love to hear that. I think that you know it's it's so great when we can not only you know fulfill like our ideas and turn things, especially our creative endeavors, into something that serves more than ourselves and our communities and everything. That's amazing. I'm really excited to hear more about it. So tell us like kind of what got you into this.

How Writing Changed Her Life

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Yeah, well, what got me into writing is just I really kind of suffered from that back then, it was kind of an undiagnosed depression, but really I was dealing with a lot of things. I was in community college after failing my uh four-year school, a big school, George Mason University. I got in, I was so happy, and then they kicked me out for bad grades, academic probation, and then we moved to a whole new area. It wasn't that far from where I live, but it was just a new county and new people. And my dad's like, roll up there to the community college. It's great, you'll do fine. And it actually was the best thing for me: smaller classes, people who really cared. I'm the poster child for community college. You know, it's a lot of money, even, but it's not as much money as a big, huge university. I mean, at Mason, I was in a class with 300 people. And honestly, at community college, I was never in a class. It was like, it was like high school. I wasn't in a class larger than 30 or 40 other students. And so just navigating that, trying to pass math for liberal arts, it's in my math class where I was failing miserably, I had to take it twice. And it's supposed to be the math for art type people. So I just started writing on my notebook page, turned the paper over from whatever the teacher was talking about, and kind of disappeared into another world that I created. And I entered a contest while I was in community college and won the contest. Wow. That contest included a trip to New York to meet publishers. It was like a legitimate contest with one of the largest African-American publishing houses at that time. Trip to New York in advance, and of course, publication in my book came out, you know. And this was like 25 years ago, and I still talk about it because it just changed my life. Just finding something that I felt validated, and it was amazing. It was amazing. And since then, I just kept writing. I got a book deal for more books, and I also self-published, and it was just, you know, it just really rose my confidence. Uh, grew my confidence. I finished at community college. I went back to a different four-year university, old dominion, and graduated from there with my bachelor's. But it was just such an amazing, it was a difficult time, but writing has always helped me through my feelings. I only really started journaling in the last three or four years because I was like, I'm living vicariously through my characters. I don't need to journal. I'm writing, you know, 100,000-word tunes. You know, I don't have to do any, but journaling has just also really helped my mental health, and I'm now I'm a champion of that just because I've been doing so much.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

I love

Journaling Tools For Real Life

SPEAKER_01 5:20

that. And I always love to remind people that journaling can take so many forms. You can do you don't have to just do pen to paper, you can do it in so many ways. Audio now these days, you can draw a picture of something, you know, like it literally like just capture whatever like you're going through things.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

So yeah, because my um hands are getting weaker. I actually not um I'm journaling on Notion. So I just open a Notion page and just write the date and just start typing because it's becoming easier. And I use dictation more too, because of my neuromuscular disease and how that is affecting my muscles. So there's there's more than one way to skin this cat. You don't have to be beholden to pen and paper. And I still love pen and paper. I love that tactile, but my hands get tired, and so dictation has just been an awesome, you know, other support help to get it done. Yeah, tool. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

I love that. Tell us a little bit about the disability kind of advocacy part and how that has been a part of your life and drawn from.

Muscular Dystrophy And Learning Advocacy

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Yeah, definitely. Always I was diagnosed at two years old with muscular dystrophy. That is a neuromuscular disease that weakens your muscles over time. I worked, walked, excuse me, until I was about 10 years old with crutches and got my first wheelchair in elementary school. And my dad, you know, bless his soul, rest his soul. He made me get a manual wheelchair. And I started paying my friends in candy money. Um, I would give them candy to push me around it. I'm like, I'm tired, I can't do this. Like, you know, so I know it wasn't it was for him an effort to kind of keep those muscles as much as they could, but they were already dwindling. So in sixth grade, I got my first copper chair and it was on and popping, you know, after that. I could go wherever I want, I could do whatever I needed to do. And so, yeah, so the disability is just a part of who I am. It's it can be very frustrating. I have caregivers, I have people that I need to coordinate to get up and lay down and you know, do my personal things. But once I'm in my wheelchair, you know, I do drive in a van and everything and led a pretty normal life compared to some, just a mental determination to try to do whatever I can. And what really helped me with my advocacy was taking policy partners in policy making. That is a nine-month, I'm I forget how long it is, because I took mine, I was like one of the first classes. So it's for parents of children with disabilities and it's for self-advocates. And almost every state has one. One of the components in the class, it's like you go down, I go down to the state capitol every one time a month for like six to nine months. But I graduated back in 2008 or so, and so that was a long time ago when I was just getting out of, or no, it might have been 14. I graduated in 1995. So it was around that time that I graduated from Partners in Policy Making. And one of the classes was writing, you know, and pretending that you're going to be doing your three-minute testimonial or speech to a policy person, like, you know, board of supervisor, legislator, or you know, congressman, congresswoman, and in the Senate. So that like really changed. Like when I started speaking up, it was almost like a Toastmasters type of thing. We have several modules that we learned, but I encourage every single person. I wish regular people could go through it, but regular people have Toastmasters, they can go that. In terms of policy making is more for the disabled, you know, groups, the parents, and then the self-advocates. And there were a lot more parents. Like there's only like three self-advocates, myself, and two other people. So that just changed everything. When I was able to articulate what I needed, you know, increased transportation, you know, give caregivers a healthcare option, which we still don't have. We do have increased transportation in my area, you know, make things more accessible, all that stuff. Me continuing to speak up about that just led to me being becoming an advocate. I just found my voice even more because partners and policy making I actually went to before I started writing. And so it just kind of like I became very outspoken. Always at the board of supervisors meeting, like, give them hell, Tracy.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

No, I love that, and thank you. I mean, I I think that so many of us create our advocacy out of our own self-determination and our own lack of access and kind of idea or even view you know, perspective of others' lack of access as well. Like I'm so so passionate about access for people, and it it's it just doesn't it doesn't hurt anyone and it improves everything. And when we can go forward with those types of notions, uh, what what he can do, right? Yes, yes, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

I guess I know these yeah, all the accessibility, you know, when it comes, you know, everybody, able-body and disabled, you know, rush to use it. I mean, you know, the automatic doors, the ramps, you know, all the things that are the the accessible toilet. How many times have you seen somebody in there that you probably wouldn't think because there's more room? Everybody wants more room, you know, God forbid that we, you know, make all the stalls big. So I wouldn't have to wait for the accessible stall, you know. But but you know, I don't fault anybody because it's comfortable. If nobody's there, hey, use it. I have no problem with that. And so, you know, these things that we that people are shunning, it's like when it when it's done, you're gonna use it too, and you're gonna be thankful for it. But you know, you'll put up a fight until it's until it's done, and they're like, Oh, what a novel idea! Like, we've been trying to tell you that.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

We had this idea, like, no, no, we've been telling you all along you did not have this idea. No, that's not true. Yeah, oh my gosh. Yeah,

Accessibility Wins And AI Fears

SPEAKER_01 11:44

I think that it's amazing how thank goodness we're like in an era where we're going to be able to even through AI, you know, use and have more accessibility for those who have had less access in the past. And right, I just I welcome and bring it on my kind of funny joke. Yes, because I was just driving with my mom the other day. We went to lunch, and I like I said, I'm building some access tech actually, um, just in my life right now, and I want to talk about it, but she's you know, in that generation that she does not understand what I'm even saying. Um, and I asked her, I said, Well, what kind of technology are you thankful for that has happened, you know, since and she said, Oh, the microwave, definitely the microwave. It made me laugh, she's so cute. And I said, and she said, and I just hate that AI, I hate it. And I said, Well, my joke about that is don't be afraid of AI, be afraid of the people who know how to use it. Because that is that's the trick right there. No, she's so cute, but I think that gaining you know access through whatever means necessary, I suppose, is is really it's it is so important for for our world today and for the future of of everyone tomorrow. Oh, I'm I'm excited for what you're doing. So after that's taken place, now kind of what what was next?

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Well,

Remote Work And Workplace Accommodations

SPEAKER_02 13:19

you know, I continued to write my books and release them and you know go and speak. And during the pandemic, you know, I really loved that. I didn't have to go out to work anymore. And funny you should mention, you know, we were talking about kind of people's resistance. And, you know, I had supervisors that resisted, you know, the idea of working from home. I remember that, you know, my wheelchair broke one time and I was like, I really need to work from home. Is that okay? And then it was like, you know, what can you do from home? And what what uh oh something happened, what can you do, you know, from your house? And all of a sudden, you know, 20 March 2020 comes around and like, well, what can you do? Mr. Director, you're gonna do everything, you're gonna do everything, you're gonna figure something out. So I was glad for that part of it. As devastating as the pandemic was, there were some leveled playing fields for people in the workforce with disabilities. I mean, even sitting here now, if I were to do an interview and looking for a job, which God, I do not want to ever look for a job ever again. But if I had to, you know, I could really be leveled by just being seen from the shoulders up. I look like I'm sitting in a regular chair. You don't know that I have the wheelchair that I'm riding around in. It doesn't get to speak for me before I get to speak for me. And that was really, really good. That was one wonderful thing. And the and the unemployment rate is still high for people with disabilities compared to our non-disabled peers, but it did go down. It did move some. That's you know, and there's just so many more opportunities that opened up. So that's that's a great thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Yeah, no, I think our our we're in a really lucky kind of era where it's being more focused on and more enlightened rather than dampened. And and don't say, you know, hush hush around the corner and more like, let's talk about it, let's bring out our people who need supports, let's talk about the supports they need, let's make more of a deal of it, let's normalize it, right? And whatever that means, I like to say normal is just a drier setting, people, but uh washing machine.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

And I mean the other thing is that we're not willing, you know, big tech, big corporate is not willing to accommodate. They won't pay for me to have a caregiver in the middle of the day so I can go to the bathroom. Yeah, I'm so comfortable at home. I feel better. I can loosen the straps that kind of keep me, you know, in my chair and I can relax and you know, I can have help here during the day and be more productive. Like they totally dismiss that part of things. Like I am so comfortable here, and you couldn't pay me to go back in. Yeah, you know, I'd find something, you know, that was willing to let me stay, you know, in the comfort of my home. It takes a lot to get to for people with disabilities to get to where they're going sometimes. Yeah. And why not just be make it easier? You know, just give up the ghost. I really don't think it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

I think so. And you know, it may take some shaking, and the shaking may be uncomfortable, and things may fall, and people aren't gonna like it, but things have to, it has to be the case. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have this dead little flower. I don't know why, I just noticed this right now, but okay, little flowers falling down on my head. All right, my daughter picked them out of our little uh our garden, and the hibiscus. The interesting note about a hibiscus, if you don't know, they only bloom for 24 hours. So I I love like I love kind of the lesson in that that you always have to be present and see the beauty in things now because in the morning that sucker's gone, you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

So yeah, it is, it is pay attention, be aware of that well, just noticing the small things, yeah, small little things in life that are just you know, just amazing. It is so true.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Let's

The Books Behind The Website

SPEAKER_01 17:22

talk about your books. I'm excited to talk about them, and in fact, I actually have your website pulled up, so I'm gonna bring that onto the screen, and you can just kind of like take us through it, even if you want to. And isn't that fun? Of course, of course, love it. Yes, so then you can tell us all about it. I'm very it looks very cool. Thank you, James. Yeah, so tell us kind of like about the fames.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Yeah, so the Jameson family, I've written so far two series, they're both four books each, and then some other mostly romantic suspense. I do write a little self-help. I have a self-help book called Pac Light Thoughts for the Journey, and it's Pac Light, L-I-G-H-T, like, you know, put some more light on your situations in your life. And that was fun to write. I'm actually gonna write a book too about that. But the Jamison family, I'm a news junkie, admittedly, and I need to really not be because some of the stories that have come out later are just very depressing and stressing and bad for my mental health. But I can't help think about people that end up on the news for a time. Like that is a snippet of their life, usually a bad snippet, but it's still a snippet. Yeah. In Whatever May Come, which is the first book in uh the Jameson family series. We have a school teacher that's left Virginia and moved to Macon, Georgia. And she she has some things that she tried to adopt a child who was being abused in a foster care home. And this actually really happened. A woman, a teacher, was trying to adopt someone, and sadly the child died before she could adopt her. So my books are like shocking, but very romantic, a lot of suspense. And so she has someone left at her at her facility, and she moves, you know, to try to get over that, get over what happened, but she actually ends up closing that foster care facility down. And so when she moves, there's a new teacher in town, a new assistant teacher who has followed her to exact her revenge because she was affected by the closing of the home that she worked at. And also she has a vendetta against her. Like if she hadn't poked her nose into you know, trying to save the child, mind her own business. And that's really why she left because there were so many people that supported her. Like, yes, you should close down facilities that abuse children. Oh my god, what are we even doing? Yeah, but you know, other people were like, Well, that child died because you meddled and you stuck your nose where you shouldn't have. You know, so so she moves to make it and trying to start anew, but old things come up, and actually, she is they're all siblings in this particular one. I do a lot of siblings. The other series is about five adoptive brothers who this one woman adopted all five of them at various stages, and they all have their baggage, so they all come home back to Virginia when their adoptive mother is facing cancer and about to die. And so there's old flames. Some of them know who their parents are and you know have tried to reconcile, some don't. And one of the boys that comes home, he's a man now, of course. He owns a restaurant in New York and he's a chef. And so um, he comes home to help bury his mother, his adoptive mother, and they all have to reckon with, you know, the people that they left behind when they left. Because when you're adopted, you have obviously a lot of baggage, a lot of broken relationships. So the woman that has become his adoptive mother's friend, she was kind of the girl next door, and he was always in love with her. So there's always people coming back, always a history there. Of course, they're gonna get together. I love it happening ever after, but they're gonna have to go through some things to get there. And one is just, you know, dealing with his adoptive mother's death, who are his parents, his his the adoptive son's dad actually is a sinner who abandoned him and his mother initially before he was adopted. So it's always a backstory. I love a good backstory, I love a story of triumph. That's what I try to write about. I'm gonna put him through some things. I'm crying sometimes. My own story. Why are you doing this? And it's like, I'm like, it's okay, stick with me. I'm gonna fix it. Like, well, you're the one who broke it. Another creator, what can I say? So it's just fun kind of playing like a little god in my own stories and giving my my characters have the adversity that I Also have. You know, I don't have the happily ever after part. I haven't met the the hero of my story yet, but still, I just it's a way for me to have hope. It's a way to for me to live vicariously through my characters and just have so much fun. I've had so much fun treating people, and people write me, you know, and tell me it just it just makes me all warm and fuzzy all the time. I love this.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Oh my gosh, it's beautiful too. Really, really nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

That's the series about the brothers.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Series about the siblings. And the brothers are siblings too. And then those are just some books that I have released. And those are me at my books, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

This is great. This is great.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Well, and we're going to update that soon with the new books too. So for sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Come to see tracygarner.com. That's where you can find this lovely website and where you can. And I love that you were you were smarter than I'm not going to say smarter than most. I don't want to give most bad bad rap. But putting your website up there on your name was a very brilliant idea.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Yeah, I didn't always have that. I I had to go back and get that because somebody sometimes people take your name and try to sell it back to you. So you know, they give word of you gonna do something and they go up and buy all the names.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

So it's well, I love this platform because I can put people's information up too. So I was just like, Well, she's so good, she already has her it up, and yeah, I don't let's see what we think her now. I'm gonna type am I gonna type right, right? Now you're real there. We go. Oh, this has been so much fun. So tell me what's coming

New Releases And Disability Essay Collection

SPEAKER_01 23:59

up. What's what's on uh what's next and when can we look for it?

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Well, you can look for things this October. I'm actually having a 50th birthday party uh this October.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Happy birthday, my biggest was just July 13th. Oh nice! Happy birthday!

SPEAKER_02 24:18

That was just like what a week ago.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

I know.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Yeah, so I and I'm combining my birthday party with a book release party. Oh great, don't let me show you what's under the hood. But yeah, so I will have a release party at the Crown Plaza Hotel in October, and I'm releasing a very different kind of book. It's called Gather. And so whenever I do events, I always have a photographer. And I had no idea that one day I do a book on entertaining. So it's a complete pivot for me as far as my genre goes. But I will be releasing a book that has party tips, entertaining, and it actually has a very small number, but it's still good. 16 different recipes in there that I'd love to make or me and my mom make or whatever. And then the other book that I'm excited about is a collection of stories by authors with disabilities. So it's called This Too Is Life. And I'm hoping I've been getting essays. And if anybody sees this and it's not quite August 1st, they're still welcome to submit an essay. I'm asking that they be at least 1,500 words. They could be about disability experience, something else you want to talk about. People, I almost have 25 essayists. And so I'm really excited about that book coming out, and I'm also writing an essay in it. But yeah, it's gonna be exciting. I the authors and people I've been working with, and I've been building this for almost a year since last October. October, why I'm recently releasing it in October is because it's National Disability Awareness Month, and so it's just a perfect month to talk about it. And everything. Yeah, yeah, everything. Everything's coming to a head in one month. But yeah. Oh, so I'm excited. Two books coming out, and then I'm gonna take a little break, and then I hope to write a play. I've been working on a play, a stage and so I've been having just so much fun. I really hope to write in a lot of different genres.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

So oh Tracy, I this has been so much fun, and I'm really rooting for you, excited for you, looking forward to seeing what comes. Please share too. I'll let make sure to share all of that with me because I have a huge community and they will love, love to follow that as well. So what a pleasure it's been having you on the show today. I really hope we stay in touch and follow each other on socials and everything. And yeah, just make sure that I you don't come back so that I can promote your stuff later. Of course, I think we will. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Sarah. Oh, thank you, everyone. This is Tracy Garner. Go to TracyGarner.com for those of you listening. Go check out her books and the a beautiful website. For those of you who got to see it on the video, you know what I'm talking about. So thank you very much, and we will look forward to staying in touch.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Sure. Take care.

Closing Thanks And Outro Music

SPEAKER_00 27:32

In the heart of the city, she shining bright. Oh yeah, stories of love and courage all throughout the night. Voice resonated after all the track. Yes, it's called a break, very love it.