United Spinal Association’s yearlong #StrongWheeled Together campaign culminated in November with its first-ever Member Awards Gala, a virtual celebration of the strength of the SCI/D community. With awards, musical performances and more, the gala highlighted United Spinal’s efforts to empower wheelchair users to live the lives they choose, and to raise public awareness about the benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion in helping people with disabilities discover greater independence.

“Our #StrongWheeled Together campaign is a tribute to the collective power of United Spinal’s members and grassroots advocacy leaders. Together we are building a better future for people with spinal cord injuries and all wheelchair users while honoring our past,” said event emcee and Ms. Wheelchair America 2020, Hilary Muehlberger.

The gala celebrated a new generation of leaders with a night of entertainment and education while commemorating the historic figures who helped pave the way. United Spinal CEO Vincenzo Piscopo presented Judy Heumann with the Lifetime Impact Award for her decades of tireless advocacy.

“When I look back at everything I have accomplished, I find that none of it would have been possible without the roots Judy Heumann laid down through her incredible advocacy. Presenting Judy with the Lifetime Impact Award was incredibly exciting, as well as humbling,” said Piscopo. “Her wisdom is incomparable. She shared a wealth of knowledge and has an incredible warmth.”

The gala also announced the winners of the #StrongWheeled Together Awards, each of whom received $5,000 grants for their leadership in the areas of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Performing Arts, Sports and Recreation, Visual Arts and Writing, and Youth Leadership.

Fifteen finalists were selected among a diverse pool of nominees from around the nation. Those finalists crafted videos about their lives and achievements that were published on United Spinal’s YouTube channel. The award winners received the most likes on YouTube in each category.

“We created our #StrongWheeled Together Awards to raise awareness of the gifts and talents of our community’s artists, athletes, innovators and leaders. It is our powerful way to support their impactful work. And it demonstrates that we are #StrongWheeled Together in our greater fight for recognition, equality, justice and inclusion,” said Piscopo.

To watch the gala, sign up for membership with United Spinal at unitedspinal.org, where you can also find information on peer support and becoming an advocate or a member of its chapter network.

And the #StrongWheeled Together Award Goes to …

Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Erik Kondo
Erik Kondo is advancing innovation and creativity in the field of adaptive mobility. He has pioneered the concept of “wheelchairboarding” as a method of adapting existing mobility devices for enjoyable and high-performance mobility for wheelchair users.

“Winning this award provides me the opportunity to promote two areas that I am passionate about: encouraging do-it-yourself innovations and the need to advance entrepreneurship for people with spinal cord injury/disease,” said Kondo. “I plan to use the funds to build and host websites for select people with spinal cord injuries and disorders to help them with their enterprises. I will also use the funds to help people in Nigeria with SCI/D start a small business so they can sustain themselves.”

Performing Arts: Dominick Evans
Dominick Evans is a disabled and nonbinary transgender director, screenwriter and Hollywood consultant. He directed the 2021 music video for James Ian’s song “Spaces,” capturing the way people in the Spinal Muscular Atrophy community live their lives and occupy their own unique “spaces.”

He plans to put the grant money toward his organization, FilmDis, which advocates for authentic representation and inclusion of disabled people in front of and behind the lens. “We are using the funds to hire someone to help us with our FilmDis study into disability representation on television. We now have a data analyst who’s going to help us compile our latest study, which will be released at the beginning of 2023.”

Evans is developing television pilots and hopes to be the first disabled person to be the showrunner of a television show from their home. “I was able to direct a music video that way and I believe I can show Hollywood just what the disabled community is capable of when they are accommodated.”

Sports and Recreation: Antonio Martin
Detroit native Antonio Martin’s goal was always to play in the NFL, but when he became paralyzed from a gunshot wound in 2012, he had to rethink his plan. He decided to help other talented football players from his hometown play professional football, even though he no longer could, so he started his business, Bros 2 Pros Sporting Agency & Mentoring.

Martin also joined Team USA Paralympic Powerlifting. He has traveled all over the world to compete in the sport and holds the American record in his weight class for the last three years, lifting 502 pounds.

“Winning this award means a lot to me because it’s my first award since being disabled. This award has inspired me to continue to compete at the highest level and do more for the disabled community,” said Martin. “I plan on using this grant money on my next competition so I will be able to compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games. I have also started a spinal cord injury meetup to help individuals with disabilities to continue to be active and social.”

Visual Arts and Writing: Yesenia Torres
Since becoming paralyzed seven years ago, Yesenia Torres has dedicated herself to serving the disability community by advocating for changes in legislation and peer mentoring. She is a community leader at the Colombian Consulate, a board member at the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, a council member of New York State Independent Living Council and the accessibility outreach coordinator at the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Her first book, Destinada a Renacer, documents the hard passages of her life to encourage people who are going through difficulties. She is finishing the second book from the trilogy, Against the Horizon, and is excited about the final book. “I will use the grant money to pay for my editor expenses, book illustration design, publishing and translation into English,” she said.

Youth Leadership: Anna Sarol
Anna Sarol is a coach, adaptive athlete, keynote speaker, social media blogger and disability advocate. She uses her Instagram page to educate others on spinal cord injury and to advocate for inclusion and equity. “There’s a lot of time, effort and care that goes into each individual content that I upload,” says Sarol. “Despite what one might see as a 30-second video, I know it took me 5-6 hours to produce. All of it is worth it, knowing that I am doing my part to make the world a better place. Winning this award reminds me that I’m not only making a positive impact, but a long-lasting one.

“I am a huge advocate for prioritizing shoulder health as a wheelchair user. I understand the chronic pain we can often experience, and I would love to help others alleviate this trouble. As part of my plan, I will use the grant money to purchase muscle therapy guns for other wheelchair users to use whenever their bodies need them.” The therapy guns deliver percussive massage for muscle soreness, pain and recovery.

The Music

The gala was also packed with performances by musicians from the disability community, including:

• Hip-hop duo 4 Wheel City, in a fun, celebratory performance. These two United Spinal members perform with famous rap stars like Snoop Dogg, and yet they always find time to speak at schools and provide peer support.

• Recording artist Kebra Moore, whose song “He’ll Make a Way” was featured on the soundtrack of Becoming Barack: Evolution of a Leader.

• 2020 American Idol contestant Marna Michele, who was coached by Katy Perry and Luke Bryan to sing Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons.”