Garrison Redd’s Journey Since a Stray Bullet Left him Paraplegic at 17 Exemplifies Lasting Transformative Power of the 30-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act
Landmark Legislation Has Helped CUNY Create Opportunities and Foster a Culture of Inclusion
Garrison Redd lifts heavy weights as he dreams of the City of Light. The two-time CUNY alum pumps iron at his trainer’s recently reopened gym in Farmingdale, Long Island, vying for a spot on the U.S.A. Paralympic Powerlifting squad. He hopes to compete in the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. Redd, who is paralyzed from the waist down, weighs only 135 pounds but bench presses 290, and aims to lift 300 by Nov. 7, when he will travel to Ashland, Virginia, and compete in a national qualifying event. He has been pursuing his dream of competing on the international stage since 2017 and hasn’t allowed the pandemic to slow him down.
Years ago, during his days at James Madison High School in Brooklyn, Redd hoped to be a college football star. Then, in 2006, his senior year, a stray bullet pierced the right side of his chest, leaving him paraplegic. As he struggled with the shock of disability, Redd initially lost interest in sports; later, he tried wheelchair racing and ultimately discovered that he excelled in — and loved — powerlifting.
“If I can show someone I can build strength then they see that they can build strength,” said Redd of his love for the sport. “It is my way of helping to change the world.”
Redd earned an associate degree from Kingsborough Community College and graduated from York College in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in business. Now, at 32 and as the founder of a non-profit focused on creating opportunities for the disabled, he plans to apply to one of CUNY’s Masters of Public Administration programs. While training from home this summer, he took courses at Medgar Evers College.
“Garrison is emblematic of the kind of talent and determination that fuels the success of our students, alumni, faculty and staff with disabilities,” said Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “On the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, CUNY salutes their accomplishments and thanks them for their contributions to the University community over the years. As we cheer Garrison’s unrelenting pursuit of his Paralympic dreams, we also applaud the very idea of a dream.”
Aided by the ADA
According to USA Paralympic powerlifting, the sport made its debut in the 1984 Paralympic Games in New York and was originally offered only to lifters with spinal cord injuries. It’s now open to athletes with any of eight eligible physical impairments. The Paralympic movement began decades before the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but there is widespread agreement that the legislation bolstered the confidence and ability of Americans to participate.
At CUNY, the ADA paved the way for the promotion of a culture of reasonable accommodation and inclusion that enriches the experiences of all members of the University community. CUNY proudly enrolls more than 11,000 students with disabilities. These students participate dynamically in student life, including as leaders in the CUNY Coalition for Students with Disabilities or — like Redd — as world-class student-athletes in CUNY’s burgeoning Inclusive Athletics program.
Ryan Martin, adviser for inclusive sports at the CUNY Athletic Conference (CUNYAC), has served as a mentor to Redd, and says even after graduating he continues to be a prominent fixture in the CUNYAC community. He has taken part in virtual activities for disabled student-athletes during the pandemic, Martin added of Redd, who he says embodies “the gold standard in regard to what we hope all our athletes will accomplish.”
“His disability aside, it’s challenging enough being a student-athlete competing at such an elite level. Yet, even in the midst of this pandemic, Redd has provided our disabled student athletes guidance on how they can be successful in their sport — and in the classroom,” said Martin. “And while it is true that we still have a long way to go in terms of protections offered by the ADA — and true that the pandemic will erase some of the strides made — a story like Garrison’s does not happen without ratification of the ADA.”
At CUNY, the Americans With Disabilities Act has helped to build a culture of inclusion that enriches the experiences of all members of the University community.
My full statement on the 30th anniversary of this landmark legislation: https://t.co/6eviSeKgI3
— Félix V. Matos Rodríguez (@ChancellorCUNY) July 27, 2020
‘Strength is for Everyone’
As an athlete, Redd is appropriately modest, even as he sometimes appears to be awed by his own ability. He has delivered TEDx and other inspirational talks and, earlier this year, he participated in CUNY’s virtual ADA celebrations. He drives an SUV with hand controls, maneuvering himself into his seat. He also uses an ATV to get around his East New York, Brooklyn, neighborhood.
Redd’s arms are muscular. Except for slight twitches, his legs are motionless. He cannot plant his feet on the ground, an advantage that can give able-bodied lifters more strength. “By pushing your legs you are generating power,” he said. “In my case, what is so remarkable is that I am able to lift heavy weights with no leg drive or additional stability or support.”
During a recent session in his trainer’s gym, he rested his feet on a jumpbox in front of his bench, his thighs strapped for stability; completed 45 reps with a strengthening band and moved on to weights suspended from a basket, mindful not to overwork his shoulders. He glanced at his portable wheelchair nearby and said that while it looks deceptively small, it is an expensive apparatus.
Redd’s journey in the sport took off at a para-powerlifting event in Piscataway, New Jersey. He later met John Gaglione, the head trainer for Team USA Paralympic powerlifting, at a camp held at Gaglione’s gym in Farmingdale. Gaglione, a strength and performance coach who trains people of all ages and genders, agreed to train Redd. They’re planning to fund-raise, to offset Redd’s traveling costs and to buy him a longer bench to accommodate his entire body. Gaglione’s gym is set in an industrial park with two doors that open like a garage, making it well-suited for safety in these times.
“One of the things that Garrison is trying to showcase is how much is possible, even if you have unfortunate and negative things happen to you,” said Gaglione. “Strength is for everyone — physically, mentally and emotionally, because now more than ever, people are feeling defeated.”
“I feel strongly that Garrison is a contender for the paralympic powerlifting team in Paris 2024,” said Mary C. Hodge, a longtime U.S.A. Para Powerlifting team coach who is the high performance manager of Para Powerlifting at Logan University, the management organization for the sport in the U.S. “In the last few years, I have seen him grow tremendously athletically, and I think he has great ability as a competitor.”
Redd says that he is grateful to his parents, who encouraged him to be part of the world, despite his accident. His father is a retired New York City bus driver, and his mother is an addiction rehabilitation counselor. Noting that as that high school football player he once was, he could bench press 315 pounds, Redd says his parents reminded him about how much he could do. “They refused to let me sit around and feel sorry for myself,” he said.
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving 500,000 students of all ages and awarding 55,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “Genius” Grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background.
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