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A recent online survey of teenagers in the United States shows that the new podcast series “I Was a Wheelchair Kid” is making a meaningful impression on young listeners. Created by FacingDisability.com in collaboration with Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System (MRSCICS) at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, the podcast features real-life stories of individuals (now adults) who were paralyzed as children or teens.
The podcast was launched in August 2024 with five episodes. Guests talked about how they navigated life after spinal cord injury, including coping with bullies, making friends and finding a new normal. There are currently seven episodes in the series, and three more are about to be released.
To date, the podcast has had more than 1,500 listens, and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. In February 2025, the podcast was endorsed by the Model System Knowledge Translation Center, an online repository of plain language resources for people with spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and burn injury, and their friends and families.
But the podcast producers at FacingDisability.com wanted to dig deeper into what listeners think about the podcast. They partnered with a market research company led by researchers with experienced in reaching teens.
“You never know who is really listening to a podcast or what they’re getting out of it. That’s why these survey results are so important to us because they let us know we’re on the right track,” says Thea Flaum, President of FacingDisability.com.
Fifty teens completed the survey. Seventy-eight percent of respondents found the podcast “very helpful” or “extremely helpful” in understanding the experiences of “wheelchair kids.” Eighty-eight percent said they would recommend it to a friend, parent, or teacher.
Listeners favorite topics were feeling normal again, friendships, dating and sex, followed by family, sports, and managing bowel/bladder issues. The podcast’s highest-rated features were stories of overcoming challenges (62%), followed by real-life experiences (48%) and insights into life with paralysis (42%).
“We have been delighted with how the podcast has been received and are proud to be a partner in its development,” says Allen Heinemann, PhD, co-principal investigator of MRSCICS at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. “There were no podcasts about spinal cord injury aimed at teens and young adults until Thea and her team at FacingDisability.com filled this gap.”
The survey respondents were 13 to 19 years old. Fifty-two percent were female and 48% male. The majority of respondents identified as white (70%), followed by Black (24%), Latino (4%), and other race (2%). More than half (52%) knew an adult who uses a wheelchair, and 38% knew a teenager who does.
The podcast is funded by a grant (90SIMS0015) to the Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab from the National Institute on Disability, independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, and by the Hill Foundation and FacingDisability.com.
To listen to the podcast, visit FacingDisability.com/podcasts.