Jackson Larson has not allowed a teenage accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down to slow him down.
Larson, of Cambridge, recently graduated from the Partners in Policymaking program, which trains people with disabilities, or their parents, in the arts of advocacy and leadership.
When Larson was 16, his parked car shifted into reverse gear, and as he was trying to dive in and stop the vehicle from rolling down a hill, his spine was pinched in one of its doors.
Larson, now 23, found out about the Partners in Policymaking program from a softball teammate of his. He had benefited from the help of disability advocates himself in the past, which made participating a natural fit for him.
Last year, Larson was one of the first people to receive a ReWalk device, an robotic “exoskeleton” that allows people who are otherwise wheelchair bound to stand and walk.
Larson’s family heard about exoskeletons on television, and they ended up on television themselves when Larson received his.
News station KARE 11 picked up Larson’s story. Larson, an enthusiastic Twins fan (he plays softball for the Rolling Twins), received a visit from TC Bear and Minnesota Twins player Joe Mauer at Gilette Children’s hospital, where he learned to walk using the ReWalk.
But between learning about the exoskeleton and receiving it, there laid a long, paperwork-strewn road, which the Larsons traversed with the help of a disability advocate. It took multiple attempts for Larson to be approved to receive the ReWalk; he was the first Gilette patient to receive one.
“She had so much perseverance,” Larson said of the advocate he worked with. “I can’t remember how many times we were denied.”
Larson wasn’t directly inspired toward advocate work by his experience securing the ReWalk, but he certainly thinks the experience made him more open to the idea once he learned about Partners in Policymaking.
“In the back of my head I was certainly thinking, ‘Gosh, that felt good,’” Larson said.
The Partners in Policymaking training consists of one weekend session per month over the course of nine months.
“You learn to become a self-advocate and also for others with disabilities,” Larson said. “You just meet all these wonderful people and you can relate to them. … There were a lot of great speakers that attended.”
“They all had a connection” to at least one person with a disability, he added.
One of the things Larson said the training focused on using “people first” language, putting the person before their disability.
Following his training, Larson is hoping to get involved with local advocacy groups in the Cambridge area. He has already begun doing some public speaking in schools and other venues, using the ReWalk device, and he called into KFAI radio last week to talk about the Partners in Policymaking program.
Accessibility is an important issue for him. He cited the example of needing to go through the drive-thru at a local business that had no stairs as a minor frustration, and he said another big accessibility issue is parking. Larson uses a ramp to get out of his car when he parks, which means he needs a wider spot. Many people with many different types of disabilities, visible or invisible, have handicapped parking tags these days, and Larson said that sometimes made it difficult for him to acquire the kind of wide spot he needs.
“I don’t mind if I’m parked really far in the parking lot,” he said. “I just need that extra space.”
Larson and a friend also maintain a YouTube channel, at youtube.com/user/JackInAction, where they post videos of Jack overcoming challenging situations. The videos help illustrate an important point for Larson: “Focus on what you can do and not what you can’t,” he said.
Larson mentioned Partners in Policymaking is looking for more people to participate in its training and the advocacy work that follows. To learn more about Partners in Policymaking, visit mn.gov/mnddc/pipm.