Lying on the couch at her doctor’s office, Tracy Shudo looked at her son who would turn three in three weeks’ time. She had a bad vertigo and numb patches on parts of her body which doctors suspected could be an inner virus, a brain tumour, or Multiple Sclerosis (M. S.).
“after the doctor said this to me, I looked over at my three-year-old son sitting in the corner and kept thinking it could not be cancer…it could not be brain cancer,” Tracy said, recalling the incident in 1995.
In the end, it wasn’t a cancer, but M. S. Tracy, 59 and wheelchair bound, says it’s a “blessing” to have M. S. “Because it wasn’t a brain tumor. I’m not dead.”
Tracy’s is the first interview I’ve done for my new podcast “RideTheLearningCurve”. The idea of the podcast is to remove the emotions around disability and see what those having disabilities have done right to fight challenges. Looked that way, every person with disability has a life hack, a work or life skill to share with the rest of the community.
Talking about the life lesson is also how we can turn the narrative around disability, gently but effectively.
If you’ve guessed where I met Tracy, who’s based in Vancouver, Canada, 100 marks to you. In case you haven’t the answer is obvious: Club House, where Tracy runs the “Namaste And Positive Growth” room with her American friend Lucas Peril as part of the “Love And Light” club. Apart from the “Daily Gratitude” room, I’ve been a regular to Tracy’s room chiefly because it’s inclusive and conducts discussions with gentle positivity (she also runs a room on MS).
Besides interviews, I’m also going to turn my own life skills into podcast episodes, including things I’ve shared here. I’ve learnt audio editing and constantly kept improving my presentation skills to produce this podcast. The learning has been steep but exciting and I’m certainly riding the curve with the glee of a kid on a giant-wheel. Besides regular posts, I’ll write about my experience of podcast production and things that you can do right in case you are working on a podcast. So, keep watching this space for more updates.
Meanwhile, here’s my interview with Tracy, which is also an example of how personal narratives can be extremely positive. Let me know what you think! I value your feedback because it’ll help me learn more and do it better.
Knowledge is power, smile’s free: A Canadian Woman’s Journey With Multiple Sclerosis