The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation presents its third annual Reeve Summit 2022; Keynote Speaker, Leon Ford, Reflects on Trauma, Hope, and Inspiration

SHORT HILLS, N.J., Aug. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Join Keynote Speaker Leon Ford as he talks about finding grace by acknowledging pain at the Reeve Summit 2022: Where Care, Cure and Community Connect. The Reeve Summit will be an in-person conference on October 13-14, 2022, in Washington, DC.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Blog

On November 11, 2012, during a routine traffic stop Leon Ford an innocent Black man, was shot by the police leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Every day is now a reminder of the day that the Pittsburgh police officer prejudices toward Ford after he mistook him for a wanted gang member.

"Those officers took something from me," Ford says in a gut-wrenching scene in Jackson Tisi's short documentary Leon. "It's not just the ability to walk—it's something deeper." Watch it here.

Given that lived experience, Ford's message may surprise many. His keynote address at the 2022 Reeve Summit will be about "acknowledging pain, working through traumas, and moving forward," he said in an interview. His own journey embodies those themes in many different ways, he says.

Register for the Reeve Summit: Where Care, Cure and Community Connect, in-person October 13-14 in Washington, DC.

Acknowledging the pain of his own trauma was a "huge first step" essential to his healing, Ford says. "I retracted for a long time. I didn't want to participate in anything that was going on in the world."

Just 19 at the time of his injury, his parents had a hospital bed installed for him in the basement. "I would just lie there for days and weeks at a time, very depressed. I didn't want to engage with social media. I didn't want to talk to people. I was just stuck, you know? Mentally and emotionally."

With counseling – which Ford says was the most courageous act he's ever taken – he came to understand that his own reaction was in fact normal and expected. "When you experience a traumatic event or your life is very different than everyone around you, it's normal to feel left out and to retract. You can't just fake it and say, 'I feel good' when you feel terrible inside. You can't fake inspiration," he says.

"For me, it was important to acknowledge that I did feel terrible inside and to be able to identify why. That was the beginning of figuring out how to become inspired."

He began to seek out other stories, people who have faced life-changing adversity and turned it around. "I relied on those stories for inspiration," he says. "This is one of the reasons why I get out and I share my story."

He has a perspective unlike most, sitting as he does at the intersection of young, Black, and male in America, the victim of trauma at the hands of police, paralyzed and in a wheelchair because of it. In the decade since the incident, Ford has rebuilt his life from the depths of despair in his parents' basement to become a voice for change and healing through mentorship and social activism around trauma and mental health. He fought – and was eventually cleared – of aggravated assault charges levied by the police after the incident. He sued the Pittsburgh Police Department for the violation of his rights and won a $5.5 million settlement. He earned a Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama in 2014. And in an ironic twist of history, his latest endeavor, the Hear Foundation, partners with a former chief of the Pittsburgh police to help end gun violence, heal trauma, and support workforce education in poor communities of color.

"There's an African proverb that says, 'we lift as we climb,' Ford says. "So, as I climb up higher, I'm lifting somebody else up. That inspires me. To watch people, go from deep sadness and frustration to living their lives and finding jobs, I find that very inspirational, especially when I can use my voice to help."

How does he maintain hope in the face of personal and societal pain? "I just focus on what I can do, how I can add value to the world, understanding that I can add value to the world just by speaking with somebody. It's the little things, those small conversations that matter."

He tells of one he had recently with a transgender person. Theirs was a lifestyle that was not accepted in Ford's upbringing, and about which he admitted he had "a lot of ignorance." Yet meeting this person and hearing their perspective really opened his mind.

"I think that's what's needed," he says. "We all may have different lived experiences, we might all have different perspectives, and the more we converse, the more we can understand each other. Even if we still disagree, we can be more open to giving respect and understanding their platform."

He says one reason he's able to be "graceful" with people who have different views is because he needs grace himself. "I know I'm not perfect. I have some parts of me, connected to how I was raised, that I'm holding on to that I know may not be right, because society has changed so much," he says reflectively. "In order for me to love myself like I love other people, I have to give myself grace, and I have to give other people grace."

Hear Leon Ford's journey in person at the upcoming Reeve Summit: Where Care, Cure and Community Connect, October 13-14 in Washington, DC. Register now.

Watch the 2020 short documentary, Leon, about Leon Ford's journey from despair to inspiration.

Read "Surviving a Police Shooting Turned a Teenager into an Activist," by Kim Lyons, in The Verge, August 31, 2020.

By Brenda Patoine

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for individuals and families impacted by paralysis. By uniting the brightest minds in the field, we are working tirelessly to accelerate scientific discovery across the field of spinal cord research by investing in labs across the globe. Additionally, through a cooperative agreement with the Administration for Community Living, the Reeve Foundation's National Paralysis Resource Center (NPRC) promotes the health, well-being, and independence of people living with paralysis, providing comprehensive information, resources, and referral services assisting over 100,000 individuals and families since its launch in 2002. The Reeve Foundation is committed to elevating our community's voices and needs to achieve greater representation and independence. We meet all 20 of the Better Business Bureau's standards for charity accountability and hold the BBB's Charity Seal. For more information, please visit www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.

SOURCE Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation