Six Wheelchair Users Awarded at United Spinal Association's StrongWheeled Together Conference

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Tonight, United Spinal Association will present the StrongWheeled Together Award to six talented individuals from the community of wheelchair users living in the United States.

United Spinal Association will present the StrongWheeled Together Award to six talented wheelchair users.

This year’s Award categories are Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Performing Arts, Sports and Recreation, the Visual Arts, Writing and Youth Leadership. Awardees were selected by a panel of judges following two competitive rounds of evaluation. All the winners are not only highly accomplished in their own fields but have significant proven commitments to the disability community, advocacy or the nonprofit world.

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award goes to Ryan Gebauer of Coral Gables, Florida, owner of Ryan Realty Group, a real estate sales instructor and a volunteer and accessible housing advocate in his community.

The Performing Arts Award will be awarded to King Khazm of Seattle, hip hop artist, Executive Director of 206 Universal, a Commissioner in the Seattle Disability Commission and a board member of the Here and Now Project, among numerous other commitments to hip-hop and the disability community.

United Spinal will give the Sports and Recreation Award to Arthur Renowitzky of San Lorenzo, California, the Executive Director and a co-founder of the Life Goes On Foundation and plays guard for the Golden State Road Warriors—this past year’s champions of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association.

The Visual Arts Award will be granted to sculptress and performance artist Xi Nan of Queens, New York, who has exhibited worldwide, including at the Venice Biennial, and also participates in numerous nonprofit and philanthropic initiatives to lift up other artists with disabilities.

The Writing Award will be presented to Anja Herrman of River Forest, Illinois, whose writing has been featured by the Reeve Foundation, Teen Vogue and the Huffington Post. Herman was also part of the inaugural class of EmpowHer Camp, prompting her to write a groundbreaking paper on school districts and students with disabilities during school shootings.

Finally, Giana Bisnett of Rochester, New York, will receive the Youth Leadership Award. Bisnett is best known for successfully moving her school district to purchase Evac-Chairs for its students with disabilities. She is now working to replicate her work and spread her message about disability rights and emergency preparedness around the nation.

The awards ceremony caps off United Spinal’s first-ever StrongWheeled Together Conference, which brought United Spinal members, chapter leaders, clinicians and corporate partners to Las Vegas for connection, learning and action for disability justice. Following a successful inaugural virtual presentation in 2022, the ceremony marks the first time the Award has been presented in person.

The StrongWheeled Together Awards are emerging as a prestigious and exciting platform for emergent and established talent from the disability community. The Awards originated as part of United Spinal’s ongoing Strong Wheeled Together campaign: unitedspinal.org/strong-wheeled-together