Sharing her story
By Randall Anthony
Tracy Jo (right) joins Kelowna Mayor Sharon Shepherd (left) and City Councillor Michele Rule (centre) to celebrate Community Living Month.
A conversation with Tracy Jo Russell of Kamloops is a profound lesson in what it means to be “differently-abled.” Engaging and passionate, Tracy Jo was a natural choice for ambassador for Community Living BC’s “Start with Hi” initiative.
Launched province-wide in June 2009, the initiative is a reminder that acknowledging others by saying “Hi” helps make people feel included and makes it easier for them to ask for help if they feel threatened or unsafe.
Tracy Jo is one of six self-advocates featured in the multimedia initiative. She appears on the website (www.startwithHi.ca), on posters and in a video. In addition to spreading the word in her hometown of Kamloops, Tracy Jo has visited Castlegar, Nelson and Trail. In Kelowna, she met with the mayor and local MLA to hand out posters and buttons to the public, and in Nelson, she appeared with the local hockey team, the Nelson Leafs.
“I travel and fly by myself,” she explains. “If I get lost, I ask someone to help me get unlost. You have to go past your own comfort zone if you want to do stuff.”
Loneliness and isolation are common problems among individuals with developmental disabilities, says Tracy Jo. “I’m very lucky – I’m very outgoing, and I know how to make friends. But some people with disabilities don’t know how to do that.”
Many people aren’t sure how to approach people with disabilities in their communities, which is one of the reasons Tracy Jo is so excited about sharing the initiative. “It’s working already,” she says. “People come up to me to say hello. Many people are afraid of the unknown, but if you just start with hello, you never know what might be next. If they don’t respond, go on to the next person.”
She feels very fortunate to have met and shared her message with many great people in her travels. “We’re helping to educate the public that people with developmental disabilities aren’t much different than they are. We want to be able to work, to have a full-time job. When I was hired at Safeway eight-and-a-half years ago, I asked them not to treat me any differently than anybody else. My boss, Brendan Martin, saw that I could do the work and he hired me.”
In 2006, says Tracy Jo, 45 people with developmental disabilities climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, all the way to the top. “We had one person in a wheelchair climb all the way to 19,000 feet. There’s nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it. It just takes some people longer to get to where they need to be.”
During the month of October, Tracy Jo and her fellow self-advocates will be sharing the “Start with Hi” message at events in their communities. “Don’t be afraid to say hello,” she says. “You never know, there might be a friend, right there in front of you.”
