Disabled athlete stories drive Team Trust Productions founder's mission

Ryan Wilson, founder of Colorado Springs-based Team Trust Productions, says the Americans with Disabilities Act’s 36th anniversary lands at a moment when disability rights and Medicaid cuts are colliding. The company helps nonprofits tell disability and adaptive sports stories that Wilson says he never saw growing up in rural Illinois.

Why it matters: - The Americans with Disabilities Act turns 36 on July 26, and Wilson is using the anniversary to frame a broader fight over disability rights and access to services. - Advocates are opposing legislation that would cut Medicaid by more than $930 billion and could reduce critical services for millions of Americans with disabilities. - Wilson says the stakes are personal because media portrayals of disability shaped how he saw his own future before he found disabled athletes and the Paralympic world.

What happened: - Ryan Wilson, 30, is the founder of Team Trust Productions, a Colorado Springs-based video production company focused on nonprofit storytelling. - Wilson lives with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a bone condition that has led to more than 60 broken bones over his lifetime. - He grew up in a small town in central Illinois feeling like the only disabled kid in town. - He said the only disability images he saw in television and commercials were sad and second-class. - A community of elite wheelchair racers changed that view by showing disability as capability, competition and possibility. - Wilson said the athletes told him to never apologize for his disability. - Team Trust Productions was founded to help nonprofits tell stories that reject pity-based portrayals of disabled people.

The details: - Team Trust Productions has produced video content for Make-A-Wish, Special Olympics, Catalyst Sports and AccesSurf. - Catalyst Sports is an adaptive sports nonprofit in Atlanta. - AccesSurf provides surfing opportunities for disabled people. - The company says one client raised $80,000 in 30 days after working with Team Trust Productions. - Team Trust says another client raised $100,000 in three months. - Team Trust Productions is a disability-led video production and marketing company based in Colorado Springs. - The company says it exclusively serves U.S. nonprofits with at least $1 million in annual revenue. - Its work is aimed at fundraising results, brand awareness and mission visibility. - Clients also include the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, Special Olympics Minnesota, the International Paralympic Committee, Move United and Catalyst Sports. - Colorado Springs is home to many of the world’s top disabled athletes, and Wilson says the city’s Paralympic community reinforced what he learned from wheelchair racers. - Wilson is available for interviews, commentary and speaking engagements during Disability Pride Month and the week of the ADA’s 36th anniversary. - Media assets, including photography, are available upon request. - The company’s website is teamtrustproductions.com. - Wilson’s LinkedIn profile is available here. - Wilson’s Instagram profile is available here. - Wilson’s Facebook profile is available here.

Between the lines: - Wilson’s story connects disability representation to economic outcomes, arguing that better storytelling can change both public perception and nonprofit fundraising. - The timing suggests Team Trust Productions is trying to place disability-led media work inside a larger national debate over civil rights and healthcare access. - Colorado Springs serves as both a practical base and a symbolic backdrop because of its concentration of elite Paralympic and adaptive sports talent.

What's next: - Wilson is positioning himself for interviews, commentary and speaking engagements around Disability Pride Month and the ADA anniversary. - Team Trust Productions is likely to keep marketing itself to larger nonprofits that want disability and adaptive sports storytelling tied to measurable fundraising gains. - The company will continue using its platform to challenge pity-based media narratives and center disabled capability.