In this episode, we talk with Tamara Gallman. Tamara is the founder of Disability Partnerships and a nationally recognized communications and public health leader committed to advancing health, equity, and opportunity for people with disabilities.
Drawing on her lived experience with disability and more than two decades of leadership across government, nonprofit, and regulated sectors, Tamara founded Disability Partnerships to address the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from living healthy, connected, and economically empowered lives. Under her leadership, the organization has grown into a national, disability-led nonprofit providing accessible health and wellness programs, mental health resources, adaptive equipment assistance, scholarships, and economic empowerment initiatives. Since its founding, Disability Partnerships has reached thousands of people with disabilities, caregivers, veterans, and families.
Tamara has held senior communications leadership roles at several federal agencies. Throughout her career, she has used strategic communication, partnership development, and compelling storytelling to mobilize communities, strengthen organizations, and advance health equity.
Tamara is focused on expanding Disability Partnerships’ reach and building a high-performing, sustainable organization capable of creating lasting change. Her vision is a world in which people with disabilities have equitable access to the resources, relationships, and opportunities they need to thrive.
A full episode transcript is available below or on Buzzsprout.
Get notified about new episodes by subscribing on your favorite streaming apps, or follow our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn to stay updated with new episode announcements.
Where to check out Wellness, Health & Everything Else: A NCHPAD Podcast
Buzzsprout website (no subscription required): https://www.buzzsprout.com/2397451
Streaming apps for podcasts: https://tr.ee/_AxhoopNgN
Episode Transcript
Quick Navigation (click the linked text below to jump to a new section)
- Intro
- Disability Partnerships’ mission and what inspired its creation
- How Tamara’s journey shaped the work Disability Partnerships does today
- How Disability Partnerships is addressing barriers
- How Disability Partnerships takes a broader approach to supporting overall well-being
- How Disability Partnerships has learned from the people it serves
- What makes a strong partnership and working across sectors to build inclusive communities
- Disability Partnerships’ ambassadors
- Tamara addresses the gaps she sees when it comes to mental health and disability
- The future of Disability Partnerships
- Tamara’s final thoughts
*Edited for clarity*
Host 00:03
Welcome to Wellness, Health and Everything Else: a NCHPAD Podcast. NCHPAD is the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability – the nation’s premier center dedicated to promoting the health and wellness of everyone. In each episode, we explore topics at the intersection of health, wellness and mobility limitations. If you have an idea for a topic, would like to learn more about a topic or are interested in our free resources, programs and partnership opportunities, email us at nchpad@uab.edu, give us a call at 866-866-8896 or check out our website at nchpad.org.
Music Interlude
In this episode, we talk with Tamara Gallman. Tamara is the founder of Disability Partnerships and a nationally recognized communications and public health leader committed to advancing health, equity, and opportunity for people with disabilities. Drawing on her lived experience with disability and more than two decades of leadership across government and nonprofit sectors, she founded Disability Partnerships to address the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from living healthy, connected, and economically empowered lives. Under her leadership, the national, disability-led nonprofit provides accessible health and wellness programs, mental health resources, adaptive equipment assistance, scholarships, and economic empowerment initiatives, reaching thousands of people with disabilities, caregivers, veterans, and families.
To start the episode, Tamara provides a background on Disability Partnerships, including the organization’s mission and what inspired its creation.
Tamara Gallman 01:41
So, my name is Tamara Maze Goldman. I’m the founder of Disability Partnerships. Disability Partnerships is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that I founded to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. I have an extensive background in public health. I worked in federal health communications and partnership development throughout the government with different agencies within HHS. So, I used a lot of my background and knowledge to really establish Disability Partnerships after I experienced a traumatic accident. So, in 2011, my husband and I were in a natural gas explosion in our home. So, we were both in the house. The explosion happened. We were both thrown from the home. The thought is that I must have hit the fence, which is what caused me to have a spinal cord injury, a complete spinal cord injury, which means that I’m unable to walk or stand at all, and I use a wheelchair for mobility.
And so after having been in the hospital for multiple months, actually closer to a year, as well as multiple different hospitalizations and surgeries, I just really decided that I wanted to do something instead of using what happened to me as something that I felt like could limit me. I wanted to use it to help other people, and so I started talking to people. I met with other members of the disability community. I started volunteering at the hospital, one of the rehab hospitals I was in, and I just realized from my own experience, from talking with others in the community from the time when I was in the hospital, that there’s still a huge gap and a need in services, and so I organize Disability Partnerships around addressing those gaps.
So, some of the things we do, in particular, we have adaptive exercise; we provide services around economic empowerment; affordable, accessible housing; and we are getting ready to launch a mental health program, and I could tell you a little bit more about that. But our adaptive exercise is the first sort of program that we did, and that was born out of, as I said, me talking to others, but also me trying to just get healthy. I didn’t know what I could do as someone who was unable to walk or stand, and so I really didn’t have a lot of support or resources. And I remember going to a community gym and being at that gym and trying to get them to maybe do an accommodation and allow me to do some of their classes just by using my arms. And I remember one of the trainers said they didn’t have time to make the accommodation, and I don’t think they meant it to be mean or to hurt my feelings, so to speak. But that really opened my eyes. And I talked to a friend of mine who also is in healthcare. She worked at the hospital I volunteered at, and she said, “You know what? Why don’t you change things?” Because I told her about this and how I wasn’t sure transportation was hard. I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t get to some of the other hospitals that were further away and had programs. So, I thought, yeah, that’s true. I know what I need to do because of my public health experience. So not only did I look at research, but as I said earlier, I also talked to people again. So throughout that whole process of developing and launching Disability Partnerships, I continued to reach into the disability community because I knew my experience was one thing, but I wanted what we offered to be able to provide support to a diverse set of people with different abilities, and so that’s where Disability Partnerships came from.
Host 06:01
Here’s Tamara explaining how her journey shaped the work Disability Partnerships does today.
Tamara Gallman 06:06
Becoming disabled, I learned a lot, obviously, about what life was like. But I also think because I became disabled late in my late 30s, and so I spent the better part of my life as able-bodied, and then I became differently-abled. And so, for me, one of the things that really opened my eyes is the importance of lived experience. And I’ll give you an example. So, before I was disabled, if someone said someplace was accessible, that would be enough for me. I’d say, oh great, it’s accessible. But once I became disabled, I realized that it’s more than just “Is it accessible?” It’s “Is it accessible? Do I feel like I belong? Are there opportunities? Are there programs and services that will allow me to fully engage?”
I mean, there are so many examples I can give you, but I’ll tell you one recent example. My husband, my mother, and I went to our family reunion, and this was, in the summer, of course, very recently. It was about three hours away from our home, so we decided we were going to stay in a hotel once we left the family reunion site and go and stay the night and then drive back the next day. So, I did my due diligence. I called, I reached out, I made sure, oh, it’s accessible. I asked. I’ve learned all the right questions to ask as far as travel is concerned, and then of course we left the family reunion about 6 p.m. Got to the hotel. My husband, who has been in this journey with me, also knows all the sort of things to look for. He got out of the car, went in, looked, and realized, no, it’s not accessible. Even though I asked questions. Now it was on the first floor. So, in their thoughts, it was accessible. But of course, what I needed was a shower chair in order to take a shower. Now, at that time, it was like 99 degrees. We had been in 99-degree weather all day long. We were all tired, exhausted. Of course, all I wanted to do was be able to take a shower and go to sleep. But because they didn’t have a shower chair or a shower bench, and they couldn’t find one, I couldn’t. So, we had to drive three hours back home. Didn’t get home till midnight because everyone else would have been able to have that experience where they were able to shower, go to bed, etc., except for me. So my husband, my mother, they’re both extremely supportive, and their decision was, if you can’t do it, we’re not going to do it, so we all left.
So, I think that’s just a really small, but I think profound example of why lived experience is important and having conversations and people in your orbit who have disabilities who can really address because people can miss something who are able-bodied, and it’s not intentional, but it is. They can think, okay, it’s on the first floor, the door is wide enough. Yeah, that’s great, but there are other things, and it’s not meant to make things more difficult. I just think that, and my hope — and that’s one of the things about the partnership aspect of my organization — is that people will realize, and I hope that I am a voice for embracing opportunities to talk with people with disabilities to help shape your outcomes in your business.
Host 09:58
When it comes to health and wellness, Tamara highlights some of the barriers people with disabilities continue to face and the ways Disability Partnerships is working to make opportunities more accessible.
Tamara Gallman 10:08
Well, there are so many barriers, first of all, and I never realized it, and I think many of us don’t if we aren’t disabled. But from the mobility disability perspective, I’ll say one particular one, of course, is transportation. Transportation is a huge barrier. If you aren’t able to walk or drive, rather, and you have difficulties even getting an accessible van, a lot of people say, “Why don’t you just get an accessible van? You can go where you want to go.” And that’s true, but accessible vans, as we all know, are extremely expensive. So that’s one thing. A lot of them are priced outrageously, and so unfortunately, people with disabilities, with mobility disabilities, often have very high medical expenses. We often have a lot of additional bills and things that we aren’t always able to just juggle, like a car note or a loan, rather, that might be aligned with an accessible vehicle. So, you try to make do. And I’m saying all that because if you don’t have an accessible van, the other piece is trying to get to locations just because you want to get out for your own mental health or go to the gym or other places like that. So, transportation, I think, is the biggest issue.
I also think cost, and as I said a little while ago, medical expenses, the activities of daily living, having a caregiver, etc. Especially if you’re considered middle class, and I think it’s what a lot of people I’ve heard say: if you are middle income but you’re also disabled, you’re kind of doubly hit because, of course, you don’t have access to maybe Medicaid, but you also don’t have the money to provide yourself with a caregiver. You don’t have that extra cushion that some people may have, and so I think expenses are definitely a barrier.
Medicine can be very costly for many people. I also think just mental health, and I believe that as far as a barrier, just the ability to build a community, and it’s all related. You don’t necessarily have the transportation, so you’re not able to really go out as much and really create that community. And so that’s one of the things, or those are all things that I’ve tried to address with Disability Partnerships. So, our program is completely free; we do not charge. I use grants, and I get donations from corporations, other individuals who want to support our organization, and we’ve been around for 10 years, so we’ve really proven ourselves and shown our impact. We’ve had in 2025 — at the end of each year, we assess and look at our attendance because we take attendance at every session we have — and so at the end of 2025 we had over 4,000 participants in our program. This is up from when we started. We actually had seven people. I had seven people that I met and encouraged them to participate. And just over the course of the last 10 years, through word-of-mouth, engagement and our social media presence, we’ve grown to have 4,000 people. And we’re completely virtual. So, we try to address each of those barriers. Virtual, obviously, because we know transportation costs are free. And then building community.
I’ve had the same adaptive fitness trainers because they like what they’re doing. They love the classes. I think that they all enjoy working with us. So, we built a community over. One of the people who’s been with me the longest has been with me about seven or eight years, and so she’s built a community of some of our folks who take her class. She does a Zumba class every Monday, 4 p.m. So, if some of the folks want to, have something happening like, let’s say they have surgery because our program is for anyone with limited to no mobility. So, maybe you aren’t paraplegic, but you just had knee surgery, and you want to join our program. That’s completely fine. We welcome you. But let’s say someone calls or says something because they all have her number, and they’ll say, “Oh, I have to have the surgery.” So, during the class, she’ll ask them first if it’s okay to mention it during the class. She’ll let everybody know. They’ll send prayers and positive thoughts and wishes to the person, and I sit in on these classes, so I know it’s grown drastically. But I’m most proud of that feeling of community that we’ve been able to create, and how many of the people who’ve taken our classes when they started didn’t have as many supporters and friends, and now they point to many because they take multiple classes.
Host 15:47
For Tamara, wellness extends beyond exercise and physical activity. She shares how Disability Partnerships takes a broader approach to supporting overall well-being.
Tamara Gallman 15:56
Well, we know that wellness isn’t just exercise, of course, and I truly believe wellness — and it’s my public health background — that wellness is mental health. We have classes five days a week, and so those classes are focused on different adaptive exercise efforts. But we also try to assist with housing, whether that’s helping you look for options. So, for example, someone reaches out to us and says, “Hey, I’m having trouble finding accessible housing. Can you help?” We’ll get online. We’ll try to look. We don’t actually provide housing, but we’ll provide resources and information.
We also provide adaptive equipment. So, we have a program that’s called our adaptive equipment grant program. So, if someone, let’s say, like I used the example earlier of someone who has a knee injury and they can’t take a shower right now, they need a shower chair, but insurance normally does not pay for things like bathroom equipment. So they can reach out to us, and they’ll let us know what type of equipment they’re looking for. We ask a few, sort of pertinent questions, and then we purchase that, and that is owned by the person. We don’t ask for it back, of course. We purchase it, and we get grants for that as well. So that’s one of the other opportunities. So just, focusing on the approach to wellness, we look at the whole person.
So, we look at economic empowerment. Financial literacy is really important, as well as trying to help them with building awareness of what their financial needs may be. With people with chronic illnesses as well. We have many people in our program who have chronic diseases and who participate not necessarily because they actually have a disability, but because of their chronic illness, they need a little bit more support when it comes to adaptive exercise, and so chronic illness, as we all know, can also be very costly. And so, that’s why we have economic empowerment. That’s why we have our affordable, accessible housing.
I also do education. I think I failed to mention that earlier, but we offer scholarships. And again, it’s looking at the approach of the whole person. I want to make sure that it aligns directly with our mission, improving the quality of life for people with disabilities, and that includes looking at your school. If you want to go back to school, let’s say you got hurt and you aren’t able to do your job the way you were, you want to go back to school. Our hope is that you apply for our scholarship, and we can help you in that way. Let’s say you are having trouble with managing your budget now that you have these excessive medical costs. That’s one thing that we want to assist and support you with, as well. Our adaptive grant — I mentioned that and gave that example earlier — and then, of course, the adaptive exercise.
And then we are launching a mental health program. We just closed a survey that we had open for about two or three weeks, focused on asking very specific mental health questions, and we’re going to use that data to develop a mental health program, and whatever that looks like. My goal was to make it something that was developed by people with disabilities, so we opened it up to our larger community, to the folks who use our programs, but also to the folks who are part of our social media platform, and then we also shared it with other partners as well, who serve the disability community.
Host 19:55
Through its adaptive health and wellness classes and other resources, Disability Partnerships has learned a lot directly from the people it serves. Tamara talks about what those experiences have taught the organization about creating meaningful and welcoming programs.
Tamara Gallman 20:08
Well, I’ve learned that accessibility starts with listening, and I know I’ve said this a couple times, but I think it’s so important. I can say, “Oh, I’m going to do this mental health program.” And I have my own perspective as someone with a physical disability who has mental health issues as well who is actively trying to help other people, but I have to realize that the best way to build programs and the best way to make something accessible, purposeful, and meaningful is to listen. To start with listening, to listen in the middle, and end with listening, frankly. So as you’re building your program, you’re working through the needs, the gaps, and continuously doing research. So, I constantly look, I search, I try to find out what is happening. What’s going on. Because I know that making our programs accessible — or anyone who’s trying to make sure their programs are accessible and meaningful — you have to have your hand on the pulse of the community, and you do that by listening to them, by doing research and looking to see what’s going on. What are the concerns that people have right now? That sort of thing.
Host 21:29
Collaboration is a major part of Disability Partnerships’ approach. Tamara discusses what the organization looks for in a strong partnership and how working across sectors can help build more inclusive communities.
Tamara Gallman 21:41
Yes. So, partnerships – that’s where I think my passion is – hence the name Disability Partnerships. And I love everything about a partnership. I love that you are approaching a shared issue, shared concern, and together you are able to look at how you can pull your resources. I think partnerships, to many people, automatically mean money, and that’s not what it is. Yes, we’re a small nonprofit, so oftentimes funding is important to us, but partnerships really are about the basic things. Sometimes it can be anything from sharing an email with your members or constituents about something that’s happening.
For example, on September 12, the Washington Nationals baseball team in Washington, D.C. has provided us with 150 free tickets that will allow us to invite 150 people with disabilities to help us celebrate 10 years of being an organization. And so that’s a partnership. I look at that very much as a partnership. They’ve donated the 150 tickets. They’ve been very active in helping us to talk about the needs of the people who will attend the baseball game, and I think that from the partnership perspective, it’s also about — so it’s not just, as I said, the money — but it’s also about having that conversation with the partner and being able to learn. What are the things that you’re trying to achieve, we’re trying to achieve, and how can those two things work together to make it mutually beneficial and impactful for the people we serve? I think a nonprofit may not necessarily understand healthcare, right? But they understand their community. A healthcare entity may not understand how to reach out to the disability community, but they understand healthcare. Those two groups together could be so powerful working together to help with resources not only in the external community but internally with their own employees, and that’s how partnerships really succeed. Looking at ways to support their employees with disabilities, ways to support the community, ways to look at the programs and the resources, and even the patients that they serve. I used to serve on a patient advisory board with one of the hospitals that I worked with. But one of the things, although that was more of an advisory, I looked at it as a partnership as well because I was able to give them a different perspective about what a patient in the hospital with a spinal cord injury may experience from intake to discharge.
Host 24:47
Disability Partnerships uses ambassadors with lived experience to help shape advocacy and community engagement. Tamara explains why it is important for people with disabilities to help inform the programs, resources, and initiatives that affect their communities.
Tamara Gallman 25:02
Well, I think it’s very important because lived experience is expertise. I know this is something that I continuously say, but it’s true. I really wanted people who understand what disability is and experience it, and can share that, and they speak with that voice that’s authentic and sincere, and they share that with others in the community. And just over time, I’ve been working with so many really great ambassadors, people who have, in my opinion, already been working in their community, but they don’t realize that that’s what they’re doing. So, maybe they have a spinal cord injury, or maybe they have spina bifida, or something like that, or something that will enable them to really understand the needs of others in the community.
And so, I enjoy working with ambassadors because it’s important to me to make sure that the needs of people are met. I realize that sometimes as we’re moving along and doing things within our organization, the bigger you are, the more impact you have. Sometimes the further away from the needs you can become. That’s why it’s always important to have people on your staff. I pride myself on hiring people with disabilities as well as able-bodied people. But I always want to make sure with my adaptive trainers, people who work with me, volunteers, our partners, etc., that I’m constantly listening, and that the things that I’m doing with my organization don’t just come from my sort of myopic perspective. That it is also a diverse set of opinions, and it’s a diverse set of opinions from people with various disabilities as well.
Host 27:06
Mental health is an important part of overall wellness. Tamara addressed the gaps she sees when it comes to mental health and disability, and what role organizations like Disability Partnerships can play.
Tamara Gallman 27:17
One of the key gaps I see is that, in my opinion — and I’m sure there may be people who may disagree — but in my opinion, based on the research, and I think one of the things that the data may show from the survey we just did, is that mental health and disability are often treated as completely separate. When in reality, I think they are deeply connected. There is trauma. I can give myself as an example. So, there was definitely trauma associated with my disability, and I mean trauma from my accident, trauma from just because I was older, and trauma from what my life was like into my life now as someone who uses a wheelchair. Because I was 38, so I’ve spent more of my life, frankly, as someone able-bodied than as someone with a disability. So, there is grief around losing certain abilities or a lack of independence, and it can be isolating and lonely. I know that’s one of the things I often hear, and why I talk about building a community with our programs is that the loneliness of disability —and it doesn’t matter what your disability is — I think there is a loneliness associated with it. And I think that oftentimes we look to our caregivers to help with that, but then I also realize that caregivers can have an enormous amount of stress as well. And so I think one of the gaps I feel is really addressing the stress that caregivers have, but also focusing again on mental health and disability, and looking at the interconnectedness of mental health and disability. And how we can help address that as a comprehensive aspect. And I do think our organization is poised to help bridge these gaps. I think because we are small, because we are able to work kind of across sectors, we’re not really focused on just doing one thing. In our role, I believe our role is to help normalize conversations about mental health and disability, connect people with resources, create peer support opportunities, and hopefully make mental wellness a part of a broader conversation about disability health and mental health.
Host 29:58
Looking toward the future, Tamara shared what she’s excited about for Disability Partnerships.
Tamara Gallman 30:03
Well, I know that I’m very, very excited about our 10-year anniversary. I mean, this organization literally started with me talking to my husband about what I wanted to do. As I said earlier, talking to a friend about what I wanted to do. Not having a lot of money. I’m not independently wealthy by any means. And not thinking that, oh, I’m going to be able to do this, and it’s just going to miraculously take off.
I’m most proud of the 10 years. I’m most proud of that because I’ve worked on Disability Partnerships in the evenings and on the weekends. I had a full-time job. I would log off there, log on, do stuff with Disability Partnerships. I would do it on the weekends when other people were planning different activities. I knew I had at least four or five hours of work to do with Disability Partnerships. And this is not meant to be a complaint by any means. I am very thankful, and I feel like it is my purpose. And so I’m very excited about it. But I’m most proud that it’s 10 years. I think probably it’s almost like a parent when their child is going to school. I know this is back-to-school time, but their child is getting ready for school, and they’re 10 years old, and they’re like, “I made it! 10 years. This is great.” So, I think we’ve got a lot more we can do, but I’m so thankful for the 10 years and for all the people who supported us along the way.
Host 31:45
Here are Tamara’s final thoughts.
Tamara Gallman 31:47
There are three things I want to make sure I say again. Lived experience is expertise. Belonging is part of the health spectrum. I think I always give this example to folks. I wanted to get a mammogram after I became disabled. The first time I tried, it was a horrible, horrible experience. They did not feel comfortable. Of course, I couldn’t stand and get on the exam table, and so it was very difficult. And it was a horrible experience, horrible. But because I’m in public health, I knew how necessary it was, and I knew I couldn’t let myself make that the last time. And without going into all the details, everything from the time I booked the appointment to actually showing up there was uncomfortable. It made me feel like less than a person, and that I did not belong there.
And so that’s why I always emphasize that belonging is a part of health. It really is. So, looking at it from a healthcare industry perspective, how can you make sure that the disability population does feel like they belong, getting the services that they need? That’s very important. I also think our goal at Disability Partnerships is never about just providing services. Yes, we provide programs, but we want to provide programs that support the entire person. We want to provide programs that truly have an impact on the people we serve that allow them to grow.
We had a one-year survey that we did just about our programs, and it was program satisfaction to just see where we are, and after each class, people could take the survey. And some of the comments I got were just so wonderful in that it showed me that everything we’ve heard, the research, once people have access and they know about it and they’re able to do it, they will. And just how much it changed their life. I’ve had people who provide comments just on some of the adaptive fitness trainers and how kind they are and how much they appreciate them and how much of a community it feels. I had one person who told me that they weren’t able to wash their hair before. They had had a stroke. They didn’t have the ability to really move their arm as much. And so, being able to take these classes, they were able to get stronger and stronger, and now they can wash their own hair. Just the independence, not having to ask somebody to do that. That’s huge. And those things, although they might seem small, are huge, and they matter. So now this person, that was their milestone. Now their next milestone might be X or Y, and that’s wonderful because we know that with these successes, they will just continue to grow. And so that’s where I’d like to kind of leave things. Our program is designed, and I am focused on making sure that every person who uses our services has a positive impact on their life.
Host 35:23
Thanks for joining us for another episode of Wellness, Health and Everything Else. If you want to learn more about Disability Partnerships, we’ll have a link to their website in the episode details on streaming apps or on our website. For a full episode transcript, visit our website and find the episode in the podcasts and videos section or in the episode details on streaming apps. If you have questions about NCHPAD’s free resources, programs and partnership opportunities, email us at nchpad@uab.edu, call us at 866-866-8896 or check out our website at nchpad.org.