By Olivia Minnier

A young man has made a significant impact on the Central Ohio community with his consulting firm, advocating for accessibility changes while still a teenager.

Greyson Freed, a 19-year-old from Lewis Center, started his consulting firm, True Accessibility Consulting, in high school to help everyone from local businesses, architects and designers, K-12 schools, higher education institutions, and residential homes with accessibility concerns. All to make everyday places more accommodating for others like him.

Greyson has a rare genetic disorder called Friedreich Ataxia or FA, which the National Institutes of Health defines as “a rare, inherited disorder that causes progressive damage to the nervous system. This can cause movement and sensory symptoms and trouble with walking and gait. In FA, nerve fibers in the spinal cord and peripheral nerves break down, becoming thinner. In the brain, the cerebellum, part of the brain that coordinates balance and movement, is most affected.”

Greyson’s mom, Marcy Freed, said Greyson was first diagnosed with FA when he was eight years old and started receiving services from DCBDD after learning about the agency from a neighbor at the time.

“Looking at the trajectory of the disease, it was evident that we would qualify, and it would be helpful. My neighbor, who had already benefitted, encouraged me to sign up and look into it. She pointed me in the direction,” she said.

Marcy said DCBDD has helped fund a van adaptation and home health help among other things, but she said it has been useful to have a resource to contact too.

“It’s incredibly overwhelming and confusing. For me, as a parent and a caretaker who’s already overwhelmed, it makes it less overwhelming to have someone who can make it less overwhelming,” she said.

Cricket Hennen, Service & Support Administrator with DCBDD, said working with Greyson is inspiring.

“I am in awe of how ambitious he is. He started his business while he was still in high school. That is impressive,” she said.

Greyson said he feels that he has a unique perspective to offer because of the different levels of mobility he has personally experienced and can offer more resources and suggestions to clients as a result.

“I’m using my perspective on accessibility with mobility issues,” he said.

Marcy said he can save people a lot of time and effort because he knows what works and what doesn’t at different mobility levels.

“We’ve lived through every phase of mobility from walking and running to the use of a manual chair and an electric chair,” Marcy said.

Greyson said he has already helped Thomas Worthington High School do an accessibility audit with his firm, as well as many other private consultations, but wants to continue to grow his clientele. He has also been taking real estate classes and plans to utilize that to sell homes.

“I want to expand my business and just see where it goes and move out on my own at some point. Besides that, I’m just trying to go with the flow,” he said.

Marcy said she is immensely proud of her son, despite it all.

“It’s a combination of utter heartbreak of seeing what the disease has done to him combined with a lot of pride and admiration for the person he is and how he’s dealt with the cards he’s been given,” she said.