Q&A with Ben Trockman, Evansville’s first city council president with quadriplegia
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In January, Ben Trockman made history when he was elected as Evansville’s first city council president with quadriplegia. The First Ward Councilor suffered a spinal cord injury at the age of 17 during a motocross accident in 2006.
Trockman spoke with Inside INdiana Business about his goals as city council president, his work with Easterseals and the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs among organizations.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell me about your introduction to the city council when you were first elected in 2019.
I ran a campaign and was switching from campaign mode to governing mode, and I didn’t know what to expect or how meetings would go. It was a trial by fire. I knew a couple of people on council. I had asked some former members how things would go. But it is a learning experience. You only get to know what’s going on by doing the job. I was nervous. I’m still nervous during meetings. You never know what’s going to happen. But I have grown more confident.
We only had a handful of meetings after I was elected before the pandemic happened. My first year was cut short, a lot of Zoom meetings. It took a little longer to get more familiar with the role and how to use the appropriate Robert’s Rules of Order and the conversations with councilors over issues. It was an interesting time back then. I have had some amazing colleagues along the way.
What are your goals as city council president?
My goals are to help our members better communicate and understand what each other is doing, to lead positive and productive meetings and to have more communication with the executive body or mayor’s office about the things that we do.
Whether it’s a rezoning that we’re working on that might be contentious or a complicated finance ordinance that people need to get ahead of and understand a little bit more in-depth, I want to ensure that we as part-time elected officials are communicating and having greater understanding of the issues in front of us.
Many people don’t understand this is a part-time job with full-time responsibilities. We do our best to keep up with everything happening while responding to constituents’ needs, phone calls and inquiries. What we’re tasked with doing is ensuring that, legislatively, we’re being proactive, but, at the end of the day, ensuring that the finances and the things that the mayor’s office are putting on our agenda for approval or denial are well understood.
The big priorities for me are communication, positivity and productivity. I have three passions, and they’re all under quality of life and infrastructure. Let’s find more ways to get sidewalks paved, something that we need more of in our community. It’s repaving our streets, which is always something that is in need in any community. And ensuring that our parks are well taken care of.
Talk about your brother, Joshua Trockman, and his role in your civic career.
We’ve always joked that we wanted to be like [John F. Kennedy] and [Robert F. Kennedy]. He’s the smart one, the attorney, and I’m the guy who talks a lot and schmoozes with people. We saw the way that those brothers were able to do something, benefit the country as a whole or communities, but do it together.
He sits beside me at the meetings. He keeps me straight, makes sure I know what’s going on. He does that for all of our council members. Having a brother as our [city council] attorney gives us things to work together on a day-to-day basis, which is a lot of fun. Being able to work with your family member on things you both care about or are passionate about is rewarding.
Tell me about your work with Easterseals.
I would not be where I am today without Easterseals. In 2010, I served as the local ambassador for Easterseals in Evansville. I got to travel from business to business and from event to event to represent the organization.
This was only a couple of years after my injury in 2006 when I was given this opportunity. After my injury, I wasn’t sure I wanted to live for a couple of months. But I found my voice. I found my confidence. I found my self-deprecating sense of humor. It was an experience where I learned that I can speak and advocate on behalf of people, organizations and causes.
In 2012, I was given the chance to represent Easterseals as a national ambassador. I traveled to conferences in Chicago, D.C., New Orleans and San Diego. I spoke to a group of 5,000 people in New Orleans. That experience—in terms of building confidence in myself and my ability to relay a message and advocate on behalf of others and organizations—inspired me. It gave me a charge.
The time I spent as national ambassador on Capitol Hill—they had Hill Day where the organization and other disability organizations advocated for legislation among senators and congressmen—was something that charged me. It led me to a career at Old National Bank where I was in charge of making our company more inclusive of people with disabilities and trying to be the best in the Midwest.
I was with the bank for eight years, and I would not have thought about doing that kind of work without my experience with Easterseals. I would not have thought about running for office without my advocacy and communications experience with Easterseals because it made me realize that I could use my voice for good. I can use my voice to alter opinions, change minds and open eyes.
What are your thoughts on the DEI rollbacks happening in organizations?
I don’t think people understand what DEI is. I was employed in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion department at Old National Bank, and all we did was find good people to do good things in our organization. DEI is not a handout. DEI is finding opportunities for disadvantaged people that may not have opportunities like others.
For me, DEI was disability. A lot of times, we don’t think about disability with DEI, but I worked specifically in disability inclusion. DEI is incredibly important for getting underprivileged, underserved communities at the table, getting opportunities so that we can continue knocking out barriers for people.
I hope individuals will start understanding DEI and the value of DEI more. But right now, it’s a buzzword that’s used in a negative connotation because DEI in my experience has provided dozens of incredible examples of employment opportunities for people of all different abilities.
What does it mean to you to be Evansville’s first city council president with quadriplegia?
When I was considering running for office back in 2018, 2019, some things that stuck with me in my consideration were one: if not me, then who? And two: setting an example for other people with disabilities like myself. Younger individuals who might feel as though they want to do something significant but don’t have the confidence to do so.
What we understand is, especially in minority communities, if we don’t have someone to look up to, then how do we understand that it can be done? Whether that’s having an African-American leader that you can look up to in the Black community or having a guy like me with quadriplegia that a young boy or girl with a spinal cord injury can say, “Hey, he did that. So can I, and I’m gonna do one better.” That drives me.
Being able to break a barrier is cool, but maybe someday what I did inspires some young kid to go out and be a senator someday or serve their community in some capacity that outdoes what I’ve done. It’s an honor to be selected by my fellow councilors, but it’s more of a hope that I can break a little glass ceiling that opens up an opportunity for others in the future.