03/25/2026

'It's just who I am': Cleveland singer Tracy Marie Greenberg on finding her voice to advocate for those with disabilities

Lindsay Buckingham

PAINESVILLE, Ohio — March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month — a time to promote inclusion and celebrate outstanding members of the community. And few people in Northeast Ohio embody that spirit quite like Tracy Marie Greenberg.

She is a singer, a songwriter, a disability rights advocate, and a well-known figure in the Cleveland music scene. But her story begins long before any stage or recording studio. It begins with her brother Danny.

"He needed full-time care and he was nonverbal, but he could sing songs," Tracy Marie said. "Even into his 30s, he would still remember the songs that we sang when we were kids."

Music was their shared language, and it was one Tracy Marie would carry with her for the rest of her life.

Growing up, she was born with a rare genetic condition that affected her gait and her bones — one that wouldn't have a proper name for decades. As a child, she drew attention for the wrong reasons.

"When I was in fifth grade, we had a thing where the choir teacher had us each sing by ourselves," she recalled, "and I remember, up until then, I was getting a lot of attention for my disability."

That changed the moment she opened her mouth.

"There was a new thing I was getting attention for that was like a positive thing, so that's when I knew that I had something that was above and beyond."

Singing became her armor, her identity, her purpose.

"It's not a hobby — it's just who I am. It's not a career — it's just who I am," she said. "If there was no audience, I would still do it."

For most of her life, doctors told Tracy Marie she had bone dysplasia. It wasn't the right answer. After years of advocating for herself in medical offices, she finally received the correct diagnosis: Morquio A syndrome — a rare genetic condition that affects bone growth and the spine. The road to that diagnosis was long and physically grueling.

"I've had seven hip replacements," she said. "So I've been through a lot of being able to walk, not being able to walk, being in a wheelchair, using crutches."

But it never stopped her: Once she finally had a name for her condition, she took to social media — connecting with others who had been searching for answers too.

"If you haven't been diagnosed with a blood test or you don't know for sure, go back to your doctor and ask if this is possible for you," she urged. "And like five other people went and got back to their doctors and found out they actually have Morquio syndrome."

Tracy Marie also documents her journey on her Facebook page, "Morquio A Diagnosis" — a resource she created specifically for others navigating rare disease diagnoses.

Her advocacy has carried her far beyond the music: She serves as a patient advisor at MetroHealth Medical Center, and recently took her message to Case Western Reserve University on Rare Disease Day. She also chaired Lakewood's ADA Transition Plan Task Force, spending years pushing cities across Northeast Ohio to do more for people with disabilities.

"Every city should have these things in place and every public entity," she said.

Her work helped the city of Lakewood establish an ADA coordinator, create a transition plan, and conduct a self-assessment of every property and public right of way. She has since worked with the city of Cleveland to do the same.

Tracy Marie is also a client of Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities — a resource she didn't know she qualified for until a doctor told her to ask.

"I thought developmental disability means "intellectual" — it means cognitive challenges, it means you aren't independent," she said.

She was wrong, and she wants others to know it. Cuyahoga County DD offers services to eligible adults — including those with physical developmental disabilities — regardless of Medicaid waiver status.

For Tracy Marie, advocacy and music have always been the same thing: Both are about using your voice to lift others.

"If you're helpful, then you're not being helpless," she said. "And in anything you can do, like, listen to somebody or just say, 'Hey, your hair looks great.' Words can really change somebody's day, can change somebody's life. I can be helpful even as a person with a disability."

And then, she brought it back to Danny.

"My brother Danny couldn't have a conversation, but he brought so much joy to people because he was always smiling and always happy."

It is a lesson she has never forgotten.

"Sometimes it's hard to get out of your own mind, but if you just shift to the present, then you can get into a place of gratitude and be grateful — just to take a breath and know that this is just temporary. Everything's temporary."

On a gray winter day at Suma Recording Studio in Painesville — where music legends have recorded for decades — Tracy Marie was working on something new: A song about the moon. A scratch track, she called it. Just the beginning.

"I don't have a song about the moon, so I need to make one so I could put it on this playlist," she laughed.

Some stories take a lifetime to write; Tracy Marie Greenberg's voice will always write hers.

Tracy Marie Greenberg's music is available on all major streaming platforms. She continues to advocate for accessibility across Northeast Ohio and documents her journey on her Facebook page, Morquio A Diagnosis.