# Dreaming of Things That Never Were — with Kenneth Kunken

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-joyful-rebellion-6584132/dreaming-of-things-that-never-were-with-kenneth-kunken
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-joyful-rebellion-6584132/dreaming-of-things-that-never-were-with-kenneth-kunken.md
Podcast: [A Joyful Rebellion](https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-joyful-rebellion-6584132)
Published: 2026-05-14T18:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.ajoyfulrebellion.com/e/dreaming-of-things-that-never-were-%e2%80%94-with-kenneth-kunken/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/cyd5bjed5aka2hhw/20260408_AJR_KenKunkin.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-joyful-rebellion-6584132/episodes/dreaming-of-things-that-never-were-with-kenneth-kunken
Duration seconds: 3653

## Resource

At 20 years old, Kenneth Kunken broke his neck during a college football game at Cornell University and was told he likely wouldn’t survive the week. Doctors warned his family that even if he lived, he’d spend the rest of his life in a nursing home with little hope for independence. They were wrong. In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, Ken shares the long road from catastrophic spinal cord injury to earning multiple graduate degrees, becoming an assistant district attorney, raising triplets, and writing his memoir, I Dream of Things That Never Were. This conversation dives into resilience, identity, disability, expectations, purpose, and the quiet danger of letting other people decide what your future should look like. It’s also a deeply human conversation about grief, adaptation, love, fatherhood, and why hope sometimes starts with simply refusing to quit. Show Notes & Chapters00:00 — The prosecutor nobody expected to see in court02:21 — The football tackle that changed Ken’s life forever05:48 — Doctors tell his family to “let him go”07:17 — Reading the pamphlet that predicted a hopeless future10:32 — Returning to Cornell less than a year after paralysis13:05 — Rejection, job hunting, and mailing 200 resumes14:06 — Discovering purpose through helping others with disabilities18:16 — From introvert to public speaker and advocate19:54 — Navigating inaccessible campuses before the ADA24:36 — Why Ken decided to become a lawyer26:08 — Becoming an assistant district attorney despite enormous barriers30:10 — The danger of low expectations33:16 — Why Ken refused sympathy from juries35:02 — How to talk to people with disabilities without fear37:10 — Choosing growth instead of despair after trauma39:02 — “Dream of things that never were”42:16 — Writing the book that his so…

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