My injury happened on New Year’s Eve 1999. The internet was not what it is today. However, I still found a lot of value in connecting with people on message boards and chatrooms. Specifically, people who have lived experience with disability or spinal cord injury. I took these lessons and feelings of community with me throughout my life. Later on, as I embraced an advocacy role, I saw the value in connecting with others and sharing our communal experience. It started with peer mentorship, community work, then I got my job at SCIO where I directly worked with others with an SCI. After that I started my Instagram page in December 2022— and it was an incredible experience. My Instagram is essentially my experiences as a wheelchair users shared through mixed media, memes but mainly comics. Suddenly, I had people from all over the world connecting with me and telling me how my comics and my stories made them feel less alone. This solidified my belief that community and sharing my personal story is truly powerful.

It wasn’t long after that when things fell into place and I was recruited as a Rick Hansen Foundation Ambassador. This experience as a public speaker has been the most important and the most rewarding of my life. Sharing my story with today’s youth has been remarkable and makes me feel like I’m helping to shape the minds of the future; it’s cliche’ but it’s true.