𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨

I was gonna post about my exosyms for POP month but I got side tracked. But I am so grateful to have received this life changing device. It’s been 9 months with these guys and I’m finally learning how to use them and able to walk around without trekking poles, and using them as my main mobility aid. Thanks @1megan1exosym for convincing me to give the exosyms a try, because they have literally changed my life! Also side note: why do strangers in public treat me so much better as a standing person? Like I got so used to being a wheelchair user that I didn’t realize. Can we please treat wheelchair users like actual people and not zoo animals? #exosym #disability #popmonth #paraclimbing Also apparently I can’t write alt text for videos so I’ll include it below. Video 1: Willow walks on a side with a brown dog. She is wearing her exosyms and holding trekking poles. Video 2: Willow walks with the mock up exosyms for the first time between parallel bars

I’ve been a wheelchair user for a full year now and it’s been a journey. This summer I had genetic test which at first didn’t make sense, but then the pieces started to fit and make sense. I was grateful to have a doctor finally listen to me and not gaslight and dismiss my pain, but no one wants hear they have a progressive condition and there’s nothing that the doctor can do. I decided to include some photos from the past year of me with my wheelchair. I was also super fortunate to be able to receive a device called an exosym for both my legs to assist with walking, because it’s been an incredible feeling to be on my own two legs again even if it’s only for short distances. Thank you to my friends and family (and climbing) for getting me through the hard days. Also happy HSP and PLS awareness day! #disability#paraclimber#wheelchair#ambulatory

Guess who got to see another Concorde!! I actually got to walk inside which was such a privilege, as it was super inaccessible. #concorde #brittishairwaysconcorde #supersonic #disabled #planes Photo Descriptions in alt text

Climb however makes you happy this is just my personal opinion. #rockclimbing #bouldering #disabled #paraclimber #invisibledisability #climbing #bodypositive #disability #disabilityawareness #ambulatorywheelchairuser Description: Willow a white femme person campuses a few moves and gets her feet up.

I haven’t done a collegiate nationals post yet, however I want to thank @usabelay for making this comp possible for me. I was the only wheelchair user competing this weekend which was kind of daunting and I honestly thought I wouldn’t be able to climb, when I found out due to the venue change, my accommodation of accessibility would not be honored. However the belayers stepped up saying they were willing to do anything I needed and they helped me get my chair onto the stage and even lowered me into my chair just like in a paraclimbing competition! Honestly not only did they help me be able to climb but they made me feel just like any other climber on the wall rather than “the disabled girl who needs extra help”. It’s things like this that mean the world to me and make me feel welcome and motivated in my sport. I hope someday everyone gets to experience kindness like this. #Paraclimber #disabled #rockclimbing #competitiveclimbing #bouldering #kindnessmatters #climbing Description: Willow, a white femme person is lowered as a belayer moves her chair under her.

Why do I use a wheelchair when I can move my legs? Thought I’d go ahead and address the elephant in the room since honestly if I hadn’t become disabled honestly probably would be a little confused too. I find it kind of funny when people tell me I’m faking it for attention because I tried to hide my disability for as long as I could to avoid attention. Anyways yes I can use my legs to climb and stand assisted and I can even walk with crutches. The reason I use a wheelchair is crutches are very painful to use and I fall a lot and risk hurting my self due to my poor balance and coordination. Yes I can also walk with a walker but the pressure in my wrists causes more issues than it’s worth. I am most often fine giving this explanation but I am not fine with it when people think I owe it to them to prove that I’m disabled enough to be in a wheelchair, as if it’s some kind of exclusive club. #wheelchairuser #ambulatory #paraclimber #rockclimbing Description: a photo of Willow in her wheelchair with her cat Augustus

I spend a lot of time think of the things I’ve lost because of my disability. Just last year I was able to walk with a cane and now I can barely walk with crutches, and get tired or fall after a couple hundred feet and am almost a full time wheelchair user. While it’s totally reasonable for me to spend time processing my loss I think it’s important to celebrate my wins. No Im not talking about winning gold that is just a small win. The big win was becoming a part of the paraclimbing community last year, the big win was making the friends I made. My biggest win this year was becoming a part of the community on team @adaptclimbgroup . Sure the trophy they gave me was super cool, but nothing can compare to the friendships I’ve built and the people I’ve met along the way. Also my phone cropped the team photo and won’t let me recenter it :( but seriously I hope you know that each and every person on team acg has made a huge positive difference in my life Image credits: @grey_jensen @usaparaclimbing #paraclimbing #adaptiveathlete #rockclimbing #bouldering #invisibledisability #climbing #disabled

What you see: me sending a climb with a mini dyno What you don’t: the 20+ tries it took to get that coordination move. On the wall I have a mostly invisible disability, like some people who know can tell, like how I almost fell because I thought my foot was on the foothold when it wasn’t, and how I drag my toes (I drag my toes when I walk with crutches so it’s not just bad technique) I think severely disabled people should always be put first in the community because having more accessibility benefits everyone, but it bugs me that some people don’t know that mobility is a spectrum not black and white #paraclimber #bouldering #invisibledisability #rockclimbing #adaptiveathlete Description: Willow, a white femme person, climbs a black boulder route with a coordination move rated v5-7. The coordination move is like a mini dyno because Willow must jump to catch the holds.

The internet trolls are gonna love this one, but guess what I don’t give a s**t. I have belly rolls and I don’t have visible abs but I still have a climbers body, because I am a climber and I have a body. I train for performance not for a certain body type. I think the eating disorder culture and the idea that you need to be lighter to climb better should be thrown in the garbage bin because it does more harm than good. I hate that there are so many things my body can’t do, but I love my body because it can climb. Climbers come in all shapes and sizes and levels of disability. We need to stop the “that persons not a real climber because they have body fat” idea. #bodypositive #rockclimbing #disabled #paraclimber Description: there are four photos. In all of the photos Willow is sitting in front of a mirror at the climbing gym in a bra, REI cargo pants, and her climbing shoes. Her belly rolls are visible. In two of the photos Willow has her legs crossed and in the other they are flat on the footplates of her wheelchair

My first collegiate climbing competition!! Thanks @adaptclimbgroup for your continued support in everything I do, and thanks @naucompclimb for letting me climb with you guys and for being so accepting of me and my disability! I may have only topped 3 climbs but I sure had fun!! Thanks @blackrockbouldering for hosting, you have a very nice gym!! #bouldering #rockclimbing #northernarizonauniversity #disabled #paraclimbing #adaptiveathlete #ambulatorywheelchairuser

On the first day of one of my classes we had to do that thing where you write something about you on a piece of paper and everyone has to guess who wrote it. I wrote “I am a rock climber” spoiler alert no one got it. I think the main reason people assume disabled people don’t participate in sports (especially extreme sports) is because they are often not accessible to us, frankly I am lucky to be ambulatory otherwise I doubt I’d be able to climb at this gym in flagstaff. And as always thanks @adaptclimbgroup for working so hard to make climbing accessible for everyone. Disabled people deserve access to sport. Especially power chair users! A lot of parasports are centered around manual chair users, and I’m not saying we don’t deserve sports because we do, however so do power chair users. Anyways thanks for listening to my little rant and I hope someday everyone can have equal access to sports. Also video is sped up to match the audio (I don’t actually climb that fast lol) #Paraclimber #Bouldering #Climbing #Disabled #kletternfüralle #rockclimbing #adativesports Description: Willow sits in a magenta wheelchair in front of a mirror doing a wheelie. The caption says “You’re in a wheelchair or on crutches 24/7 what do you mean you rock climb?” It then cuts to a sped up video of Willow climbing an overhang climb with jugs

First climb back at beta it’s weird getting used to a gym that’s not entirely accessible. I was at first angry because there were no higher grade climbs in my style that I could flash. But I think this was most definitely a blessing in disguise because it forced me to work on my weak spots and adapting moves my body just couldn’t do into moves it could. I learn little from flashing a climb but a climb that takes many tries to do can teach me a lot about my climbing and where I need to improve. #paraclimbing #bouldering #adaptiveathlete #disabled #rockclimbing #climbing Description: Willow, a white femme person, climbs a green tag boulder (v3-5) with white holds. The holds are pretty good however there is coordination move at the end that willow gets by pushing off her left foot