Show One Revolution with Chris Waddell Elise Bassett Community Editor The disabled community is in a lot of ways the final minority said Chris Waddell the most decorated male skier in history Last Wednesday Waddell came to the Salt Lake Community College Taylorsville Redwood campus to educate students about 15 percent of the worlds world's most invisible population those with disabilities Waddell had a skiing accident when he was twenty years old which left him paralyzed from the waist down Many people would have given up but Waddell used his new new circumstances to open up doors to possibilities hed he'd never imagined It was a big change said Waddell I was able to turn a hobby into a profession really When Waddell had his accident he realized it was his job to educate people around aroundhim aroundhim him about how to react to those with disabilities When I went back to college and most of my friends I was the first person in ina ina a wheelchair that they'd ever experienced Waddell explained Id become an advocate for this group of people Id I'd had no desire to join As children we are taught not to stare at people who look different well you know what If you never get a chance to stare if you never get a chance to ask any questions Waddell said then those people dont don't exist It is Waddells Waddell's goal to bring hope and inspiration to to the disabled community and to also open peoples people's eyes t to a persons person's potential instead of their limitations As an athlete youre you're representing some of the possibilities there for people with disabilities hopefully forcing people to look at things a little bit differently said Waddell In order to do this Waddell has started a profit non-profit foundation called One Revolution Rem He and his crew are also working on ona ona ona a documentary that shares the name For the documentary Waddell became the first para to summit Mt Kilimanjaro At feet Mount Kilimanjaro is not only the tallest mountain in Africa but also the tallest freestanding mountain in the world It has 5 different climate zones starting in the rain forest and finishing ona on ona ona a glacier Leaving the rainforest was like leaving a building reminisced Waddell it was pretty amazing The journey was not an easy one Waddell used a custom made wheel four-wheel hand cycle called the Bomba developed by Dave Penney It kind of looks like a mars rover described Waddell we took some existing stuff and tweaked it it itIn In IIi addition to the Bomba Waddell had a team of eight people to guide him up the the mountain He also used a sailing wench a fixed rope that all allowed owed Waddell to pull himself up on the themore themore themore more steep parts of the climb and boards to create traction over loose rocks and sand The documentary started out at Waddells Waddell's feeling that they could do more to help the disabled community The film is really aimed at changing public perception So this was an opportunity to try and figure out how to get to o the top of the mountain but also how to breakdown break breakdown breakdown down some of those obstacles 2 It took the crew six and a half days to get to the top of the mountain Seeing the shadow of Roll Continued on I Roll around cam campus Continued n from Al Althe the mountain in the valley was sort of awe inspiring described Waddell it gives you the sense of how far youve you've gone The One Revolution foundation is also donating wheelchairs to people in Tanzania around Mt We have havea a big go goal l and were we're sort of closing in on that goal hopefully at this point Waddell has been an inspiration to many During the course of this interview people came cane up to him just to shake his hand saying that he has been an inspiration If he could Waddell said he would not change a thing I dont don't think what happens to you is nearly as significant as what you do with what happens to you said Waddell I think this is it |