Thank You, Chelsea Hill, for Reminding Us to #BeBoundless

I have been a fan of Chelsea Hill since the show “Push Girls,” and have been following her career along with the other ladies from the show for quite some time now. When I first saw this video she and her teammates from the Rollettes WheelChair Dance Team, Los Angeles area to launch the #BeBoundless campaign I was blown away.

People tend to judge before they give themselves the chance to experience anything or anyone who is different from what they may be used to. And sadly, what was depicted in the Rollettes’ video isn’t far from the truth as far as what it can feel like for those in my community who struggle to be seen and accepted. While my journey to how I got to be in my chair is different from the ladies on the Rollettes Dance Team, we share in the same desires for equality, being recognized as women and people who happen to sit instead of stand.

What it comes down to is perception. Sadly, people are often far too quick to judge someone rather than be willing and open enough to learn from them. I personally would like to applaud the ladies of Rollettes Wheelchair Dance Team in their success with the #BeBoundless campaign. This campaign is not just a campaign, but a movement. People are people regardless of the boxes society attempts to fit them. Labels, in my opinion, should only be used for things and not people. Ableism should be transformed into seeing what a person with a disability is uniquely capable of, instead of treating disability and the person it may be attached to as something “bad.”

Everyone has something to offer, and people with disabilities should be thought of as just like everyone else. Why do we continue to so often deny someone with a disability access to every opportunity to live a fulfilled life, with as much of a right to contribute to society as anyone else who happens to stand rather than sit?

Thank you Chelsea Hill and The Rollettes Wheelchair Dance Team for reminding so many of us in the disability community that we are boundless.