Speaker 1: Welcome to the IAP, the Interactive Accessibility Podcast, bringing you the people, technology and ideas, helping to make your world accessible to everyone. Mark Miller: Hey, welcome to the IAP, the Interactive Accessibility Podcast, brought to you by The Paciello Group and its affiliate, Interactive Accessibility. I'm your host, Mark Miller, thanking you for helping us keep it accessible. Do us a favor. If you're enjoying the IAP, share it. Tell someone about it. Hey, even link to it from your accessible website. So welcome everybody. Thanks for listening. I'm real excited to have with me today and to welcome to the show, Aaron Fotheringham, aka Wheelz. Aaron, great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining the show. Can you just start by telling us why your nickname's Wheelz? Aaron Fotheringham: Well, it started off in middle school. I was just always doing tricks around school and the kids first started calling me Wheelies, and then just morphed down to Wheelz and just stuck ever since. I never got it though. I don't get it. Mark Miller: It doesn't make sense to you? Aaron Fotheringham: No. Mark Miller: So, for those of you listening, Aaron actually has wheels stuck to his rear end, right, because you've been... Have you been in a wheelchair all your life or was there a certain age in which something occurred? I don't know the backstory here, so tell us how you ended up with wheels strapped to your rear end. Aaron Fotheringham: Well, I was born with spinal bifida. I guess that's the beginning of the story, and then I used crutches and a Walker for the first few years of my life, and then about the age of eight, the crutches and the Walker just were slow and painful. And so about the age of eight, I started using a wheelchair full-time. Mark Miller: Gotcha. And for you, I've seen some of your videos, right. If you go onto YouTube and you search Wheelz or Aaron Fotheringham, you find these incredible videos. And so was it like right at eight when you realized, "Hey, I'm in this wheelchair and this wheelchair is basically fun", that you started really playing around with it, or was there a period of time when you were like, "Hey, I'm not so sure this is that cool, and it took you awhile to build up? What was that experience at that young age for you? Aaron Fotheringham: So the wheelchair was always like a relief because the doctors just wanted me to have one even before I used it, just to have it just in case. And so for a while, I used the crutches and stuff, but then when I need to go on a walk or something, I wouldn't really walk. I'd just take my wheels. And so for long distances, I would use the chair. So just was like a relief more than anything because I know a lot of people frown upon using the wheelchair, like, "You got to walk". Mark Miller: Right, right. All those physical therapists out there want you to get up and walk around. Right. Aaron Fotheringham: Yeah. Yeah. You're a quitter. If you start using a wheelchair. I feel like that's a big kind of the vibe I got. Mark Miller: So, it's interesting you put it that way because you grabbed this wheel wheelchair and you actually went in a different direction with it. Right. You didn't go, "Oh man, I'm resolved to this wheelchair and now I got to..." Whatever. Whatever mentality that you might've had that would have gone in the other direction. You went, "Hey, I've got wheel strapped to me. We're going to use this." Right. So, tell me, tell the listeners, when did you first start doing crazy things with this wheelchair? Aaron Fotheringham: Well, it started off as doorbell ditching. Mark Miller: So, you're a real skateboard counterculture. This isn't a thing. This is what you just started off with. I'm going to cause some trouble and I've got wheels. Aaron Fotheringham: It was my introduction into adrenaline, but then, just, my brother was a BMXer and a skater for a while, and I always looked up to my older brother. His name's Brian, and just was real big into watching the X games and stuff, and I had this dream of being a pro skater, but you could tell the different set of wheels. Mark Miller: Right, right. So then what was the first thing that you ever just went, "Hey, I'm going to try to do this"? Was it like a street thing where you saw something out in the environment and you were like, "I'm going to do something crazy on this with my wheelchair", or did you head to a skate park, or where did you get the guts to do that first crazy thing? Aaron Fotheringham: I started off jumping off curbs. I remember just messing around on curbs with my chair, and just messing around with that, and then I would end up at the skate park just watching my brother. And then one of the times I was there, he helped me get my chair to the top of a quarter pipe, which was, oh yeah. And my dad was there, because we were just there watching my brother, and then I ended up on top of a four-foot quarter. So not super big but that was the first time I feel like I was just absolutely scared out of my mind. Mark Miller: But you didn't. You actually dropped into the quarter pipe anyways, even though you were scared. Aaron Fotheringham: Yeah. I didn't have a helmet or anything, and I'm just up there, and I remember just being so scared and then I push over the edge and then I just face planted down at the bottom. Mark Miller: So really, you want to be a skater. Right. Which, like you said, you got a different set of wheels, but really you step up to this quarter pipe and have the same experience every skater does for the first time, and you just drop into it and face plant. Did you feel like you'd made it at that point? Like, "Yes, I can be a skater. I could face plant off a quarter pipe with the best of them." Aaron Fotheringham: I don't know what I was feeling, but I don't think I was feeling super pumped, because it took a couple more tries before I actually rolled away from it. I had to figure it out. Mark Miller: So did you get back up that same day and drop in again? Aaron Fotheringham: Yeah. Yeah. My brother helped me get back up the quarter and when I reflect back on it, I'm like, "He's probably trying to get rid of me." [crosstalk 00:07:17] Mark Miller: It wasn't smart at all. So meanwhile, your dad's probably running to the sport shop as fast as he can to buy you a helmet. Right. He's like, "Let's get a helmet on this kid's-" Aaron Fotheringham: After that, I ended up going to a garage sale, and I bought a full face helmet for 15 bucks. And that was the start of that for me. Mark Miller: Nice. I mean, it just takes so much guts. I mean, and I can relate because as you and I were talking about before, the mic's heated up here is that I'm a skater. My son and I actually go... I say I'm a skater. That's probably a strong way to put it. I go skate with my son, and I can remember the first time I was hanging over that quarter pipe, especially... And I would imagine you had to drop in on something that was at least a few feet big to begin with. You probably didn't really... It would be nothing for you to drop off the little half foot ones that some of us skateboarders start with. But, so you dropped off something that had some height in the beginning and just hanging over that with a skateboard and looking down is terrifying. So I can really relate to what you must have felt like, but, this is what I'm trying to get to. Right. What really is impressive to me or makes it even scarier, is you didn't just watch a bunch of kids drop in on a wheelchair, right. You're the first person doing that. You have no idea if it can be done or what it's going to be like or what the fall's going to be like when you've got a wheelchair strapped to you. Right. That's what would make me nervous. So do you think it was a little bit more of a scary experience for you because you had... It was so unprecedented with the way that you were doing it? Aaron Fotheringham: I never even thought about that. I was just trying it out, trying to figure it out. I mean, I was super scared, especially once I realized, "Oh, I should probably do a wheelie and lift up the front wheels when I drop in so that I don't just dig in and face plant. And I think when I rolled away from that, that was when it really opened my eyes to, "Whoa, this is possible and I might be able to keep doing this." And so from then just tried a bigger drop in and just worked my way up. Mark Miller: So, it sounds like you spent a little bit of time in the skate park, hanging out with your buddies, doing all those things that your skater friends were probably doing. Right. But at some point this builds up and you end up doing bigger things. Right. And ultimately I think you end up in the X games, is that right? Aaron Fotheringham: Yeah. Yeah. Mark Miller: Yeah, but before then, you're doing other shows and other bigger things. Talk to me a little bit about this transition from, "Hey, I'm messing around in the skate park with my buddies and hanging out and doing all that", to big jumps, big air, big events. Aaron Fotheringham: Well, what really opened my eyes and really just started the snowball effect was when I landed the first wheelchair backflip in 2006, it was like the first backflip on a wheelchair in history, but then it was also my first backflip, more importantly. And it was that moment that I was like, "Holy crap" This is something, I'm actually able to do big tricks like the BMX riders and stuff. And from then, the video ended up on YouTube and I got sponsored and I traveled to Europe, went to Germany for a sponsor and did some shows and stuff. And that was what really kicked it all off, and to look back at where things have gone and it's just unreal. Never expected it. Mark Miller: Yeah, for sure. So, and it just dawned on me, you're inspired by BMX, you're inspired by skateboarding. Right. And essentially what you're strapped to is something in between those two things.Right. Aaron Fotheringham: Yeah. Exactly. Mark Miller: So it makes sense. I mean, I'm out there in the park with all the BMXers that are on a lot of the same stuff that we are, but it totally makes sense that you do this transition from more skate parks stuff to bigger air stuff. And back in my day, we did a lot of BMX riding, but it was mostly racing. Right. But now BMX is about a lot of big air and things like that, and that's what you see at the X games. So you decide, "Hey, I'm going to be the first guy to do this on a wheelchair", and here's what's insane to me is that most people don't do a backflip that aren't in a wheelchair. That's a scary thing for the average person that doesn't have some sort of a disability to do. And here you are like, "I'm in a wheelchair. I'm just going to go ahead and do this anyways." Do you ever stopped to think about how... Just, to me, it's insane. It's insane that it will go through your head that that's what you were going to do, to the point where you achieve it. Do you ever think about that, or is it just like, "I'm me and this is what I wanted to do"? Aaron Fotheringham: Yeah. That's funny that you say that because really it's just like I'm always surprised, like, "Why is this inspiring? What?" I don't get it because I'm just like another skater or whatever, just out there having fun, and it was something I wanted to do, and I'm just having fun, I don't even feel like I overcame anything really. It was just, I just made the most of what I had. Mark Miller: That's amazing. So, because one of the questions I've had in the back of my head to ask you is what do you think it is about your mentality that makes you do this, where somebody else who has some sort of a challenge might succumb to it a little bit more, but I think you just said it. Right. It's that you don't even view yourself as having a challenge. It's just, you just you and it's just different, right. You just have wheels instead of legs. And you're going to go out there and just hang out with the guys like anybody else would and do what they're doing. I mean, is that fair? It just seems like a perfect mentality, really. Aaron Fotheringham: Yeah. Because, and I think a big part of it was that I just felt super grateful all along. I felt grateful that my spinal bifida wasn't worse than it could have been. I dodged the bullet with a lot of medical issues that I could have had, and so from there I felt grateful that I didn't have the shone or hydrocephalus. And then, I was grateful that I had the wheelchair, so that I could keep up with my friends while they rode their bikes. And so I just felt just super grateful for everything, and I think just taking the wheelchair to the skate park was this natural thing. Mark Miller: So to answer your question, if you want to know why you're inspiring, that's why you're inspiring, because there's people who have every advantage that don't feel that grateful, and here you are with a particular challenge and it's an obvious challenge too. Right. It's not a hidden disability or anything like that. It's real clear what's different, but you just treat it absolutely normal and you achieve things above and beyond what the average person does, and you're grateful for every bit of it. That's what's inspiring. So, it takes somebody like me, who's jumping on a skateboard and I have my feet and I'm having a bad day and I go, "Oh my gosh." Whoa it was me, I'm having a bad day, all I've got to do is stop and think about somebody like you, and then, I have that internal conversation like, "Okay, you're being silly. People have overcome, or people or do things and achieve things in much different situations near end. And if they can't do that, then you can stop feeling sorry for yourself and pick yourself up and keep moving on." That's why you're inspiring, dude. Does that make sense? Don't sell yourself short. I think that you're amazing. You'd be amazing under any circumstances. And the fact that you're doing what you're doing, given that you have a challenge is even more amazing. Yeah. Aaron Fotheringham: I appreciate that. I wish I could have... Because I always feel like my biggest struggle isn't my wheelchair, it's my own mind. Mark Miller: Yeah. Of course it is. Aaron Fotheringham: Because there's a lot of times where I'm like, I'm depressed just like anyone and I'm at the world, and I'm just struggling. And then someone's like, "Oh, what you did was real inspirational." I'm like, "What the heck? I'm over here struggling." Mark Miller: It doesn't feel inspirational over here. And I think we all experienced that. I mean, it's just normal. Right. That's what we all experience. I mean, I'm a 50 year old dude and out in a skate park. So some people say that's inspirational and I'm like, "Yeah, but my knee really hurts because I just fell. That's great, but oh." So tell me what it's like, this is something I can't at all relate to, the big air that you get, right. You are up there for a long time, you travel a long way, and the whole time I'm assuming somewhere in your head you're like, "I hope when I land, I don't fall." And you're going, I don't know how fast to even achieve all this. What is it like to be that far up in the air for that long waiting for landing ramp to show up? Aaron Fotheringham: Man, it feels like forever sometimes. It just feels like the whole process from the time you drop in the top to the landing, it feels like forever. But I'd say at the top of the ramp, I'm just super scared. Just like, "Why am I doing this? How have I done this before? Because this seems terrifying." And then once I drop in the ramp and I'm heading towards the jump, it's just [inaudible 00:18:29] tunnel vision, just focused. But it's really about not thinking. I think that's what I've come to learn is the best thing is to just not think about anything. Mark Miller: Because if you do, you probably wouldn't do it, right. Aaron Fotheringham: Well, because before you do a trick, you want to think about it, but I feel like when it comes to doing a trick on the mega ramp or whatever, the more you think about it, you overthink it, you really just make it worse. So you got to just trust, and it's the most ridiculous thing because you got to just trust that your mind and your body know what to do, mostly your body, the muscle memory. And so really the best thing is to just go on autopilot, but it's easier said than done. Mark Miller: That's incredible though. I just imagine the feeling you must have mid arc, after you leave the ramp and it's got to be like, and when you to look down and you're like I don't know how far off the ground and just flying through the air. Right. So, let me ask you this question too because this is really interesting. When we're out there skateboarding, and the real good guys show up, like some sponsored team, like we went to New Hampshire, we saw the independent team show up with their skateboards, and these dudes get on the skateboards and they start skating around, and just normal stuff that they're doing looks way different because of their time on the board. Right. They've spent so much time with their feet on the board that they just have a nature in an ease in that board that the average person doesn't. And then I think about you and you're not grabbing your wheelchair and heading out to the skate park. The wheelchair is what you use to move around all the time. You get out of bed and into your wheelchair, I assume. Right. And you're getting breakfast, you're doing your daily stuff in this wheelchair, and then you just go to the park and you're still in it. Right. Do you think that there's an advantage or do you think that it helps the fact that the thing that you use to do these really amazing tricks and stuff is also the thing that you're just in everyday, and you're so comfortable with it or do you think it doesn't matter at all? Aaron Fotheringham: Well, I do have a huge, unfair advantage. I do get a, like you say, a minute all the time, and so I get to practice a lot, even though I do use different chairs for different things. I have a house chair and then my park chair and stuff, but the one thing I really liked about WCMX, the Wheelchair Motocross, is unlike most wheelchair sports, this sport you're using the actual wheelchair. You're not getting into like a basketball chair or a sled or something completely different. I liked the skate park because I was using a wheelchair that looked like a wheelchair, and that to me was cool because you're doing flips on a freaking wheelchair. That's just something about it. Mark Miller: That's unbelievable, man. So do you still hit the skate park and stuff? Aaron Fotheringham: Yeah, it's starting to get a little cold and so I don't like smashing the ground when it's cold, but I'm actually in the... Sorry, what was that? Mark Miller: I was going to ask you if you had any indoor parks that you could go to. Aaron Fotheringham: No, the indoor parks out here don't really stay in business very well sadly. Mark Miller: What part of the country are you in? Aaron Fotheringham: I'm in Las Vegas. Mark Miller: Oh okay. Yeah. So that makes sense. Aaron Fotheringham: We just have so many outdoor parks that are free, and so no one really wants to go spend money at a park. Mark Miller: Yeah. I'm up here in New Hampshire, in new England, and we support our indoor parks man, because it keeps us going for six months of the year. So, well, listen. Super inspiring story. I want to encourage everybody to go out there and just search on YouTube. Right. We'll put some of your stuff. Well. Let us know. Why don't you send us a handful of your favorite moments, and we'll make sure we link to those so people can check you out on YouTube, but do you have any last things that you want to say to everybody out there, inspiring or otherwise? Aaron Fotheringham: I just like to say, when life gives you a wheelchair, find a skate park Mark Miller: Perfect. That has to be on a t-shirt, on the bottom of a skateboard. That's got to be everywhere, man. Aaron Fotheringham: Make wheelchairs fun again, 2020. Mark Miller: I absolutely love it. I really, really appreciate you jumping on with us today. And man, just keep going. It's so cool what you're doing and I just, I love it, and I hope that there's some young kid that is in a wheelchair for a first time and maybe he's bombed out and he sees one of your videos and he realizes, "Hey, wait a minute. I got wheel strapped to me. How can this not be fun?" And he goes out and takes over the world like you're doing it. Aaron Fotheringham: I'm not sure if it's inspirational or if I'm a bad influence, but it would be awesome to see more kids out there tearing up the park. Mark Miller: Yeah, a little bit of both. Not bad. All right. All right. Aaron Wheelz. Thank you so much. This is Mark Miller thanking Wheelz and reminding you to keep it accessible. Speaker 1: The IAP, Interactive Accessibility Podcast is brought to you by Interactive Accessibility, the accessibility experts. You can find their access matters blog at interactiveaccessibility.com/blog.