The not too long ago launched Season 7 of the Netflix sequence Queer Eye options Ray “Speedy” Walker, who sustained a C8 spinal wire damage in a 2020 automobile accident and gained recognition sharing his story on TikTok. After being nominated for the present by his academics, he spends per week with the Fab 5, the present’s stars who give him a vogue and way of life makeover. The expertise helped Walker discover confidence in his new disabled id. 

When Walker first seems on the present, lack of accessible housing is affecting his independence and high quality of life. He isn’t in a position to get into his home with out counting on others. As a result of his wheelchair doesn’t match via the lavatory door, he should switch to 2 totally different chairs to entry the bathtub.

The Queer Eye crew rents Walker an accessible house for one 12 months, together with extensive doorways, a roll-in bathe and easy-to-reach home equipment. “Accessibility issues. [Nondisabled] folks wouldn’t perceive what we undergo. Switching from someplace that was very inaccessible to accessible was a reduction. I​​t took plenty of stress off of me,” he says.

One other key second is assembly Wesley Hamilton, a wheelchair person featured on a earlier season of the present. After buying an SCI from gun violence, Hamilton began the group Disabled However Not Actually to advertise adaptive health, and was considered one of three recipients of the $1 million Craig H. Neilsen Visionary Prize in 2021. Walker mentioned connecting with Hamilton gave him a confidence increase.

“It was good to have him perceive the struggles and the hardships that I used to be going via. I used to be coping with social nervousness, and he was like, ‘Man, you gotta give folks one thing to have a look at.’ I really feel like I took that recommendation. And I simply be happy,” he says. “Wesley is a superb man, like my huge brother. We’re nonetheless in contact.”

opens in a brand new window@speedy4prezident Cease complaining and making excuses get to it!! opens in a brand new window#fyp opens in a brand new window#motivation opens in a brand new window#wheelchairbound opens in a brand new window♬ I Like It – DeBarge

Since showing on the present, Speedy is concentrated on rising his TikTok presence and spreading of incapacity consciousness. He makes movies on driving, transferring and understanding in a wheelchair.

“After I was first injured I didn’t know what all this was. I simply wish to present those who life can change in a break up second. I wish to present each [nondisabled] folks and disabled those who something is feasible.”