Anyone who’s gone through a life-changing event will tell you that transformations do not always happen for the worse. Sometimes, what may seem to be a catastrophic turn of events can end up reshaping your entire reason for being.
In December of 1988, Sarah Will was a jubilant, attractive college graduate working as a carpenter in Aspen, Colorado. On her days off, she consumed hours ripping up the slopes, chasing after the perfect run. One morning while traversing across a hill to catch another lift, her skis came to an abrupt halt, launching her over her tips and onto her back. She couldn’t feel her legs. “I knew immediately what that meant. As you’re being ferried between one hospital room to another, you try to maintain hope. But when there’s no feeling in your legs and you can’t move your toes, it’s almost too much to absorb while holding out for the best. You need to focus on the present.” Some of her thoughts were, “Did I not pray enough? Is this an example of ‘What goes around, comes around?’ “But, I can’t ever recall asking myself, ‘Why me?’ because I accepted the fact that I was a skier and pursued a high risk sport.”
Over the course of the next year, her brother would visit her frequently while she pursued her arduous rehabilitation. “One day, he brought me a book about monoskiing. I became intrigued and targeted monoskiing as my next major goal.” Meanwhile, her friends would surreptitiously steal away for a weekend of skiing without sharing their experiences with her. “I desperately wanted to be there with them like I had been every other winter weekend since I was four years old. But they just didn’t know how to tell me they were going skiing without me.”
Sarah learned that part of her own rehabilitation included adjusting the way other people – including her friends – dealt with her after the injury. “The way that people react to you can often be uncomfortable. The way that a stranger stares at you can make you extremely uneasy – but not nearly as much as the look from a friend who knew you the way that you used to be. It becomes a part of YOUR rehabilitation to make your friends feel better.
Fast forward through 11 years of international competition, Sarah garnered 12 Paralympic Gold medals and 1 Silver medal. “Ironically, becoming a disabled skier gave me a second chance at realizing an Olympic dream – a dream that I thought I had lost forever.”
After wrapping up her competitive skiing career, Sarah established a trail of monoskiing camps across the West with her good friend and associate, Chris Waddell. For over 15 years, they conducted camps and produced a series of instructional videos aimed at disabled athletes who live in areas without monoskiing camps. “Those camps helped develop the sport into what it is today. We were ski racers. Up until that time, many others were trying to accommodate the disability to skiing. That’s not the approach we thought we should take. We thought about skiing first, then the disability. We don’t care about your disability – we care about your ability. Work with what you have and don’t worry about what you don’t have.”
After leaving the world of ski teaching, Sarah was asked to head a new non-profit organization, AXS Vail Valley. AXS Vail Valley ‘encourages the growth and accessibility of recreation programs and services for the physically disabled Vail Valley resident and visitor’. “One of our goals is to make the skiing experience more accessible to the disabled and their families so they can enjoy what life has to offer. We try to get the community involved in what we are doing and tell them exactly what they can do – to help them help themselves.”
As Executive Director of AXS Vail Valley, Sarah routinely confers with builders, architects and developers with regard to how to construct ADA compliant facilities in new hotels, parks and other permanent structures. “We’ve found that if someone incorrectly builds one hotel room, they’ll replicate it 500 times throughout the facility.” And, for many businesses, providing accessibility for the disabled equates to financial gain. “The likelihood of return visits is very high if disabled guests know that a resort caters to their special needs. And each disabled skier is typically accompanied by several family members or friends – all paying guests.”
The problem with advocating access to resorts and other facilities is that it is no longer “cool.” In 1990, ADA was popular –sometimes only out of fear. However, today GREEN concepts are in vogue. What many “standing” people fail to understand is that accessibility needs for the disabled is still alive and well. As opposed to advocacy, Sarah Will promotes better building design by working with developers before the first stone is laid.
“One of the things I’ve had to endure is moving from a position of well-liked ski racer to the sometimes adversarial position of Executive Director of AXS Vail Valley. But, my athletic career has prepared me for what’s ahead. I’ve discovered that you don’t have to be an expert at everything you do – you just have to believe in your goal and be willing to admit your mistakes. It also helps to surround yourself with the proper experts in their field to support you and help convince others why your goals are so important. I’m also able to take three steps back in order to move one step forward. Many decisions that involve governments or planning commissions take years to approve – I can’t be too impatient when expecting results.”
When Sarah Will was injured in 1988, one of her first concerns was about all of the things that she would no longer be able to do. As a transformed business woman, she’s discovered the secrets of providing a valuable service to her constituents: “You have to take small successes and turn them into big successes. Never give up.”
“You can’t have a positive and negative thoughts at the same time.” – Sarah Will
