Q: What inspired the climb up Mount Kilimanjaro? A: Well, the date I chose to climb Mount Kilimanjaro was a halfway point in my life. Id spent half of my life in a wheelchair. So it was a personal challenge I am first and foremost an athlete but I did it also in order to shine a light back on the disabled. To show that if you take the time to look, you might be surprised. People generally have a lot of preconceived ideas about disabled people. I wanted my climb to challenge those views, and so that people would start to see the 21-plus million disabled people in the world in a completely different light. It's about raising awareness.
Q: How did you actually achieve it? A: I chose Mount Kilimanjaro because it's more readily accessible. You don't need ice picks and so on. But I used a specially adapted bicycle that I push with my arms. It was very physically challenging, and it took every last bit of my and porters, strength, but I had a team of friends, a doctor, who carried the supplies. Also a film crew, who made the documentary about the climb.
6 Chris Waddell has dedicated his life to defying the conventional wisdom of what a paraplegic can and cannot do. As a result, he has become a role model for all of us.