Bo Hedges: co-captain of Canada’s wheelchair basketball team

BO HEDGES: co-captain of Canada’s wheelchair basketball team

When I was 13, I fell out of a tree and broke my back just below my rib cage, severing my spinal cord.

Before my accident, I didn’t think about my body that much. I grew up on a ranch, climbing trees and riding horses. My body was just a means for having fun and a tool for completing tasks. 

After my accident, my perception of how I use my body changed, but eventually I realized I could do all those same things, especially when it came to sports. I just had to adapt. 

Now, as a Paralympic athlete, my body is my main source of income, and it needs to perform at the highest level on a daily basis. It’s basically a 24-hour test: making sure I get the protein and vitamins I need throughout the day, am properly hydrated and get enough sleep. 

I constantly evaluate my body’s condition, paying attention to aches and pains, making sure I get those treated. I have to be very aware of every muscle and joint that still functions so my body can do what I need it to on the court.

I don’t train to be sexier I train for greater functionality on the court and in everyday life. I’m also very aware that spinal cord injury is one of the more heteronormative-looking disabilities you can have, especially since only the lower portions of my body are affected. It’s very easy to make an athletic white male like me representative of disability and call it diversity. Still, I think showing disability in these pages is better than having none at all, and if I can show that I’m comfortable in my own skin, maybe it will inspire society to become comfortable with more atypical disabled bodies.

To that end, when people see me competing at a high level and then getting into my day chair to do interviews, I hope I’m bridging the gap and helping them understand the capabilities of people with disabilities. My hope is that people will think, “If this person with a disability can perform at such an elite level on the court, why can’t those with disabilities perform the tasks of daily life just like everyone else?”