When Spencer West was five years old, he lost both legs from the pelvis down due to a rare genetic condition. Doctors warned his family that his life would be defined by limitations. Spencer grew up hearing what he wouldn’t be able to do. Instead of living life as described by others he decided to focus what he could do.
Spencer first caught the world’s attention when he summited Mount Kilimanjaro using his hands and a wheelchair—a seven-day climb reaching 19,340 feet, all to raise awareness and funds for clean water and global education.
That incredible journey went on to inspire the feature documentary Redefine Possible: The Story of Spencer West, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. More than anything, it reflects Spencer’s belief that physical and other barriers can be challenged and changed through community, courageous vulnerability, and a whole lot of creativity.
Today, Spencer is one of the most recognizable and influential disability advocates in the world. With a social community of over 4 million followers on TikTok and millions more across other social media platforms, Spencer shares his stories encouraging people to let go of expectations that quietly limit their lives. Those lessons actually apply to anyone facing challenges, loss, or self-doubt.
His new book, BREAK FREE: Stop Following Expectations and Start Following Yourself (on bookshelves May 12) reflects on the lessons he learned navigating disability, community and purpose.
I had a chance to catch up with Spencer to find out more!
Can you tell us what it was like to share your personal story to such a young and very large crowd?
Spencer: I was very humbled to have the opportunity to speak to such a large and youthful crowd. When a crowd of that size cheers the stage literally shakes! That being said, speaking to a room of school age folks always felt so empowering. Young folks have a very powerful voice, platform and have the power to really transform the world in such miraculous ways. The fact that I got to witness and maybe even help empower them further was a real gift.
You’ve continued with more public speaking. What is it like for you to have a platform?
Spencer: My speaking has evolved over the years. Although the fundamentals stay the same, the topics and things I am passionate about evolve. I think the world will always need stories to help motivate and empower, but for me, the exciting work is expanding people’s minds and understanding of the world and identities. One of my favourite keynotes to deliver is Leveraging Talent with Disabilities. I talk about my own employment journey as a disabled person, using my lived experiences to help companies break down ableist myths that prevent them from hiring folks like me. For me, as long as I have a platform I want to use in service of my community and others, especially at this time in our history where politicians are using marginalized people and their identities to weaponize fear, hate and division. I hope to be the light that counteracts that through dialogue and my own lived experience.
I’ve heard kids ask you questions, and you’ve been generous with answering them. Some even made me laugh, but what’s it like from your perspective, and what do you wish people would ask you?
Spencer: It’s funny because I was quite open about people asking me questions. But as I’ve gotten older and really started to understand my identity of being disabled, I’ve come to realize it’s not my job to be everyone’s educator all of the time. What I mean by that is, if I’m at the grocery store or shopping for clothes, I don’t always want to share my story with a complete stranger. There’s this weird assumption that in order for people, specifically adults, to understand my experience, they are entitled to ask me very intrusive and inappropriate questions. However, you don’t need my medical history to understand my experience.
The question I wish people would ask me more often is “How are you finding the accessibility there?” That being said, I have a soft spot for kids who ask me questions because most of the time, they just need you to validate what they are seeing. I’ve heard everything from “Did a shark eat your legs?” “Were you in a magic show accident?” “Did you leave them in your other pants?”
Do you feel that the public has certain expectations from people in society that do not fit the “standard box” and what have you experienced?
Spencer: Absolutely. This is the entire crux of my new book, Breaking Free. From the moment we enter the world, expectations are thrust upon us. Who you should marry. What your career should be. What “success” is supposed to look like, or basing your value on how much your body can perform. The list goes on and on! What I have experienced and highlighted in the book is that every time I broke free of those expectations and did what was right for me, everything worked out. I had to learn how to listen to my heart’s desire again because that voice had been silenced by all the spoken and unspoken expectations that are put on us.
How can we change that thinking?
Spencer: The framework for my new book is pretty simple. It all comes down to self-trust, self-confidence and understanding the difference. Self-trust is knowing and listening to what your heart is telling you to do. Self-confidence is believing you can actually do it. So many of us have one without the other. As I mentioned earlier every time, I was authentic to who I was, that’s when the magic happened. Roughly 20 years ago, I returned home to the United States from a transformative volunteer trip to Kenya and packed up my entire life and moved to Toronto to become a motivational speaker. I had never done anything that wild before. I had all the self-trust in my path to becoming a speaker, but very little confidence. What builds confidence was small wins, having mentors to work with me on speaking, setting small attainable goals and reaching them. These wins helped build the internal architecture to live life on my own terms and not someone else’s.
What else can you tell us about your latest book and what inspired you to write this?
Spencer: I wrote this book for anyone who has ever felt trapped in a job, relationship, city and wasn’t sure what to do or how to get out of that trap. I use stories from my life as a road map on all the things I did to break free. Also, I didn’t want this book to just be about my story because I understand being queer and disabled isn’t everyone’s experience. Which is why at the end of every chapter I have included questions for reflection, new perspectives to ponder and activities to help folks start exploring how they can break free in their own lives. Starting with “Where in your life right now does it feel like nothing fits?” I want folks to stop accepting that this is the way your life is, and start wondering what else your life could be.
No doubt, people will take away some interesting learning points from this book. But now that it’s ready to hit the bookshelves, what do you really hope readers will take from this?
Spencer: My book is based around one of my favourite quotes from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. He writes, “Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.” I hope, through my story, reflective questions and activities, folks can start to explore who they were meant to be in the first place as well.
That’s a great quote. I’m going to savour that one. Will you be going on tour with this book? If so, how can we learn more?
Spencer: The best way for people to stay in the know with what I’m up to and how they can support me and the book is to follow me on social media (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube) @Spencer2TheWest or check out my website at www.spencer2thewest.com. Also, I am starting a book club where folks can join other friends and me once a week in a facilitated experience using the questions and activities at the end of each chapter to dive deep into Breaking Free and exploring how they can break free in their own lives. Check out my website for more info!
What’s next on your “live life” list?
Spencer: For now, it’s just getting this book and message out into the world and continuing to create content online about my life and the intersectionality of being queer and disabled and all that comes along with that.
And finally, what are you reading these days?
Spencer: I’m currently reading The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, and recently I read The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk. I am obsessed with that book!
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat!
