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Lucy & James Catchpole

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Spencer West says…

"when I’m buying groceries, I don’t always want to talk about where my legs are" - Spencer West. Spencer - a white man with glasses and a short beard - smiles naturally at the camera. He's wearing a muted red t-shirt. Photo by Ryan Bolton.

“because I’ve grown up with [my disability] my whole life, there’s a lot of people that would want to come up to me and ask me these questions. I’m happy to answer them, but sometimes I just want to buy my clothes at H&M and go home. I don’t want to give you a lesson. Of course, I have a disability, there are going to be some times where I don’t want to relive my trauma so I can educate you while I’m at McDonald’s ordering my chicken nuggets and my apple pie.”

Spencer West – Men’s Health, June 2021
[Video description: a YouTube video ‘How to be a disability ally’ – Spencer is interviewed on Canadian TV.]

“If you’re seeing someone in the community that you don’t know or have a personal relationship with, and you’re asking them about their disability, oftentimes you’re asking them to relive trauma in front of you… in a space like we are today I’m happy to answer these questions, but when I’m buying groceries I don’t always want to talk about where my legs are… ”

Spencer West – video (left), November 2022

Spencer West is a public speaker and queer, disabled activist living in Canada. He posts as @spencer2thewest on Instagram and TikTok – where he has more than 4 million followers. His website is here.

Spencer West -a white man with a broad, sincere smile, a beard and glasses. His arms are folded and he's wearing a black top. Photo by Ryan Bolton
Spencer West, photo by Ryan Bolton
[An Instagram post – @spencer2thewest. On screen, we see Spencer in his wheelchair. A caption reads ‘Now that I’ve addressed how I go to the bathroom multiple times we can finally move on… Spencer went on to explain this for the rest of his life.’ He smiles and appears ENDLESSLY PATIENT.]
[Another @spencer2thewest Instagram post. ID is in the post – ‘Spencer is wearing a black suit jacket, white button up shirt and black skinny tie and khaki pants. He’s also wearing round olive frames. He’s sitting on the stairs that are covered in a red carpet. He is holding the lapel of his jacket on each side and looking smouldering, serious and handsome at the camera. Behind him is the gorgeous goddess Nadine. Nadine is a black woman and she’s wearing a long blue dress, black sunglasses and gold earrings. She’s got her legs stretched out and looking very statuesque. They both look glam!’]

"when I’m buying groceries, I don’t always want to talk about where my legs are" - Spencer West. Spencer - a white man with glasses and a short beard - smiles naturally at the camera. He's wearing a muted red t-shirt. Photo by Ryan Bolton.
“when I’m buying groceries, I don’t always want to talk about where my legs are” – Spencer West. Photo: Spencer – a white man with glasses and a short beard – smiles naturally at the camera. He’s wearing a muted red t-shirt. Photo by Ryan Bolton
"I don't want to relive my trauma so I can educate you while I'm at McDonald's" - Spencer West
“I don’t want to relive my trauma so I can educate you while I’m at McDonald’s” – Spencer West

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