Craig Towler's Story - Reclaiming an Active Life After a Traumatic Accident

[Story collected during a mobile interview with Craig.]

"It was July 4, 2016. I had worked all day putting on a race at the Boulder Reservoir. After the race, I was excited to go see the Fourth of July fireworks at Folsom Field. I went home and was parked in front of my house, unloading my vehicle, when I felt an impact. I was pushed into the back of my car. I looked down and saw both of my legs detached. I later found out that a driver who was distracted – impaired on multiple substances and texting – had gone off the road and hit the car behind me, pinning me and severing both of my legs instantly. I was lucky there were a lot of people around to help me. When I learned about the city's Vision Zero project, I wanted to get involved because avoidable crashes like mine need to be stopped. It takes collective effort to create change.

"I went back to work about two months after the accident. I really just wanted to get back and contribute, and also bring some normalcy back into my life and feel like I’m still me. After a traumatic experience, you want to feel like the same person, and you are in a lot of respects, but you’re also a completely different person and you have to find a way to be OK with the new person you have become without losing track of your values and goals. Things change in life, and each change evolves us as people.

"I grew up in south Boulder. I was a runner, I liked to hike and do everything outdoors. This is my town. Now, I’m experiencing it from a very different perspective. Every time I go out, it’s an adventure. Even though I’ve run on the paths before and ridden bikes here all my life, everything seems new these days because I’m doing it in a wheelchair. I need to focus on where my wheels are and pay attention to the lips on curbs and the inclines – things I would have overlooked before. The perspective you get from walking or rolling around is unique to that experience. You get to see the amazing artworks under the roadways and have a more intimate connection with the place where you live. And when you’re part of it physically, you want to improve it."

"I’ve learned that vehicles are unnecessary for most of our daily trips. When it’s not possible to just jump in a car and get somewhere in a few minutes, you think more carefully about the places you want to go. I have to really want to get somewhere to put in the effort and push myself there in my wheelchair. I think we should all have such a strong connection and desire and motivation to go somewhere that we’d be willing to walk or push ourselves there. If we wouldn’t put in the effort, we should rethink going there. We don’t think about most of what we do every day because it’s so easy. But when it’s a little trickier and you have to put more effort in, it makes a big difference. You find that putting the effort in gives it more meaning because you really wanted to accomplish getting there.

"I’ve developed a deep appreciation of time and how limited it really is. After going through a recovery period, the most important thing is to get back into the world, get back to your normal life and be part of the community. But it’s easy to make excuses and not do things because you might get stuck in a situation that is hard to navigate with a wheelchair. Fear prevented me from doing things I wanted to do for a lot longer than it should have. My whole mission now is to be an advocate and a voice to help figure out ways to make it easier for people who use any kind of adaptive device to be independent. The ADA compliance standards don’t fit everyone’s needs.

"The biggest thing I have to pay attention to is lips on curbs, especially where there are gutters. With the front casters on wheelchairs, little things can wedge in there and bring me to a complete stop. I’m always on the lookout for rocks and glass in the street, or big curbs that are hard to get over. I’m fortunate to have good upper-body strength, and I didn’t sustain any injuries in my accident other than to my legs. My mobility is fairly high, even though I’m in a wheelchair. But I do think, well, I can do this but it’s a little hard for me, so it must be impossible for many others.

"People should know that they have the choice to be as independent as they want to be. It’s possible to get around in a wheelchair and do everything you did previously without relying on outside assistance. It just might take a little more planning or an ability to problem solve when you get into situations. It starts with building confidence – learning and educating ourselves about the things we’re nervous about. At the root of it all, we all struggle with similar problems in life where we have to figure out how we want to handle change."