Ainsley Wood was 14 years old and four months into her recovery from a spinal cord injury when she decided the kids on her ward at BC Children’s Hospital deserved a proper Halloween.
It was 2020, the height of the pandemic. Visitor restrictions meant the kids were cut off from siblings and friends—anyone but their parents. The seasonal events that normally filled the hospital had stopped, so Wood enlisted the staff to help throw a party.
“I wanted to give them the experience that every child deserves,” she says, “regardless of a disability.”
Five years later, that same instinct carried her to the floor of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
In June, the UBC Okanagan psychology student represented Canada at the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The UN gathering convenes governments and civil society organizations from around the world to assess the state of disability rights and set the agenda for what comes next.
She spoke on a panel alongside Michael Gort, Canada’s Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Parliamentary Secretary Leslie Church and representatives from countries across the globe. The topic was economic independence and labour force participation among people with disabilities.
“There were such important change-makers in the room,” Wood says. “I wanted to make sure I did justice to myself and my own experiences, but also to the other youth with disabilities I’ve encountered and advocated for.”
Wood was nominated to represent Canada by the Rick Hansen Foundation, where she chairs the Youth Leadership Committee.
Ainsley Wood, Canadian Youth Delegate, speaks during a panel on economic independence and labour force participation at the 19th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York. She is joined by Ambassador Michael Gort, Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, and Parliamentary Secretary Leslie Church, who led the Canadian delegation.
The path from that hospital ward to New York runs through a consistent philosophy: that people with disabilities can thrive when equipped with proper support and equitable access to opportunities.
Her early life helped shape that belief.
In the summer of 2020, Wood fell from a tree while playing with friends, sustaining an injury that resulted in tetraplegia (affecting all four limbs). She spent nine months rehabilitating and observing. She learned what support looked like when it was done well and where the gaps were.
She met women through Spinal Cord Injury BC’s peer mentorship program who showed her it was possible to live fully. She later became a peer mentor, helping young women and teenage girls with what she’d already navigated.
“Most people with spinal cord injuries are middle-aged men,” Wood says. “It’s really important to talk to someone who has similar experiences to you.”
She’s spoken at hospitals and written about accessible technology for education. She brought a list of specific, practical recommendations directly to UBCO’s Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lesley Cormack, during a one-on-one meeting.
Her message to UBC: continued investment in the Disability Resource Centre and a proposal to eliminate parking fees for students with accessible vehicle permits.
Even though Wood earned a TD Scholarship for Community Leadership, which covers four years of tuition, she still needs the expertise inside the Disability Resource Centre to thrive.
“I would not be able to attend university without the Disability Resource Centre,” she says.
Having Wood at UBC Okanagan is to everyone’s benefit, says Dr. Susan Holtzman, Head of Psychology pro tem.
The UN General Assembly Hall during the conference.
Dr. Holtzman first noticed Wood in her health psychology course, where she earned one of the class’s highest grades ever. But it was Wood’s intellectual curiosity and compassion that left the deeper impression.
This fall, Wood joins Dr. Holtzman’s Connection, Health and Technology Lab to research the benefits of peer support for people living with chronic pain. Dr. Holtzman says she’s extraordinarily fortunate that Wood is bringing her experience and advocacy to the research.
“Her passion for improving access to supports for people living with chronic conditions will elevate this project and the work we are doing in my lab,” Dr. Holtzman says.
Wood is considering two futures, now: law, where she could create change through policy and litigation, and clinical psychology, where she could make a difference one person at a time. She’s been asked how she stays positive or motivated. The questions don’t have easy answers.
“I don’t think of it as staying positive,” she says. “A positive attitude and looking at solutions make it easier to tackle the barriers. That’s why I have it. But I can’t hold it against people who don’t, because it is hard.”
What she’s more certain about is why she advocates in the first place.
“Not everyone has an opportunity to share their voice,” she says. “I enjoy making change. I enjoy using my voice. And I want to use it for the people who can’t.”
It’s a voice that resonates.
