#Influenced: This Is Wheel Life.
Social media plays a huge role in the day-to-day of Gen Z. It’s important that we interact with content that lifts us up, and leaves us feeling inspired following a good scrolling session. #Influenced is a series of chats with social media content creators who not only bless our feeds with über cool content, but also make an effort to spread positive messages.
This month, we chat to cousins and disability advocates from Sophia Malthus and Indy Henman AKA @thisiswheel_life.
How did @thisiswheel_life come to be?
Indy: When I started working for Soph as a support worker we decided to start a YouTube channel. A producer that has worked with Soph before saw our videos and reached out suggesting we look into making a series. That was the start of a lot of brainstorming and here we are now with a finished docuseries.
What do you believe makes you stand out from other content creators discussing disability?
Soph: I think we are just casual, fun and approachable. A lot of disabled content is either inspirational or angry, and that contributes to the alienation of the disabled community. All we want (and see a need for) is engaging, educational and entertaining content that helps to normalise disability. We also love that we provide content that is friendship based; a lot of other popular disabled content creators are in relationships, which is awesome, but the world also needs to see friendships with disabled people.
From your point-of-view, why do you think people follow you?
Soph: I think disability can be intimidating for people who haven’t been exposed to it much, and so our light-hearted and fun content provides a comfortable way for these people to learn about disability and what it might be like to have a friend who has a disability. The more familiar people are with something, the more open they are. That’s the greatest thing about social media- we can learn from a distance without the pressures and judgement of other people.
What do you hope to achieve with your content?
Indy: hope our content is a fun and light-hearted way of normalising inter-abled friendships. People struggle with approaching the subject of disability which is fair enough, it is heavily stigmatised. We want to show people the fun side and hopefully our content will make people feel more comfortable with disability.
Soph: the older generations grew up in a time where disabled people were institutionalised, and so the majority of people were not exposed to disability. The outcome of that is that now, as we live in a time where disabled people are involved and contributing to society, those older people are only just getting used to the idea of seeing disabled people out and about. That’s why I often get congratulated and praised for being at the supermarket or the dog park, which is just so bizarre to me. We want young people to grow up with an understanding and exposure of the disabled community to wean out the stigma.
Which social media platform is your favourite to use and why?
Soph: I personally prefer Instagram, but I appreciate how we can reach more people on Tik Tok which helps us to achieve our goal of normalising disability and interabled friendships. The fact that a video of Indy emptying my catheter has 4 million views is amazing (and daunting!)
What is your top tip for making engaging and relatable content?
Indy: Our top tip is to be yourself. It sounds cliche but people want to see ‘real’, and that’s something that is lacking across social media platforms. Another tip would be to get creative with it; following trends will only get you so far. Lastly, know your audience and know your purpose; you can’t target everyone with your content so pick a niche and do it well.
What does your average day look like at the moment for you both?
Indy: My average day looks a little different depending on whether I’m working for Soph or not. On a day off you’ll find me catching up on uni or more likely doing productive procrastination.
Soph: during the semester I feel like all I do is study; I’m studying law so there’s always another case to be read! Outside of studying, I volunteer at YouthLaw where we provide free legal advice for young people, and I also mentor a young girl through the organisation Upside Youth Mentoring. As you can see in the series, I’m not great at following the workout plans given to me by my personal trainer haha.
How important is your community?
Soph: the disabled community is huge; 1 out of 4 people have access needs. This statistic alone shows how impactful and important it is to make steps towards a more inclusive world. We are consumers and contributors, just like anyone else, and so, in a commercial sense, we are incredibly important. On a more societal level, the disabled community is even more important; we face challenges and experiences that are generally exclusive to our community, and so having a group of friends who are also disabled is invaluable.
What is the best part about creating your content?
Soph: I particularly love being able to help people who have newer spinal cord injuries! I often get approached on social media for advice on how I do something or what can be expected with an injury like my own. I also get lots of family members or partners of recently injured people who get in contact to ask questions like how they can best support their loved one during the acute stage of their injury. Being able to potentially make their experience a little easier means a lot to me.
What is the hardest part of content creation for you?
Indy: Probably coming up with ideas. Soph’s disability is no longer new to either of us so we struggle to know what might be interesting to people. Luckily the algorithm is pretty unreliable anyway so we opt for winging it and whatever works, works.
What do you hope people take away from This is Wheel Life?
Indy: We hope people see that disability doesn’t need to be an uncomfortable topic. Soph’s disability adds to our friendship, it keeps things interesting and we have a fun time navigating the challenges that come with it. Also, stories about disabled people shouldn’t always be ‘deep and meaningfuls’, which is why we made a more light-hearted and funny docu-series. We hope people see it a little more from our perspective after watching the series.
This is Wheel Life is out on www.TAHI.fm. You can also follow Soph and Indy on Instagram and TikTok.
