Life to the Max Podcast

Rolling into Adulthood: Samantha's Collegiate Fresh Start and Fierce Independence

• The QuadFather

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We’re on-site at the Abilities Expo in Schaumburg meeting Samantha, a freshly graduated 18-year-old heading to UIC who speaks with clarity about independence, dignity, and the everyday design of an accessible life. This isn’t inspiration theater. It’s practical courage: how to choose a major, compare campuses, and advocate for accommodations while keeping joy and curiosity in the driver’s seat.

Samantha walks us through life with a rare distal SMA, explaining her mobility in simple, honest terms and the mindset shifts that help her move from can’t to how. She opens up about navigating high school among mostly able-bodied peers, finding friends who lead with respect, and attending MDA camp where perspective deepened into gratitude. We talk candidly about ramps and elevators, yes, but also about the less visible layers of access: seating layouts, syllabus flexibility, communication with professors, and the social cues that make classrooms feel human. Her plan to start at UIC and possibly transfer to UIUC illuminates the real calculus many students with disabilities face—community versus proximity, services versus cost, growth versus comfort.

Family runs through this conversation like steel cable. A sister who turns visibility into pride, a mom who scouts tools and options, and a veteran dad whose philosophy is simple and strong: you can do hard things, differently.

Samantha’s message is one to carry: you’re not alone, it might be harder, and you are more than what meets the eye.

Press play for a grounded, hopeful take on college accessibility, disability advocacy, and resilience you can use. If this resonated, follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs proof that independence has many paths—and all of them start with your voice.

SPEAKER_01:

What's up guys? As you can see, we're not in the studio at home. We're actually at the Abillies Expo in Chicago, and this podcast is gonna be a little different. It's gonna be like a speedcast. The sound is not gonna be as great because of how wide open this space is, but I hope you guys enjoy it. Please enjoy this Life to the Max speedcast. What is up everybody? It's the Life to the Max Podcast, and we are acting abilities expo in Schomburg, Illinois. It is June 21st, 2025, and today I'm here with Samantha from the Lily's expo. What brings me out?

SPEAKER_02:

Um I used to come a lot when I was younger, and I kind of wasn't able to throughout high school, but now that I'm graduating and attending to college, it's like trying to become more independent, so looking for things that I could do.

SPEAKER_01:

How old are you?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm uh 18.

SPEAKER_01:

So freshly graduated?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and I graduated not even a few weeks ago, and then I'm heading to college soon, so I'm pretty excited.

SPEAKER_01:

What college are you going to?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh UIC.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, that's awesome. That's amazing. What do you uh score an age in?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh I put down communications because I want to like do something more with people in the office, but and then minor in philosophy.

SPEAKER_01:

So, um, do do you mind asking me uh what type of disability you have?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I kind of have uh distal SMA and I have a pretty rare kind.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like what is what does that stand for?

SPEAKER_02:

Um Honestly, I'm not sure. Kind of um more in the unknown region, but mine is not as severe as other kinds. So I kind of got lucky. Like my lower half, I can't walk at all. And my legs are kind of locked in like an upside-down L position.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But um I can hold my own weight to some extent, but otherwise I can't walk or stand on my own.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, isn't it crazy? Like when we see the perspective of other people when we come here, and we're just like, wow, I feel so much grateful. Because like I talked to someone yesterday that had a hundred surgeries. Insane. I don't know, I don't know if like you're with that type of like realm or whatever, but like when I was listening to like these quarters to me, so I'm just like, oh my god, I feel so bad. Why the hell do I complain all the time?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I've I've had like considerations of surgery, but I don't want to do that if I don't have to. And I used to go to a camp called MDA, Muscular Dystrophy Association. I'd out, unfortunately. And I used to see other kids that were like more severe than I am.

SPEAKER_01:

How did you persevere like through like like high school and stuff? Like uh were you like uh do people treat you like like a person?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, luckily I wasn't treated very differently. I think it's because I've been in like that situation since I was young. Like I was I've been a I haven't been around other kids in wheelchairs in a school setting, unfortunately. So I was very used to like being in that kind of crowd. And I've had good friends that treated me like a person, but obviously they were like curious or like they were very there's always gonna be that kind of people that are like cautious, they don't know what to ask or what to say or what not to say. But I persevered and I'm excited for college because I went to uh like the incoming freshman like seminar and then a few other people in wheelchairs.

SPEAKER_01:

Is uh UIC pretty accessible?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it was pretty accessible, but I did want to go to UIUC or Bana Champaign, where they have like a huge like disability population.

SPEAKER_01:

U of I? Yeah. Yeah, I've known a lot of people that have graduated from there. It's good, it's it's a really great college. Maybe you could go there for your uh your uh uh graduate degree if you choose.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I'm hoping to transfer at some point, just like working my way up.

SPEAKER_01:

So what is uh one of the things uh you went through that's probably the hardest in your life?

SPEAKER_02:

Um that's kind of hard to say, but I think definitely like I have to like come to terms with not being able to do certain things. Like I haven't like luckily I haven't been like too hard on myself or like have been affected by like not being able to do certain things, but it's just like having to live with like learning how to do things differently, not being able to do some things that I want to do, or just like having to find a way around it, I guess.

SPEAKER_01:

You seem like you have a head on your shoulders, can mine's on like uh get out space, and I I s I absolutely love that because that's uh more tragic from what we're on the podcast. You know, it's people who face adversity and then uh persevere at the end, you know. That's uh kind of what uh happened to me. I was on a car accident when I was in the military and I got uh paralyzed while I was 20 and my life just turned upside down. But it's all about like, you know, getting through uh getting through it and uh breaking through that wall, you know. Uh worry is uh one of the things you're most grateful for.

SPEAKER_02:

Um definitely for my family, first off, because I'm the only like disabled person like in my immediate family and extended family. So they I wouldn't say adapted, but they like learned how to like go through different things. Like my younger sister, especially, like she takes a lot of pride in having a disabled sister, as strange as that can sound.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's my sister's the same way.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. Um, like she's written a lot about me for school when she was younger. I was known to her as like the sister in the chair. Like, oh, it's like not every day you see someone with a sibling that's in a wheelchair. So she kind of took it like, hey, my sister's cool, she's in a chair. And then my mom really helped me with like learning how to be independent, like getting my chair, getting things I need, or just like seeing different options I have. And my dad, um he was he's also a veteran, so he Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01:

I thank him for his service.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll t I'll tell him that. Thank you. But he's um he also has a very strong head on his shoulders. He was very like, you can be independent as you want to be. It'll be hard, but there are things you can do by yourself. You'll you'll be strong. There's obviously like I am a little weaker at some points compared to him or like other people in our family. But he's very like, you can be independent, you have the confidence, just keep going. You got it.

SPEAKER_01:

It's amazing how like like like you were just mentioning your sister, how like strength, like like you, if they just see you and they see a different perspective on life, like they that brings gives you that gives your sister strength to like you'd be like, you know what? I'm having a bad day, but my sister's like like killing it right now, you know? Like so like uh those those are the things that are beautiful about the tragedies. Well like what happened, you know. But I I don't think of it as a tragedy. I think of it as more like where the we're like the disabled community or the people. So like like how like people realize like uh life is precious, you only get one. Right? Yeah. Is there anything you want to say out there to the people?

SPEAKER_02:

Um, I guess in a way, from personal experience, especially like being around people who are very able-bodied, like since I was young, like you're not alone and there are things you can do even if it's hard. It may be harder, like, push through it at some points, but you're your own person, and there's always like there's always more to you than just what meets the eye.

SPEAKER_01:

That was absolutely beautiful. If you guys enjoyed this concept, please like, comment, and subscribe. And as always, take a mouth for me. Thank you so much for the channel.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you, I had so much fun.