Disability and infertility highlighted in Okanagan documentary

KELOWNA — Breaking down the stigmas surrounding people with disabilities as they try to start a family is the aim of an Okanagan documentary filmmaker who has personal insight into the story she's telling. 

Chelsea McEvoy is the producer of a 22-minute documentary titled Wheel Love. She’s also married to the love of her life, who is a high-level paraplegic.

“(The film is) basically delving into a little snippet of time at our first attempts of trying to start a family and trying to have a baby,” McEvoy says.

The story is narrated by 11 couples across the Okanagan who are in wheelchairs and are either raising or have raised children, she says.

She admits she originally didn’t want to do a documentary on her intimate personal struggles with her partner. But she knew if she was struggling there had to be others, too.

“I decided to do this because I thought ‘Oh man, if I am going through this then I should let other people see that it’s OK to talk about these things,’” she says.

“(Infertility) is something that one in six people go through who are even able-bodied,” she says. “It’s a very vulnerable time especially in a woman’s life going through this very much an emotional rollercoaster.”

McEvoy hired a longtime friend and filmmaker, Ryan Tebbutt, to direct the documentary.

“I can’t direct myself in this role, there was absolutely no way I can be vulnerable in front of the camera and go through this,” she says. “It’s a very TMI documentary.”

McEvoy says she wants people who watch it, to realize there is hope.

“Going through infertility and disability, sex, and all those taboos and subjects that don’t really get talked about that often…I just hope it opens the door for some people to let them know it’s OK to talk about these things and there are way more people than you would think going through this problem,” she says.

The documentary premiered on the Wheel Love official Facebook page on July 18.

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