A smile swept over Josh Clayharris’ face as he reached the summit of an indoor rock wall, a task that seemed insurmountable until now. 

Clayharris attended the Possabilities Expo on July 18, an event designed to showcase available resources to people with disabilities. The event occupied every room of the Knicely Conference Center with over 160 resource tables, according to Possabilities Expo co-founder and President Savannah Mills. 

Mills is also the business development manager for Kidz Club Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care, a center that provides nursing and therapies for kids and young adults with extended medical needs and care. 

The event has been running annually since 2018, when Mills and a group of others saw a need in Bowling Green; they created the expo with great success, drawing around 2,000 attendees just last year. 

“Coming here, getting to meet people face to face with a resource, it changes a lot of things for our families,” Mills said. 

Clayharris, a 19-year-old with a wheelchair, has taken an interest in activities like dirt biking; however, his physical condition has made it difficult for him to pursue. That was until he discovered a new resource. 

Wheelable Wilderness, one of the resources at the event, rents an off-road wheelchair to families going on vacation. This marked the organization’s first year as a resource at Possibilities Expo. 

Kent Madison, creator of Wheelable Wilderness, has been in a wheelchair since a car accident left him partially paralyzed. 

Growing up in a small town in the country, Madison loved hunting, fishing and camping, but after his wreck, enjoying that breadth of nature activities has become much more difficult. 

“A lot of people think that once you’re in a wheelchair, once you have a disability, you don’t have dreams or aspirations or anything like that,” Madison said. “It’s not the case.” 

Wheelable Wilderness is a non-profit organization that relies solely on grants and donations. Madison himself has funded the organization with his own disability checks for its operations as well.  

Madison’s main source of inspiration comes from the “smile people have when they find out that something they thought was impossible isn’t anymore.”

“Seeing something like that, saying it’s a possibility for him,” Clayharris’ father Garry Barnett said. “That brings us joy.” 

For Mills, the Possibilities Expo presents an opportunity to change families’ lives for the better and be a beacon of hope for people to find resources they otherwise did not know existed. 

“Knowing that you’re part of helping someone make their lives better for their child and for their family,” Mills said, wiping away tears, “that’s why we do it at the end of the day.”