Meet Rae: Disabled Outdoor Artist Redefining the Outdoors
A Disabled Outdoor Artist Belonging Outside on Her Own Terms
A disabled outdoor artist does not need to fit the old outdoor mould to belong outside.
The outdoors does not have one correct shape. It does not need a summit photo, a brutal climb, or someone on a ridge pretending a sunrise fixed them. Sometimes it is air, a slower walk, a place to make something, notice something, or feel the world loosen its grip.
For Rae, a disabled artist based in the UK, nature is not something to conquer. It is something to listen to.
Rae is the force behind Wait, I’m Disabled?, a creative space shaped by disability visibility, art, movement, humour, and self-expression. She lives with complex chronic conditions, including Functional Neurological Disorder, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, PoTS, and more. But Rae is not a diagnosis. She is an artist, advocate, maker, walker, fundraiser, style weapon, and full-colour reminder that the outdoors belongs to more than one kind of body.
A different way to belong outside
Outdoor culture can be narrow without meaning to be: fast bodies, big miles, perfect views, expensive setups, clean photos, and no visible struggle unless it fits the caption.
Rae pushes against that by showing up as herself: creative, colourful, funny, disabled, stubborn, and fully visible. No apology. No softening. No disappearing.
That is why Rae fits Wyld Peak. She reminds us that outdoor life does not have to be extreme to be real. It can be adaptive, slow, painful, joyful, messy, funny, and deeply personal all at once.
Creativity after everything changed
After becoming disabled, Rae pushed creativity into survival with colour on it.
She has earned distinctions in fashion design, dressmaking, and jewellery making, and uses art, music, design, and movement to move through the day. You see it in the custom outfits, beaded jewellery, bold colour, sharp humour, and mobility aids that do not make her smaller.
There is refusal in it: refusal to become less visible, refusal to be turned into a lesson, and refusal to let disability take the whole story.
That is what makes Rae’s work hit differently. It is not polished perfection. It is reclamation.
Strength does not have one shape
Outdoor culture loves strength when it looks fast, remote, able-bodied, clean, scenic, and easy to package. But strength does not always look like that.
Sometimes strength is walking with crutches. Sometimes it is changing the plan before the plan breaks you. Sometimes it is resting before the world thinks you should need to. Sometimes it is showing up in sequins, pain, fatigue, mobility aids, and all, because being outside is still yours to claim.
In 2021, Rae walked 2.8 miles with crutches to raise funds for FND Action. This May, she completed nearly 11 miles to raise awareness for EDS. Those miles matter because every step pushed back against the idea that disabled people should accept whatever narrow version of access they are given.
Rae’s miles say it clearly: we belong here too.
Why Rae fits Wyld Peak
At Wyld Peak, we have never believed the outdoors belongs only to elite hikers, perfect bodies, expensive setups, or people turning every walk into a personal brand campaign.
Some people hike mountains. Some face one before they get out of bed. Some go far. Some go slowly. Some roll, walk, rest, adapt, create, recover, and try again. All of that counts.
Rae brings the kind of honesty we care about: no sanding down the hard parts, no letting them become the whole story. Her work sits right inside what Wyld Peak is building: an outdoor community where movement, creativity, connection, and self-expression matter more than performing adventure for someone else.
Disability visibility belongs outside
The outdoors is often sold as escape, but for disabled people, access is not always simple.
Paths are not always friendly. Facilities are not always realistic. Advice is not always written with different bodies in mind. Too often, disabled people are left out of outdoor storytelling completely, or turned into inspiration for everyone else.
Disability visibility matters because people need to see more ways of belonging outside. Not one perfect version. Not one body. Not one pace. Not one kind of adventure.
Rae reminds us that outdoor life can be creative, adaptive, colourful, complicated, painful, joyful, funny, stubborn, and deeply personal all at once. That is not a weaker version of the outdoors. That is the outdoors made more honest.
For anyone navigating pain, fatigue, mobility limits, or the messy reality of getting outside in a body that does not always cooperate, our Hiking with Chronic Pain guide is a practical next read. Not because Rae’s story needs turning into advice, but because more people deserve outdoor guidance that starts with real bodies, not perfect conditions.
What comes next
As a Wyld Peak brand ambassador, Rae will be collaborating with us on future projects around disability visibility, creative survival, outdoor belonging, and radical self-expression.
We are excited for what that becomes, not because it fits neatly into a campaign, but because it feels like the kind of voice outdoor culture needs more of.
Real people. Real bodies. Real limits. Real creativity. Real grit without the fake motivational gloss.
You can follow Rae through Wait, I’m Disabled? and on Instagram at @.raenbow..
If Rae’s story hits something in you, stay close. Read the stories. Share the people who deserve to be seen. Get outside in the way that works for your body, your season, and your life.
And when you want gear that fits that kind of showing up, our Trail Ready Gear collection is there: simple outdoor pieces with personality, built for real use, repeat wear, and one tree planted with every order.
Not gear for one kind of adventurer.
Gear for whoever is still finding their way outside.
Welcome to the Wyld side, Rae.
We are honoured to walk, roll, create, and keep moving alongside you.