This woman who scaled a 2,600-metre mountain face says she 'proudly checks the disability box'

The Sunday Magazine19:35A view from the top with former world-champion paraclimber Maureen Beck

Adaptive rock climber Maureen Beck sees herself as a role model — but not just for people with disabilities.

The 2019 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year became, in 2018, the first adaptive climber to summit the 2,600-metre White Lotus Flower mountain face in the Northwest Territories’ Cirque of the Unclimbables — completely unassisted.

“I never identified as having a disability because I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s negative. That means you can’t do something. I’m not disabled. I can still take full advantage of life,'” she told The Sunday Magazine guest