Bean Gill

Benveet "Bean" Gill helps organizations and individuals to break barriers, prioritize inclusivity, and redefine disability, cultivating courage, gratitude, and community support for people with disabilities. She is an inclusion warrior, woman of color paralysis recovery pioneer, co-founder of ReYu Paralysis Recovery Center, and star of CBC docuseries "PUSH."

Gill was living in an abusive relationship and working as an X-ray technologist in a cardiac catheterization lab, but when she turned 30, everything changed. She left the abusive relationship, her dad left her family, and during a trip to Las Vegas, a virus paralyzed her from the waist down.

A once athletic young woman who enjoyed modeling, kickboxing, and weightlifting, she struggled with betrayal by her own body. She couldn't roll over, sit up, or get out of bed without help. She was forced to find her way through an inaccessible society, all the while living with paralysis and learning how to love herself.

Bean’s sudden onset paralysis opened her eyes to the many injustices, inequalities, and challenges that are a part of life for those with disabilities. She went from dealing with a new identity of life in a wheelchair to using her situation as a platform to help others.

She co-founded ReYu Paralysis Recovery Center, a non-profit she started with her Neuro-Exercise Specialist and zero capital. The wellness center exists to inspire, motivate, and promote recovery with increased function for individuals with spinal cord injuries and associated neurological disorders. "We show them that they can do the things that they were told they were never going to do."

Bean Gill starred in the CBC Docuseries "Push", a show that challenges how people see those with disabilities. The series is the first major prime time program to feature a leading cast of people with disabilities.

Gill’s work has earned her local and national recognition, including the Top 40 Under 40, RBC, Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award, and Global’s Woman of Vision Award. Bean is the reigning Miss Wheelchair Canada and was recognized by Mattel as one of Canada's top 60 inspiring women as part of Barbie's 60th Anniversary.