• Wildomar Conversations: 1 Ashley Fox

Welcome to the first edition of Wildomar Conversations. 

Though I've wanted to do something like this for awhile, I just didn't have the oomph to get it started on my own (these types of productions take a team effort). 

Then a few months ago Bridgette Moore started talking about wanting to interview people in town that have interesting stories and here we are.

I think that she mostly had the idea of doing a write up, but I suggested that we set up video cameras and see if we could make an interesting video while we were at it. I think we hit that mark. 

Our first conversation is with Ashley Fox

I invite you to watch the full 10 minute video found a little further down in the blog.

It's a nice story of a local resident that hasn't allowed a very serious medical condition to derail her life.

Bridgette Moore and Ashley Fox at Stars of the Valley event.

Her condition is called SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), and though she uses a wheel chair to get around, she's as active as most people her age.

Ashley Fox at graduation.

She's been in girl scouts, a cheerleader, and recently graduated with an AA at MSJC with plans on going to UCSD to finish her undergraduate in psychology. She even has aspirations for a Masters and a Doctorate before she's done.

Post education she would like to work in the field of sports psychology.

Ashley was welcomed aboard with Camp Promise earlier this year.

She is an advocate for accessibility for those with all types of disabilities and is also on the marriage equality task force with about 200 others with various disabilities.

You may not be aware, but due to various rules in place, many people with disabilities can't get married without losing their health insurance. 

Bridgette asked Ashley if she had like to add anything else before finishing the conversation, and here are her words.

No Matter how much push back you get, no many how many noes you receive, your voice matters, your needs matter. You're not "high maintenance", you're not needy, you're not a burden. It's very much your life and you need to get the resources you need to live it.

  —Ashley Fox

Here is a video from 2014 of Ashley at a Lake Elsinore Storm pregame event.

I've had the privilege of knowing Ashley since 2014 when she was raising money for her Girl Scout Silver Award project known as the freedom swing. I also was able to follow her around when she was "Mayor for the Day" in 2016 (link to that blog here).

Link to 2014 blog about Ashley Fox's Freedom Swing project.

Remember that Wildomar Conversations is a work in progress and I'm sure that there will be some growing pains as we get our bearings. 

Let's see how far we can take this idea. We'd love to hear your suggestions for future topics. 

This blog was designed on a desktop computer, but should be formatted to all screens. Here is a link to the original if you have missing video links.