2025 Independent Living Awards – Business Award for Independent Living

December 18, 2025

The 2025 winner of the Business Award for Independent Living is Sheldon Crocker – Crocker’s Transformative Thinking!

Sheldon Crocker has dedicated more than a decade of his life to making Newfoundland and Labrador a more inclusive, compassionate place for people with disabilities. His commitment has been constant and heartfelt — expressed through his work in the arts, education, recreation, business, and community building.

As an author, Sheldon’s Keep on Walking trilogy — Keep on Walking, The Road to Resilience, and Resilience Redefined — has touched countless lives since the first book was published in 2020, three months after the beginning of the pandemic. Sheldon says “I took it upon myself to be a beacon of hope in sharing my story in such a negative time.” He uses his own story to break down stigma and open honest conversations about disability, resilience, and self-worth. His author readings and talks across the province have given people hope and a sense that their own stories matter too.

Through Crocker’s Transformative Thinking and his online community – Community of Unstuck Minds (founded in 2019), Sheldon has created safe, supportive spaces for hundreds of people to connect and share. These communities are built on empathy, authenticity, and hope — values Sheldon lives every day.

(The Business Award for Independent Living is for a business that has displayed an innovative approach and achieved substantial outcomes, in supporting the full inclusion of people with disabilities in areas such as employment, transportation, social development, housing, communication and technology.)