All Things Paralympics with Amanda McGrory | Wheelchair Racing, Advocacy & Life Beyond Sports

[00:00:00] So, my name is Amanda McGrory. I am a four-time Paralympian in track and field.

[00:00:06] That's the hardest part of any sort of adaptive sport, I think, is that the equipment is all custom

[00:00:11] and it is so expensive. I think that it's super traumatic no matter what. It's a major life change

[00:00:17] and there is nothing you can do to prepare yourself for something like that to happen.

[00:00:22] But I want to see more people with disabilities, more members of the disability community

[00:00:28] being a part of television shows. Welcome to the Wheel With It podcast with your host,

[00:00:34] Devon at Wheel With It. No matter who you are or where you come from, there's a place for you.

[00:00:38] On this show, we have real conversations with fascinating people. Let's get into the episode.

[00:00:43] Hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of Wheel With It. I am your host, Devon Wieters.

[00:00:48] And today we have Amanda McGrory on the podcast. She's a Paralympian. She's a disability

[00:00:54] advocate. She helps out a lot with all kinds of adaptive sports things. And so this was a great

[00:01:01] conversation about disability, adaptive sports, the Paralympics, everything. And I think you guys

[00:01:08] are really going to love her. Here's my conversation with Amanda McGrory. Hello, welcome to

[00:01:14] another episode of Wheel With It. And today I am here with Amanda McGrory. She is so nice.

[00:01:21] We've been talking for a while before we started recording. Hi, Amanda. How are you today?

[00:01:27] I am great. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

[00:01:30] Excited that you are here. First of all, tell us about yourself and then we'll go from there.

[00:01:35] So my name is Amanda McGrory. I am a four-time Paralympian in track and field. I started

[00:01:40] competing when I was 11 years old. I found out about Paralympic games through a newspaper

[00:01:45] article in 1996 when I was 10 and then started shortly after, got involved in wheelchair racing

[00:01:51] and wheelchair basketball and played both sports all the way through high school into college.

[00:01:56] I went to my first Paralympic games in 2008 in Beijing and then continued training through

[00:02:03] 2020 for Tokyo. Around that time when the games were being delayed due to COVID,

[00:02:10] I was called by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and recruited for the

[00:02:14] archivist position. And so when I should have been on my way to Tokyo for my fourth Paralympics,

[00:02:20] I was actually moving from Illinois to Colorado to start my big job, my big girl job as an

[00:02:27] archivist for Team USA and then continued training and officially retired shortly after

[00:02:33] the Tokyo games but have managed to stay involved through working for Team USA, volunteering for

[00:02:40] different sports organizations and most recently getting involved in the broadcast side. And I was

[00:02:46] actually in Connecticut with NBC Sports covering track and field for the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

[00:02:53] That is how I found out about you as I was watching Olympic trials because we'll get into

[00:02:59] this. I saw Noelle and Ryan on Survivor and like I'm interested in it so like I was watching and saw

[00:03:07] you and we chatted and you're here so. That's awesome, I didn't know that's how you found me.

[00:03:13] Yeah tell us like if you don't mind as much as you come to what tell us like how you became.

[00:03:18] Yeah so I have a rare neuroimmune disorder called transverse myelitis. It's a demyelinating

[00:03:24] disorder similar to what you would find with something like multiple sclerosis

[00:03:28] but it happens in the spine and it's generally a single attack and the results are varying levels of

[00:03:35] paralysis. And so I am similar to a spinal cord injury have a low level

[00:03:42] parabolic and that happened when I was five. So it's one of those crazy things that there is

[00:03:49] not really all that much known about it because it's so rare. It's one of those one in three,

[00:03:56] one in four, one in five million people are affected by it and I more or less just woke up in

[00:04:02] the morning and my legs felt weak. I went downstairs and then shortly after was unable to stand. My

[00:04:09] parents took me to the emergency room and it was weeks of testing at different hospitals before I

[00:04:15] was ended up with diagnosis. So how long did it take you to get diagnosed? It was about from

[00:04:21] the my intake at in the emergency room until I had a formal diagnosis. It was about two weeks

[00:04:28] and that was after days and days of MRIs and spinal taps and CAT scans trying to figure out what

[00:04:34] was going on because there was really no known cause at the time. And even when I was given

[00:04:40] the diagnosis it was a we don't really know what else this could possibly be so we're going

[00:04:47] to we're going to go with this. One of the hallmarks of the disorder is that you can see

[00:04:52] inflammation in the spinal cord usually where the attack happens where the paralysis begins

[00:04:58] and my all of my scans came back clean and so it was really difficult to come up with a

[00:05:03] concrete diagnosis. Yeah, that must have been super because me I had to go to the emergency

[00:05:11] twice with some vertigo because honestly people laugh when I say this but I get Botox shot to my

[00:05:18] muscles and that night we had gone to a walk tasting so when I woke up and started throwing

[00:05:23] up soon as I set up we were like oh Botox and wine stupid us like this is what you get but then

[00:05:31] it kept going and going in. So we had to go to the emergency room a second time and then

[00:05:37] they did every like the bird and that was terrifying and it was just vertigo I think.

[00:05:45] So hard to find the root cause sometimes. It was terrifying and that was just vertigo I

[00:05:52] can't even imagine how like terrifying that was for you and your parents. It was probably scarier

[00:05:57] for my parents to be honest because I was so young I didn't truly understand what was going on

[00:06:02] until later but it was scary for me after a few weeks because Transursomilitis is really rare

[00:06:11] and we know more about it now than we did in the early 90s but no one could really explain what

[00:06:17] had happened or why and that's scary for a five-year-old that I had just woken up one day the same

[00:06:23] as I had the day before and the day before that but suddenly I couldn't walk and so what

[00:06:28] was going to happen tomorrow or next week or next year was the something that could

[00:06:34] happen again and just getting used to the idea that my life was different and things had changed

[00:06:41] was really that part was hard for me. At least you got disabled pretty early and not in your

[00:06:48] teens because I think in your teens it would be harder than your young days but it's hard

[00:06:55] anytime but at least you were younger I think. Yeah I agree with that I think that it's super

[00:07:01] traumatic no matter what it's a major life change and there is nothing you can do to prepare yourself

[00:07:07] for something like that to happen but kids are pretty resilient they're pretty elastic they bounce

[00:07:12] back quickly and I think a lot of that is just because you are young and you don't know anything

[00:07:18] else and I hear a lot from individuals who acquired their disabilities later that the transition is

[00:07:26] really difficult because they've lived a whole life 20, 30, 40 years as one person and then

[00:07:33] everything changes their hobbies change their homes change their lives change their work

[00:07:38] changes sometimes and figuring out who you are after something like that can be really difficult

[00:07:44] but as a kid you don't really know who you are yet anyway. Yeah how did you get into Paris for

[00:07:50] and you taught us about the newspaper article but beyond that like what was the journey like for you?

[00:07:56] So when I was finishing up my spinal cord injury rehab I went to a hospital in Wilmington, Delaware

[00:08:02] which is now the New Morris Foundation and so I did all of my rehab there and they used to

[00:08:07] sponsor a wheelchair racing team and a track meet and so I went to my first wheelchair race

[00:08:13] when I was five years old didn't have any of the equipment just used my everyday wheelchair didn't

[00:08:17] have gloves didn't have a helmet didn't have anything and I loved it but unfortunately the

[00:08:23] following year they had lost funding for that event and as a result in the pre-internet days

[00:08:29] it was really difficult to find anything else and my mom asked around was trying to find other

[00:08:35] opportunities for me to be involved in sport because I was a super active kid and I loved

[00:08:39] and she wanted to encourage me to continue being fit and healthy and active because those are

[00:08:45] just good skills and good habits to have as you get older and so it wasn't until about 1997 or

[00:08:53] so I had gone to a sleepaway camp for kids with physical disabilities and after the camp

[00:08:59] the city of Philadelphia had reached out and to some of the kids and some of the families

[00:09:05] that had gone to camp and said that they were interested in putting together a an adaptive

[00:09:10] sports program and wondered if I would be interested in participating and we only lived about an hour

[00:09:17] from Philadelphia and my parents said absolutely sure let's try and that was my first taste of

[00:09:23] organized adaptive sports playing wheelchair basketball and then also getting involved

[00:09:27] in their wheelchair racing team. Tell us what the lead up in the training for the

[00:09:32] Paralympics was like. So in 2004 when I graduated from high school I accepted an adaptive sports

[00:09:39] scholarship through the University of Illinois actually to be a member of the wheelchair basketball

[00:09:43] team and I had always wanted to be a wheelchair racer. I found out about Paralympic wheelchair

[00:09:48] racing when I was a kid my mom clipped a newspaper article for me from the Atlanta

[00:09:52] 96 Paralympic Games about Leanne Shannon who was 14 years old at the time and had

[00:09:58] won gold in the 100 meter and broke a world record and that was my like yes this is cool

[00:10:03] this is something I want to do. As I was going through high school getting older I wasn't having

[00:10:08] the success that I had hoped for in wheelchair racing but was getting more and more attention

[00:10:13] from coaches and from international teams for wheelchair basketball so decided that maybe

[00:10:20] I would switch things up and focus more on that and it wasn't until my sophomore year

[00:10:25] college that I was bribed basically by my coach and one of his friends to do my very first marathon

[00:10:32] which I finished third and decided I was never going to do another marathon again but that's what

[00:10:38] I'm like I am not a diss I don't know how people do it I struggle getting down my sidewalk at this

[00:10:45] point I know. So the thing is I said I was never gonna do another marathon but at this point

[00:10:50] I've done over 100 of them. I guess you fall in love with it but for me now I'm like oh no I'm not

[00:10:57] a distance runner if I came would be an accomplished bit funny. Yeah no I totally get that and I

[00:11:04] didn't think that I was either which is why I was so resistant to try it but my coach had thought

[00:11:09] that maybe the problems I was having with wheelchair racing was because I wasn't doing the

[00:11:13] right distances and I thought that I wanted to be a 400 meter 800 meter middle distance athlete

[00:11:20] but when it turns out that I was really meant to be a much much longer distance athlete and so

[00:11:26] after that first marathon I'd finally figured out where I fit and then things started happening

[00:11:31] really quickly. I qualified for my first national team I went to world championships,

[00:11:36] a broke world record in the 5k and then ended up going to Beijing in 2008 as a member of the

[00:11:43] Paralympic Track and Field Team. That is incredible how is what Paralympic Games is like the

[00:11:49] atmosphere and stuff. Oh my goodness it's so hard to describe because it's unlike anything else

[00:11:54] there is just a an excitement and an energy and all of the people that I have talked to especially

[00:12:01] on the US team have said similarly that they feel an instant bond with people who are there

[00:12:09] competing at the Games not only because they are the best athletes in the world at their

[00:12:14] particular sport but also because they have this instant kind of shared connection of also being

[00:12:21] members of the disability community. So it's this even if you don't speak the same language

[00:12:25] if you've had different life experiences you have this like instant double connection of

[00:12:30] do the sport and I'm really good at it and also experience the world as a member of the

[00:12:35] disability community and it just makes this very cool very collaborative competitive

[00:12:41] but also unique environment for sure. Tell us about how the Paralympics works and all the

[00:12:48] classifications because those confuse me so much because Track and Field it's the higher the number

[00:12:56] the greater the impairment is everything else is the lower the number the greater the impairment

[00:13:02] is. Oh it Track and Field gets a little bit complicated because unlike most other sports

[00:13:09] where you're just given a number and the number refers to the severity of your impairment in Track

[00:13:16] and Field you get two numbers and Track and Field is the only sport within the Paralympic system

[00:13:22] that is divided out into categories of disability and then severity of disability and so each of

[00:13:30] your each of the 10 digits refers to a different category of disability whether it's visual

[00:13:35] impairment, intellectual impairment, cerebral palsy neurological disabilities, wheelchair users,

[00:13:42] limb differences and amputations and so that is the first number and then within that then we move

[00:13:47] on to the lower the number the more severe the impairment and so if you think about the like

[00:13:53] the tens or visual impaired athletes so T11 athletes will be completely blind they run with a blindfold

[00:14:00] they run with a guide 12 athletes still have significant visual impairments but they do not

[00:14:06] run with the blindfold and they have the option to run independently or with a guide if they choose

[00:14:11] teens the least severe of athletes with visual impairments do not have an option for a guide

[00:14:16] and do not get any other accommodations on the Track and so it goes up that way throughout all

[00:14:21] of the different categories. So then okay Ryan was in the 30s Noah was in the 30s so people

[00:14:29] in wheelchairs are in like the fours and fives right? Visual impairments are the tens intellectual

[00:14:36] impairments are the 20s athletes with cerebral palsy are 30s athletes with limb differences who

[00:14:43] do not run with a lower limb prosthetic are 40s athletes who compete seated in a wheelchair

[00:14:50] throwing or wheelchair racing and then athletes who run with a lower leg prosthetic

[00:14:55] either a bologna or above knee one prosthetic or two are in the 60s okay so no longer needs

[00:15:02] in the 60s and I believe she's a 63 three so that is 63 is one leg with an above the knee

[00:15:12] prosthetic running blade and then for Ryan Madrano in the 30s 38 is the highest category

[00:15:20] of athletes with cerebral palsy 32 33 34s would compete seated or using a racing chair and then

[00:15:27] 35 through 38 compete ambulatory Ryan being the least impaired as a 38 yeah I would be probably

[00:15:35] and if I were a track and field athlete I would probably be in like the 50 so because you

[00:15:40] the 30s are really interesting because it's the only category within track and field that has

[00:15:45] athletes that are both seated and ambulatory and since you have cerebral palsy you would

[00:15:50] automatically be in the 30s and you would likely be a 33 or 34 okay I compete as a 54 and sometimes

[00:15:59] 34s and 54s compete against they don't compete against each other they compete with each other

[00:16:04] because they're both wheelchair racing athletes okay all right so 54 is like more spinal and then

[00:16:12] okay yeah that's that was the only confusing thing I was like okay I trust them I trust them to get it

[00:16:20] right it's almost like what like an average day of like training for you and I can ask so when I was

[00:16:27] training full-time and I was doing marathon training so that is a lot of mile professional

[00:16:30] marathoner for six years in between my bachelor's degree and then going back to school to get

[00:16:36] my masters because I figured I needed a real job at some point but I would train six days a week

[00:16:40] and we would train 10 sessions per week and so usually eight of those sessions were

[00:16:47] on the track or on the road in our racing chairs and two of them were strength sessions

[00:16:51] and we would usually start in the mornings with something that was a little bit more speed-based

[00:16:58] so an hour or two probably of training each morning and doing a lot of sprints a lot of

[00:17:05] they're called fart licks in distance racing and that's speed changes and so we would do things on

[00:17:11] paces so meters slow 400 meters medium 400 meters fast and different things like that to get used to

[00:17:19] holding different sorts of speeds and then oftentimes our afternoon sessions would be either

[00:17:23] lifting in the gym we did a lot of body lifts so a lot of med ball work a lot of push-ups pull-ups

[00:17:29] those sorts of things or just a long steady recovery push that would be 10 to 13 miles

[00:17:36] and then every Saturday morning at 8 a.m we would go out and do 20 miles plus and that would be our

[00:17:43] long workout of the week see that if I will never do I think I will never do a marathon

[00:17:51] never say never because the minute you say 20 miles so I cannot we would end up over 100

[00:17:58] miles for the full week that is crazy like I can do it and I think I could in like little

[00:18:05] chunks but 20 miles at no and a day like I am not so it is it's anything else so you 100% have to

[00:18:15] work your way up to being at that point especially because the racing chairs are really uncomfortable

[00:18:21] they are uncomfortable okay I was wondering because I've never been in on I've only seen them

[00:18:28] for a pair I think I've only seen them like once or twice I always wondered how it felt to sit in that

[00:18:34] thing and I have a manual chair that I like work out in and how is it different from the regular

[00:18:40] manual chair so the racing chairs are built for speed and efficiency and not at all for comfort

[00:18:46] and most athletes that there are a few exceptions to this and sometimes it's actually athletes

[00:18:52] within the 33s and 34s because they have some spasticity from their cerebral palsy it makes it

[00:18:58] really difficult to sit scrunched up in the same way that the 50s athletes do that would be impossible

[00:19:04] for me like so really impossible yeah it's it requires a lot of flexibility but most athletes

[00:19:10] that tucked up on their knees and so they sit on their heels and then their chest comes down

[00:19:15] to their knees and then you strap in in that position as tight as you can go oh that sounds

[00:19:22] like uncomfortable crazy like I would definitely not be able to do that I would definitely have

[00:19:29] to find another way to do it because my muscles would just be like no like honestly when I was

[00:19:36] in college I was coaching a friend of mine who has cerebral palsy and competed as a t33

[00:19:42] and when she first got started one of the things that was most important for her was just to be able

[00:19:48] to get used to sitting in her racing chair and her workouts were to just sit and watch tv in that

[00:19:54] position yes that would be me that would be my workout and I would be like when is this going

[00:20:01] to be over because this is pure torture so that was it she had her racing chair set up in front

[00:20:06] of the tv and started with five minutes then 10 minutes then 15 minutes just to get used to being

[00:20:11] in that position so is there any do you have to say like that if you're in a if you're not in a

[00:20:18] certain classification or is that just like the most like efficient position okay yeah there's no

[00:20:25] requirement it is the most it's the most aerodynamic position so for athletes who do

[00:20:31] marathons you see almost all of them sitting in that position or the longer distance races

[00:20:36] just because the longer the race goes the more important it is that you are being as efficient

[00:20:41] and aerodynamic as you possibly can but for shorter distance races it's more common to see athletes

[00:20:47] sit with their feet down in front of them so similarly to how you would sit in an everyday

[00:20:52] chair and then you would just lean over and put your chest as close as you could to your

[00:20:56] knee both without having your feet up underneath of you a little bit more comfortable not a lot

[00:21:00] more comfortable but a little bit yeah at least like it wouldn't be comfortable but it wouldn't

[00:21:05] be torturous either because it would the minute I sat with my legs like up behind me like that would

[00:21:10] pull on my hips because I'm so tight and honestly I could not stand that level of pain I tried it

[00:21:19] and I and I could not we could not even do half kneels because my hips and my knees hurt so bad

[00:21:25] yeah this would pull and then that would cause that um it's pain and that that so I would not be

[00:21:33] able to I don't think yeah there's a couple different versions too and there's also some kind of like

[00:21:37] hybrid racing chair everyday manual wheelchairs that a lot of people use if they just wanted to

[00:21:44] not necessarily be serious about sport but just start getting a little bit more active and maybe

[00:21:51] do a one mile fun run or a 5k or something like that yeah so my first goal is a 5k so I haven't been

[00:22:02] able to run quite a bit as consistently as I like because of what I've been doing with the past

[00:22:10] six weeks but honestly I think we're over the urge starting to get over that now yeah I think

[00:22:16] I should be able to get back to it are you planning on doing it in your day chair yeah we yeah because

[00:22:21] I'm in this power chair primarily so I'm doing it in my manual chair for everyday manual

[00:22:28] chair for now very cool and then my parents and when you can get around the block at a good pace

[00:22:33] we'll talk about our racing chair and so like okay because I know those racing chairs are

[00:22:39] incredibly expensive like incredibly that's the the hardest part of any sort of adaptive sport

[00:22:45] I think is that the equipment is all custom and it is so expensive I heard the price you say the

[00:22:52] prices and I'm like really that for a chair I know it's specialized stuff isn't free but I was like

[00:22:59] that sounds like way too much to be honestly I'm sorry they're all handmade custom to order

[00:23:06] which is a big part of why they cost so much because there's no good way to

[00:23:12] mass produce adaptive equipment like that you can mass produce a bike like a standard two-wheel

[00:23:16] bicycle and those are pretty easy and you can make little adjustments but everything when you're talking

[00:23:22] about wheelchair sports or adaptive sports is 100 custom to the app and that's a big part of what

[00:23:29] drives that cost up so are you familiar with this so everybody can move foundation not you need

[00:23:35] to look it up because they are fighting to get insurance to cover running glides and I think sports

[00:23:43] wheelchairs as well but I know at least the running glides because they're like this is

[00:23:49] ridiculous that do you want to cover running glides for a kid that's part of the whole

[00:23:54] development for a kid is so you're able to run and play and it's just it's ridiculous that

[00:24:00] there's not more help that would be amazing and it's something that's always been

[00:24:04] frustrating to me throughout my whole life that none of those specialized like pieces of

[00:24:09] sports equipment are covered by insurance it just feels like our system is very outdated especially

[00:24:15] because all of those things help build healthy habits and make you more healthy as you start

[00:24:22] aging yeah which would save money in the long run from like aging costs because they would be

[00:24:30] healthier so I'm with you bend it now or spend it when they're like 70 were you on the Medicaid

[00:24:36] waivers at any point did you I have not been okay good don't ever go on them because I'm on the

[00:24:43] Medicaid waiver right now and those things are set up so awful oh my gosh I think that's one of the

[00:24:50] hard things too there's programs that help people get access to equipment and care that they need

[00:24:56] but sometimes there is so much paperwork and it's so difficult to do that it turns people away

[00:25:02] or makes them feel like it's not worth it yes it's not even it sometimes it feels like it's not even

[00:25:08] worth me being on it because you can't hire a because they only pay them $13 an hour you

[00:25:14] can't make over at some amount of money or you don't qualify so basically I'm like basically

[00:25:19] you want me to sit here with no a no job and no buy basically and then you get the

[00:25:27] office services I want but the minute I start to have a life you thank you that's it's a I understand

[00:25:34] why the system exists but it's something else that I think really needs to be updated because it

[00:25:38] doesn't help people become more independent it doesn't help people start to build their

[00:25:43] savings or get jobs or do any of those things because you get punished for that like my friend

[00:25:49] literally cannot tell anybody she works a full-time job she's on the waiver and she literally cannot

[00:25:55] tell anybody that she has 401k because they might consider that an asset and say she's disqualified

[00:26:02] I'm like yeah it's not good it's not a good system it definitely needs to be updated and improved I

[00:26:07] agree so I literally have a legit survey of like how can we improve the waivers but I'm trying to

[00:26:14] figure out where to send it out to maybe I can contact like one of those we thought you gave me and said

[00:26:20] hey if you have anybody that would be interested in taking this yeah I that is an area I'm very

[00:26:26] familiar in the sports world but that is an area that I'm a little bit less familiar with

[00:26:31] than have fewer contacts so I'm literally considering going back to school to get a

[00:26:37] master's in social work just so I can know these waivers inside and help people because

[00:26:43] I'm like this is really ridiculous but that would be amazing and I think that the world needs

[00:26:48] more people and more social workers who have been through these programs and understand the way

[00:26:55] that they work as well as the ways that they need to be improved or could be

[00:26:58] updated and that's what's going to make them better yes after that little tangent

[00:27:04] how would you like to see what improvements would you like to see in the disability

[00:27:08] community as far as accessibility and staff get I think the biggest thing is always exposure

[00:27:13] and we've made great strides when it comes to exposure of Paralympic Games television coverage

[00:27:20] and viewership was up over 100 percent over the Tokyo Paralympic Games which is massive I saw

[00:27:28] 15.4 billion like Chuck Aoki is hilarious by the way he's yeah so funny yeah there's so many

[00:27:37] great personalities too within the Paralympic movement I've been watching his Instagram

[00:27:42] videos and TikToks and I saw 15.4 million I was like yeah I love them as refractive the

[00:27:48] ton of followers Hunter Woodall and Tari Davis Woodall have a ton of followers and I think that

[00:27:53] all of that is doing great things for increased awareness around adaptive sports but I still

[00:28:01] think we have a long way to go when we're talking about recognition for athletes but beyond like

[00:28:07] outside of the sports world entirely I just want to see more people with disabilities more members

[00:28:15] of the disability community being a part of television shows and game shows we're talking

[00:28:21] about Survivor and how cool it was to see Noel Lambert and Ryan Medrano on the show

[00:28:26] just just there members of the disability community participating in the show and getting

[00:28:33] more exposure there's a huge population of disabled individuals within the United States

[00:28:38] and the majority of them don't get any recognition and then aren't seen and the only time anyone

[00:28:44] with a disability is seen on television or getting media coverage is when they're doing

[00:28:49] something considered to be exceptional yes and part of that it's like part of

[00:28:54] some of this that they do is exceptional in able-bodied human being and I don't mind that

[00:28:59] well like when it's like them just are going to the grocery store going out to a bar or like

[00:29:04] getting a tattoo I'm like if you think getting a tattoo is exceptional then you should see the

[00:29:10] people in the disability community because we are just like tatted to the like I have one

[00:29:17] tattoo but I've seen people with disabilities that have tons of tattoos so that is not that

[00:29:23] exceptional no it is not it's not newsworthy and I think that's the hardest thing and there's so

[00:29:29] many stories and I know that you know this too but especially in the sports world we talk

[00:29:34] so much about the inspirational narrative and it's cool you can be inspired by people who

[00:29:40] are doing things that are starting foundations winning gold medals getting phd's and public

[00:29:46] speaking and doing things that are just generally very cool but you are right going to the grocery

[00:29:54] store getting gas going to get a tattoo none of that is yeah none of that is absolutely

[00:30:01] remarkable and I appreciate it when people talk about the podcast and stuff because I'm like

[00:30:06] okay at least I'm doing something but when people come up to me at a crime show and I'm

[00:30:12] looking at claps like everybody else and they're like god bless you I'm like okay I I know and I

[00:30:18] think it's over because I never know how to respond in those situations yeah I once had a lady like

[00:30:23] and this is a huge issue and that this body community too it's like personal space goes out

[00:30:28] the window and then just feel free to invade it yes if you did not have to enable body person

[00:30:33] that would be creepy and it's still creepy when you do it to a disabled person so we're not

[00:30:38] for sure the rules should not be different I have this the way to come up and kiss me on the head

[00:30:44] say god bless you and my dad was like we do this in the south and that's like a common greeting I'm

[00:30:50] like I didn't see or do that to anybody else that's an issue but I think that more exposure

[00:30:56] and normalizing disability is what is going to help that and having members of the disability

[00:31:00] community on reality shows hiring disabled actors giving people with disabilities opportunities

[00:31:07] to use their voices and their platforms by posting podcasts or being correspondence and

[00:31:15] doing coverage on the news or commentary for sports all of that is slowly helping change

[00:31:21] that narrative that you can be disabled and be successful yeah so what's like the both the

[00:31:29] most positive thing about man like the craziest thing that's been said to you so I have

[00:31:35] I volunteer every summer at move united nationals which is where I got my start competing as a kid

[00:31:43] my first national competitions and I go back every year just because I think that it is important

[00:31:50] for all of the kids who are there competing and even the parents too to get the opportunities to

[00:31:57] see disability represented in different ways in this past year that I was there I had more than

[00:32:03] one of the kids who were coming into compete I was working registration so I'm the first person that

[00:32:09] they see tell me that they had seen me on tv or had heard me do marathon coverage and that they

[00:32:16] wanted to be sports captors and I think that is the coolest thing because there aren't a lot of

[00:32:22] people who have done it this far and to be able to be one of the first and show people what's

[00:32:27] possible is big so that's always the biggest compliment that I get craziest thing is probably

[00:32:34] the same as what you were just talking about a lot of I get a lot of people who want to

[00:32:40] to pray for me yeah like pray for your healing like that's the biggest thing I get going on but

[00:32:46] okay and I'm trying to be like well-meaning but don't do that's like the biggest thing

[00:32:52] and it's just it's a reflection of the ableism in our community that everyone thinks that your life

[00:32:58] must be so sad and so difficult and so terrible because you have a disability and they could

[00:33:04] never imagine their lives being like that so they want to pray for you to get better so that

[00:33:09] you can live the life that they think you should and that's I've only had it happen to me

[00:33:15] like maybe once or twice but in the south like in the deep south that's a huge issue

[00:33:20] because that's like Bible Belt and I'm like if I lived in the Neal Bible Belt like I can't

[00:33:27] I think out it on live there because I could not imagine have you looked at book my body is not

[00:33:33] a prayer request I haven't either but I've heard great things about it it's written by this

[00:33:38] disability theologian and she is disabled and it's just about that exact thing like people

[00:33:45] thinking like that they have to pray for you to get better and stuff and so it's

[00:33:50] called my body is not a prayer request so I'm gonna check it out maybe you and I

[00:33:57] read it together because I've heard nothing but good things about it I love it anything else that

[00:34:02] you would like to add before we get off here no I think that is pretty much it this was a lot of

[00:34:08] fun and thanks so much for reaching out we should definitely stay in touch maybe start a book club

[00:34:13] yes yes you will definitely stay in touch thank you we will see you guys next episode bye

[00:34:20] so yeah I really love that conversation she was really nice really cool to talk to you

[00:34:26] be sure to follow her on social media we'll put the links in the show notes and we will see you

[00:34:31] guys next episode bye guys thank you for joining us we hope you enjoyed the show remember to

[00:34:36] follow the show and our guests on social media and subscribe to the show and your

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