Redefining Disability

On August 27, 2007, an IED destroyed the vehicle that U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Scholten was riding in near Bagdad, Iraq, causing a spinal fusion, traumatic brain injury, and more. During recovery, Matthew was introduced to adaptive sports. He tried out for the Army Warrior Games team in 2016 and made it to the final rounds of selection. But since its inception, Matthew has been a part of t...

Kendra Herber had a birth deformity when she was born that resulted in becoming an amputee at the age of 2. It's a title that she has both struggled with and felt extreme pride in throughout the years. Kendra has been a world ranked para triathlete, model, speaker, disability advocate, and high school teacher. She is also the author of “Whole: A Leg Up on Life.” She has also taken up the sport of...

When Zion Walker was in fifth grade, he started attending the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind in Staunton, Virginia. Around the age of 12, his older brother Sean was playing the sport of goalball and he wanted to follow in his footsteps. He also played basketball, ran cross country, and competed in track. As a blind athlete, goalball became his primary sport. He would move from his home in...

Samantha Heyison was born with constricted band syndrome impacting the formation of some of her limbs. She started playing sports early on, including soccer, softball, and basketball but eventually focused on track and field. Samantha is a three-time high school state champion in Maryland and currently is a red shirt freshman at Wake Forest University. In 2021, she attended her first para track an...

Eric Newby was injured in a car accident on the night of his high school graduation, Eric found independence and freedom when he was introduced to wheelchair rugby 5 weeks afterwards. He credits the sport for rebuilding his confidence and independence, for pulling him out of depression and realizing his full potential. Now he is a 10 year veteran of the national team, a 2X Paralympic silver medali...

John Register is a combat veteran and Paralympic Silver Medalist in long jump. He founded the United States Olympic Committee’s Paralympic Military Sports Program and served as the Acting CEO of the Amputee Coalition. He is an advocate, author, life coach, and sought out TEDx speaker. You can learn more about his book and work at johnregister.com.

Cortney Truitt has paralysis in the left side of her body due to cerebral palsy. In 1998, at the age of seven, she would take up the sport of swimming. Ten years later, she would compete in the first of three Paralympic Games, winning 12 medals, including one gold. Cortney was also named a team captain in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Since then, she has also completed her master's degree in education.

Josie Fouts is a congenital amputee, which means she was born without her left hand. In December 2018, Josie won two national championships and set a national record at her first par cycling competition. But has since switched her attention to mountain biking. Josie was recently featured in Tread Setters, a film about four para-cyclists and adaptive athletes who tackle a grueling 100-mile mountain...

John D. Kemp is President and CEO of the Lakeshore Foundation, a Move United member organization in Birmingham, Alabama. He is an accomplished executive widely respected for his many achievements in the corporate and nonprofit worlds and has decades of experience in the disability movement as a disabled leader, co-founding the American Association of People with Disabilities. His latest book, Disa...

Sam Bosco was six years old when she first got on a bike, riding to and from school with her dad. When she was 11, she had a limb lengthening surgery go awry that left her with a stunted left leg. She lettered in swimming and bowling in high school and earned a crew scholarship to the University of Central Florida where she rowed for two years. But she came back to her first love of cycling and th...

Jessica Heims was born with amniotic band syndrome that can compromise an unborn babies’ limbs. As a result, at the age of one, she would have her right leg amputated below the knee. She started in track and field at age 10 and met Paralympian Scout Bassett a year later, who helped her get involved in Para track and field. The 2X Paralympian competed as a member of the University of Northern Iowa...

Brandon Lyons, from Mechanicsburg, PA, graduated from Penn State University in 2012 and started his career with Ernst & Young in the Washington, D.C. region. Things changed on May 24, 2014, when he dove into shallow water, breaking his T5/T6 vertebrae and leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. Lyons quickly took on this new challenge and completed a marathon just five months after the date of...

fter September 11, Shianti Lee enlisted in the Army Reserves after graduating from college. She would deploy to Iraq almost immediately. She sustained multiple injuries as the result of an IED blast during a mission. She has tried multiple adaptive sports, but particularly likes yoga and snowboarding. As a Move United Warfighters Ambassador, she is working to get more wounded veterans active throu...

In 2005 Harsh Thakkar had just started classes at the University of Maryland, Baltimore when he was robbed and shot, leaving him paralyzed at T12-L1. A strong athlete in high school he rediscovered his athletic identity through adaptive sports. He would finish his degree at Edinboro University, where he got a scholarship to play wheelchair basketball. He currently plays for the NRH Punishers and a...

As an Adaptive PE teacher in the 1980’s, Gregg Baumgarten saw there were no competitive opportunities for many of his students who had physical disabilities. So he founded what is now Arizona Disabled Sports with his good friend Mark Grant. As pioneers in adaptive sports, the two would also create Desert Challenge Games and the first ever National Power Soccer Tournament in the USA. Gregg would di...

Dan Castillo served for six years in the Armed Forces and was medically retired as a quadriplegic with a C4 spinal cord injury. He plays power soccer and was named to the U.S Boccia National Team back in October. Students from Virginia Western Community College students are creating a handstick for him to play the sport through a partnership with Quality of Life Plus.

Brian Bell lost his leg at the age of 10 due to a train accident. After rehabilitation, he wanted to get back to playing basketball and football, his two favorite sports. He played middle school football on his prosthetic and discovered wheelchair basketball through the Lakeshore Foundation, a Move United member organization in Birmingham, Alabama. Now the 2x Paralympic Gold Medalist is hoping to...

Rev. Julius Lee is the Founder and President of SMCL Foundation & Associates. After serving in the US Army from 1974 to 1980 and in the Air Force from 1980 to 1997, Julius suffered a spinal cord injury. For over 21 years, as a disabled veteran, he has been advocating for those with disabilities and hardships. His passion for aiding others has led him to serve and educate the community on adaptive...

The U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships World-Wide Tour, with a prize package of $200,000, kicked off last month and have events coming up in Hawaii and California in the coming months. Behind this effort is Stoke for Life founder Charles Webb, a paraplegic and world class adaptive surfer.

After graduating from high school, David Sarbonnet followed in his father’s footsteps and became a Navy Seal. But his military career was cut short after a parachuting accident left him paralyzed. Recently, he discovered paddlesports through the San Diego Canoe and Kayak Team and is now trying to make the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.

At age two, RJ De Rama survived cancer but as a result lost some of his vision. By age 30, he was legally blind in both eyes. In 2006, he was part of an all-blind team that completed an 18 mile outrigger canoe race in Kona, Hawaii. Because of that experience, he became a founding member of the Makapo Aquatics Project, a Move United member organization based in southern California. Later this month...

Emily Hoskins has been involved with wheelchair basketball for much of her life. She was a member of the St. Louis Rolling Rams through high school before attending the University of Illinois, where she was a part of a team won four consecutive national championships. She won a gold medal at the 2004 & 2008 Paralympic Games. She now coaches a program in Nashville, TN.

At age 23, Jamal Hill discovered he had a condition known as CMT disease, a neurological condition that affects the muscles in his arms and legs. His love of swimming, which he developed at a young age, continues to this day. He earned a bronze medal at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo and is aiming for something bigger in Paris. Jamal founded the Swim Up Foundation in an effort to teach one million...

Brad Deminck is a 4th degree black belt in taekwondo and is the master instructor and head coach at Lakeshore Taekwondo Academy in Michigan. He also coaches the para taekwondo team.

In 2008, Mallory Weggemann underwent a medical procedure that left her paralyzed from the waist down. But three months after the injury, she returned to the sport of swimming that she loved. The 3x Paralympian and 5x Paralympic medalist, who is also aiming to represent Team USA in Paris this summer is an author, business owner, commentator, producer, and mother.