Redefining Disability

Jim Ewing has been an avid climber most of his life. He would injure his foot during a climbing trip in the Cayman Islands. After realizing amputation might be the best route to regain some mobility, he would connect with Hugh Herr, a biophysist at MIT and would undergo a radical new amputation, now known as the Ewing amputation. All of this is the subject of Augmented, a feature documentary that...

David Davis is a Los Angeles based journalist whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He is also the author of six books, including Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans from World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation. We chat about this book and t...

An accident at age sixteen caused a spinal-cord injury that left Brent Poppen paralyzed. This was a beginning to journeys he never dreamed as he became one of the top disabled athletes in the world. Poppen competed in two consecutive Paralympics, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, in wheelchair rugby and tennis. He earned a Bronze Medal in wheelchair rugby and has received numerous Gold Medals and worl...

Kari Miller-Ortiz is a retired U.S. Army Sergeant who lost both her legs when a car she was in was hit by a drunk driver while she was on leave from military duty in 1999. After playing a variety of adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball, she discovered the sport of sitting volleyball. She would help Team USA win a gold and 2 silver medals over the course of three Paralympics. She has be...

Caitlin Conner has taken up a number of sports, including cycling, boxing, triathlon, and cross-fit. As an amputee, she is now interested in building up para speed skating as a new winter sport. Outside of sport, she is a single mom, a model, and founder of a nonprofit called Be More Adaptive. And if that wasn’t enough, she is planning to head to Ecuador later this year to climb Cotopaxi.

Tim Brown is a retired U.S. Marine, who suffered a significant injury after stepping on an IED during his third deployment to Afghanistan. Sports played a major role in his recovery while at Walter Reed and became a serious and avid cyclist. After earning a degree in marketing and management from Georgetown University, Tim started interning at Move United and has a goal of working with member orga...

Chuck Aoki is regarded as one of the best wheelchair rugby players in the world and has played on the U.S. team in 3 Paralympic Games, even being named one of two flag bearers for Team USA at the Summer Paralympics last year. Chuck was born with a rare genetic disorder and was advised by his doctor to regularly use a wheelchair from the age of 12. Just a few years later is when he discovered the s...

Mohamed Lahna was born in Casablanca, Morocco with Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency, leaving him without a femur in his right leg. As a young child, his mobility was limited by crutches or foam inserts made by a shoe cobbler. Despite his situation, Mo would seek inspiration from the world of professional sports and Olympic competition. At the age of 20, Mo was fitted with a real prosthetic. Withi...

In 2004, Noah Grove developed bone cancer in his left leg that resulted in an amputation. He was only five years old. Fast forward eight years later and he finds himself at the adaptive sports program at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a Move United member organization based in Baltimore where he discovered the sport of sled hockey. In 2016, after two years on the development team, Noah was named t...

BethAnn Chamberlain grew up in northern Minnesota and was introduced to cross country skiing when she joined her high school team. She would continue competing in the sport and biathlon through college. She would be introduced to para Nordic skiing as a volunteer and started coaching. She serves as a Paralympic Development Coach at the US Biathlon Association.

Marc DePerno is an occupational therapist and serves as an outreach coordinator for Sitrin Health Care Center. He was instrumental in establishing the STARS (Success Through Adaptive Recreation and Sports) program for individuals with physical disabilities. In addition, he serves as the manager for the US Wheelchair Curling Team and has been instrumental in growing the sport all across the country...

Darlene Hunter is a 3x Paralympian and Gold Medalist for the US Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team. At 4 years old, she would suffer a spinal cord injury as a part of a tragic accident but would discover adaptive sports just a few short years later through para track & field. At the University of Arizona, she switched to the sport of wheelchair basketball. In addition to being a player, she has al...

Blake Eaton started bi-skiing with Courage Kenny, a Move United member organization based in Duluth, Minnesota, when he was three years old. When he was 8, he was encouraged to give monoskiing a try. Now a senior in high school, his goal is to one day be a member of Team USA and compete at international alpine races. But in addition to skiing, he has also played other sports, including sled hockey...

Dan Cnossen graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and became a Navy SEAL. He would deploy multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan and served as a platoon commander for Seal Team One. In 2009, on a night mission in the Afghanistan mountains, Dan stepped on an IED, losing both legs in the blast. He would later be awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor. Never one to shy from a challenge, Da...

Matt Scott was diagnosed with spinal bifida at birth. He started playing wheelchair basketball when he was 14 years old. In 2004, was recruited to be on the U.S. Men’s National Wheelchair Basketball Team. He is now a two-time World Champion and has played the sport professionally in Europe. As a Team Hartford athlete, Matt has been a part of a number of The Hartford’s Ability Equipped events and w...

Sport has always been an integral part of Steve Emt’s life, even making the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team as a walk on. But at age 25, an automobile accident left him paralyzed. He was searching for something that would fill the void. At age 42, he found it when he was recruited for the U.S. wheelchair curling team. Steve would go on to compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in P...

Sports allowed Ryan Neiswender to feel free. At an early age, he discovered wheelchair basketball and would receive a full scholarship to play at the University of Illinois, where he was named a 4-time All-American. He would then play the sport professionally in Europe and just a couple months ago, he would help Team USA secure its second gold medal in a row at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. He ta...

Jaleen Roberts was born with cerebral palsy. She was encouraged by her high school coaches to compete in the ambulatory races at the Washington state track meet. After some convincing, she would ultimately get involved with adaptive sports through ParaSport Spokane, a Move United member organization. Jaleen’s first para track and field competition took place at the Desert Challenge Games, where sh...

Bart Salgado served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was on the ground during the liberation of Kuwait. After his military service, he working on the railroad where he suffered an injury that resulted in the amputation of both legs. Salgado has been a part of the USA Wheelchair Football League since its inception, serving on the rules committee as well as a player and coach for the Los Angeles Rams te...

Retired Army Officer Melissa Stockwell is proud to wear the United States uniform. She did so as an Army officer and, after a roadside bomb in Iraq led to her left leg being amputated above the knee, she wore the Red, White, and Blue for Team USA. Not in one Paralympic Games, not in two. But in three. The world champion and Paralympic bronze medalist in paratriathlon continues to rack up accomplis...

Jami Goldman Marseilles is an elementary school teacher, a motivational speaker, an author of two books, and has been featured a highly acclaimed Adidas foot wear tv commercial. At the age of 19, she was driving home from a ski trip in New Mexico with her friend Lisa when they found themselves on a deserted Arizona logging road in a blinding snow storm. After sliding into a snow bank the women fou...

A graduate of The Citadel, Sarah Evans was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. While serving in Afghanistan in 2012, she was diagnosed with bone cancer, eventually leading to the amputation of her left leg at the hip. Captain Evans would be introduced to adaptive sports at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, which led her to compete in the Warrior and Invictus Games. He...

Amanda McGrory attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a dual sport athlete to play wheelchair basketball and compete as a member of wheelchair racing team. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Masters degree in Library and Information Science. She competed in her 4th Paralympic Games last month in Tokyo to conclude her career as an elite athlete, racking u...

Wheelchair Racer Daniel Romanchuk has been on fire the past couple of years. He has won the Chicago Marathon, the London Marathon, the New York City Marathon (he earned the title of youngest athlete to do so) and many more. In 2019, Daniel became the first American to win the Boston Marathon in 26 years in his category. Last month, he earned two medals, a gold and a bronze at the Tokyo Paralympic...

Alana Nichols is a world-class athlete with a passion for challenging herself and others. After suffering a spinal cord injury at age 17 while attempting a back flip on her snowboard, Alana quickly transitioned to adaptive sports. She is a 5X Paralympian and a 6 X Paralympic Medalist, including 3 Gold, 2 Silver, and 1 Bronze. In fact, she is the first American female to win gold medals at both Sum...