#42: Powerful Inspiration & Resilience from Paralympic Gold Medalist/15-Time World Champion Swimmer

I’m excited to have Mallory Weggemann as my guest on
“Breakthroughs”... She joined Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, to deliver
an incredibly inspiring Townhall about representation &
inclusion via a closed circuit stream to Delta's 75,000 employees.
Bastian is one of Mallory’s biggest corporate sponsors as well as a
huge supporter of inclusion and representation of disabilities in
the workplace. Mallory is a world-class athlete, business owner and
speaker. She is a Paralympic Gold-Medalist, 15-Time World Champion
Swimmer, ESPN ESPY Award winner, TV Sports Commentator, and founder
of social impact agency, TFA Group. Mallory knows firsthand that
the words and images we use, and how we use them, impacts how
society perceives everything. A bit of context to the void that
currently exists: 20% of the US population is disabled 0 Fortune
500 CEOs are disabled 1 disabled female senator out of 535
representatives and senators 1 disabled president (who hid his
disability) out of 46 Fewer than 2% of characters on TV are
disabled. 95% of the actors playing those characters are not
disabled. US unemployment rate is 7% - 76% of the disabled are
unemployed 10.5 % of Americans live below the poverty level while
32% of disabled Americans live below the poverty level In 2020,
Mallory was a TV commentator at the Golden Globes and didn’t see
one person who had a disability the entire day -- one of the
largest gatherings of the biggest names in Hollywood. In fact, she
had to be lifted three steps when she reached the end of the carpet
because no one had thought to create an accessible path for a
wheelchair. In 2008, when Mallory was paralyzed at the age of 18,
she yearned to see representation. When she looked at the world
around her, she felt isolated by her differences. It was then that
Mallory learned it is hard to become what you don’t see. For the
past 13 years she has made a conscious decision to do her part to
fill that void, so our next generation never has to ask, “what
about me?” We discuss her newly released book, “Limitless: The
Power of Hope and Resilience to Overcome Circumstance”. This
episode is for anyone who’s interested in getting inspiration on
the topic of how to garner hope and resilience to overcome any
difficult circumstance.
https://www.amazon.com/Limitless-Power-Resilience-Overcome-
Circumstance/dp/1400223466