Perception: Tatyana McFadden
Choosing an empowering narrative to handle whatever comes your way. Tatyana McFadden is arguably the world's best female wheelchair racer of all time. She was born with spina bifida, and spent the first six years of her life in a Russian orphanage before being adopted and moving to America. There she fell in love with wheelchair racing, going on to win 17 paralympic medals, including one in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Tatyana also has over 20 major marathon successes to her name. She has chosen to perceive the challenges she has faced in her life in a way that empowers her, and has seen how the perception of Paralympic sport has been utterly transformed over the course of her career. Tatyana is one of the stars of the Netflix documentary Rising Phoenix, which has been nominated for a BIFA for Best Documentary. @simonmundie