SCI Superstar: Kristin Duquette

Kristin refused to look at her diagnosis as the end of her swimming career. Despite doctors telling her to not swim to preserve her muscle strength (she was diagnosed with a form of Muscular Dystrophy that is progressive), she went back into swimming and shocked everyone by showing it’s possible you can get stronger.

Read on for Kristin’s story of activism, athleticism and her commitment to making disability rights a human rights cause.

Why She’s Fearless

When you’re diagnosed with a severe disability like Kristin, it can challenge your world view. Kristin however took her disability in stride and committed herself to staying involved in what she loved the most – swimming.

It was in Kristin’s teens when she racked up her wins in adaptive swimming. She’s a 5x American Paralympic Record Holder, the former US Team Captain for the 2010 Greek Open and 3x Junior National Record Holder in swimming. And while she didn’t meet her goal of making a US Paralympic Swim Team, she is extremely proud of her swimming career.

Kristin is also a 2013 graduate of Trinity College. While there, she created an event called, “A Day In a Wheelchair,” where they recruited able-bodied people to spend 12 hours in a wheelchair. After graduating, Kristin worked with the American Association of People with Disabilities, an organization that helps people with disabilities. Kristin also was a blogger for The Huffington Post, and traveled to South Africa on behalf of the Academic Council on the United Nations System. 

What’s Next?

Kristin’s activism after graduating continued to grow. In 2014, she was named the Disability Mentor for the Clinton Global Initiative University, and in 2016, she was hired to work for the Obama administration as an assistant for 2 years. In 2020, Kristin began working for FEMA as a Preparedness Officer for the Transportation Security Grant Program.

Since retiring from swimming, she has been passionate about human rights, and in particular, helping fight terrorism and helping make public transportation in the US more accessible. She is a graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School and is a Policy Portfolio Manager at FEMA’s Office of Policy and Program Analysis..