"I work as an entrepreneur with my own business, focusing on thought leaders in the prosthetic industry, specifically small startups who are bringing new technologies to the forefront to help people like myself with limb difference. I am one of two million people in the United States who lives with limb difference - in my case it's a below the knee amputation that I had six years ago. For me, using a prosthesis has empowered my life and I want to bring that same opportunity to others like myself."... Deborah Smith, Prosthetics Entrepreneur and Adaptive Athlete
"I survived a fatal accident when I was 19, which changed my life in the blink of an eye. I went from running every day, dancing and golfing to fighting in order to ever walk again. Looking back, the understanding that I needed to put the time and work in and I wasn't going to see any results right away certainly helped me as I was recovering from my accident because I was disabled and disfigured from it."
Click on the image below to check out our extended conversation with Deborah on our Youtube Channel!
"In the United States alone there are 61 million adults living with some form of physical disability that impacts their daily activities and the majority of them are women. There are two million people in the US who have limb difference, for example an amputation like myself. Those numbers grow by 500 amputations that are performed in the United States every day. "
Deborah is a mentor with the amputee Coalition of America and with Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in Chicago, the top rehab facility in the country for the last 30 years. Visit their website to see how the first-ever “translational” research hospital where clinicians, scientists, innovators and technologists work together in the same space, applying research in real time to physical medicine and rehabilitation.
You can learn more about Deborah on her bio page.
Deborah is currently involved in several entrepreneurial endeavours and one that she discusses is her work with PSYONIC, creators of the world's first touch sensing bionic hand. Learn more at the Psyonic website.
"The beauty of golf is that it is available to us from a young age through an older age, through ability and disability. I am a perfect example of the opportunities that golf provides."
To connect with Deborah...
Website: https://www.deborahsmith.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/2deborahsmith/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/2deborahsmith/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/2deborahsmith/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/2deborahsmith