Susie Rodgers: from the Paralympics to international development

Our latest lunchtime speaker session was led by Susie Rodgers, Paralympian swimmer and Sightsavers’ disability technical adviser for global health.

Susie was born without the lower part of her left arm and left leg. During her talk, she spoke about growing up using prosthetic limbs and shared how she didn’t see the value of her prosthetic arm. She found it annoying and often would throw it off.

One day, while watching other children on a climbing frame in the playground, she asked her mum, “Where’s my arm?” Her mother replied: “It’s in the toy box, so you need to get the arm if you want to wear it!”

As a child, Susie first learned to swim in Egypt. She was taught by her father, who was working in Cairo. She said: “I actually discovered my love of swimming because it was so hot there. I could get in the water, take my limbs off, and cool down.”

Competing as a Paralympic swimmer

Susie competed at two Paralympic Games: the 2012 Games in London and the 2016 Games in Rio. In total, she won 30 international medals in freestyle and butterfly.

She described her level of comfort in the water as “the time when I’m most my true self… without any limbs that I have to wear on land. It’s pure freedom for me”. As a sight-impaired person, I can empathise with this perspective. Having never mastered swimming as a child, it was the same for me when I learned to swim backstroke as an adult. I loved the feeling of freedom in the water.

Susie commented that “for any athlete, the most important thing is self-awareness…” and having a “good understanding of your body, what you can and can’t manage… how much to push yourself without getting ill or injured”. This rang true for me, too, as a disabled person. Although I prefer to get on with my life and work, I have to be aware of my disabilities and what I can and can’t do.

The athlete’s mindset

Susie also touched on the positive and negative aspects of being an athlete.

Positive aspects

• Resilience
• Acceptance – you learn to lose and still survive!
• Facing the unthinkable/risk-aware
• Flexibility

Negative aspects

• Beliefs overcome reality
• Jumping to the wrong conclusions
• Addiction to the regimented bubble
• Not meaningful – self-serving

What touched me most about the positive aspects were the resilience and flexibility you develop. Yet, on the negative side, an athlete can feel that their impact on the world isn’t that meaningful. “You don’t get a medal for doing the dishes or going to the supermarket,” said Susie. Therefore, leaving the “safe space [of elite sport] is one of the hardest things to do”.

Life after the Paralympics

After Susie’s Paralympic career, moving into international development with a role in economic empowerment at the Department for International Development, and joining Sightsavers as a disability technical adviser took some getting used to. Having gained her MBE for services to swimming, Susie’s now moving towards “more impactful work”, and we’re delighted that she’s joined Sightsavers.