Telaya Blacksmith may soon have a crucial decision to make about her sporting future — in addition to being a rising Paralympic track star, she is also a member of the Sydney Swans AFLW Academy. The proud Walpiri teenager, who lives with an intellectual impairment, burst onto the track scene at last year’s Paris Paralympics, where she qualified for the final of the T20 400-metre sprint. Having already underlined her serious Paralympic credentials, it is Blacksmith’s other love, Aussie Rules, that could tempt her away from the track. Not many athletes with disabilities, like Blacksmith, straddle both the elite disabled and non-disabled sports world; only about 20 athletes have competed at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, including Australian table tennis player Milly Tapper. Disabled people competing exclusively in non-disabled competition is also rare, but in women’s sport a growing cohort is grabbing the spotlight and showing the possibilities for future generations of women and girls living with disability. As Blacksmith herself told the Sydney Swans, “at such a young age, I now feel like I can achieve anything if I work hard – it’s not impossible.” Disabled women across the world are further pushing the boundaries of sport, but what is it about women’s sport that makes this possible? Carving out space From surfer Bethany Hamilton to footballers Mackenzie Arnold and Carson Pickett, many disabled women are making their mark in the sport they love. But carving out space for any women in sport has taken time — spanning history, participation for women has been fraught with many challenges. In a world where women have often been sidelined in sport, female athletes know what it is like to be marginalised and they understand the importance of embracing difference. This was highlighted during the 2023 Women’s World Cup, where win or lose, the Matildas were lauded as role models. What many didn’t realise at the time was that Matildas goalkeeper, Mackenzie Arnold, was role modelling sports inclusion for young women and girls living with deafness and hearing loss. Only months before the World Cup began, Arnold announced to the world via her social media that she had been diagnosed with hearing loss and required the use of a hearing aid. Women’s football, alongside other codes such as the AFLW, have embraced inclusion and diversity for years. Unlike men’s sport, where instances of homophobia have resulted in many athletes, particularly in team sports, feeling like they couldn’t be openly queer, women’s sport has been more transparent about embracing the LGBTQ community. It’s not to say that there hasn’t been any homophobia, or other discrimination happening in women’s sport, but there is more an acknowledgement of solidarity between players, a courage to band together in the face of adversity. As part of the queer community, like many in women’s football, Arnold has been accepted for both her sexuality and disability, even as she learns to embrace her impairment. Pickett making a mark Arnold isn’t the only female footballer who happens to be disabled competing for her country. In 2022, Carson Pickett made history, becoming the first female player with limb difference to play mainstream international football when she debuted for the United States in a 2-nil win over Colombia. Born without her left forearm, Pickett described her selection as a “dream come true,” and a challenge to who can and can’t participate in mainstream sport. Aware of her responsibility as a role model, she has used her profile to raise awareness of limb difference. “While I know that I am confident and comfortable with showing my arm, I know there are so many people in the world who aren’t,” Pickett wrote on Instagram. “Different people are my kind of people. The world needs more of that.” While Pickett and Arnold are both proud to just be one of the players on the field, they represent a Zeitgeist moment for disabled girls and women; an acknowledgement that there are safe, anti-ableist communities in the world of sport. After her hearing-loss diagnosis, Arnold embraced the opportunity to advocate for the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Growing up Arnold didn’t have role models to follow, but she has said it is special to see different women, like herself, excelling in sport. An arduous journey It is encouraging to see women like Blacksmith, Arnold and Pickett participating in mainstream sport, but not every disabled woman and girl is afforded the same opportunity. According to Ausplay, more than 21 per cent of Australian women live with disabilities, but only 19.7 per cent of those women regularly participate in sport, compared to over 33 per cent of non-disabled women. For many disabled athletes, such as Paralympic silver-medal-winning boccia player Jamieson Leeson, their choice of sport is very limited due to their impairments. Disability and Para sport is crucial to disabled people's participation in sport, alongside other disabled people or, in some cases, in mixed-ability sports. In recent years, “reverse inclusion” has led several traditional Para sports, such as wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby, to include non-disabled people in local games and competitions. Moving away from complete segregation of sports, particularly at a grassroots level, is especially important, whether it is reverse inclusion as above, or including disabled people in grassroots, weekend sport opportunities. For many disabled people, mainstream community participation in activities such as sport can improve confidence and social connections, but at elite level it is harder to cross the boundary of participation without some adjustment by the sport. A promising young surfer, then 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton was involved in a shark attack, resulting in the loss of her left arm, seemingly ending her career. But that wasn’t the case; only weeks after the attack, Hamilton was back in the water and before long claiming her place in the highest echelons of surfing. Her disability hadn’t removed her skill as a surfer; it had simply created the challenge of how someone with upper-limb difference could surf well in the World Surf League. Initially, Hamilton rode a thicker long board so that she could improve her standing technique – balance is always an issue for people with limb difference, an issue even Pickett has had to contend with on the football field. Hamilton’s transition into competitive non-disabled surfing wasn’t without its difficulties. “Competitive sports are such a challenging realm to be in because so much of it is so many variables, especially when it comes to surfing,” she said on The Marie Forleo podcast. “A lot of it had to do with progression ... really just pushing it in the ocean, in every realm of the sport.” This progression has led to Hamilton achieving impressive results at many international competitions, including placing 9th in 2022 Billabong Pro Pipeline. Taking away the stigma What Blacksmith, Arnold, Pickett and Hamilton all have in common is a drive to reach the top of their respective sports, and to also advocate broader for their respective communities. And while there have been disabled men who have competed in mainstream sport, such as footballer Alex Sanchez and ATP ranked tennis player Alex Hunt, who both live with upper limb difference, what feels to be missing in men’s sport is an openness about disability that women’s sport has embraced. Women’s sport does provide more support for people who are different, but as a paragon of inclusivity, does it diminish the value of disabled and Para sport for disabled women? Perhaps it comes down to ability and opportunity, and what athletes who can cross the boundary to non-disabled sport still do for disabled people’s broader participation in sport. It's something Arnold has embraced since her diagnosis with hearing loss, telling Prevention Australia, “I hope people can potentially look at my journey — especially younger kids coming through and playing sport — and take away the stigma of being too worried to seek treatment.”