"My disability doesn't define me." Taunton's MacDonald is determined to make a difference

TAUNTON — Mary MacDonald is on a roll, and there's no sign of her slowing down anytime soon.

The 14-year-old Taunton resident keeps a busy schedule, between participating in the Miss Amazing Pageant, in which she won the National pre-teen title in 2021, to drawing, music and sports. She does all this while dealing with arthrogryposis multiplex congenital, a condition she has had since birth which affects the joints in her lower body. Equipped with an ambitious spirit and friendly but determined attitude, MacDonald is also passionate about bringing awareness to her condition while showing that it doesn't hold her back from pursuing her dreams.

"My disability doesn't define me," MacDonald said. "I know that there are people out there who don't believe in themselves and (I want to show that) we people in wheelchairs can do things. I just want people to be able to see that and make a difference through sports."

Athletically, MacDonald is a member of Adaptive Sports New England, the Boston chapter of Achilles International and the South Coast Wheelchair Tennis Foundation, all of which have helped her to discover and explore her sporting interests. Originally participating in basketball and tennis, a friend and fellow tennis player turned her on to a new sport: track and field.

Through Adaptive Sports New England, MacDonald was able to learn some of the basics of track from coach and Paralympian Katrina Gerhard who, while a student at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, helped create the path for inclusion of wheelchair racing in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA). As an eighth grader at Benjamin A. Friedman Middle School this past school year, MacDonald joined the Taunton High School indoor track team and the outdoor track and field team, mainly competing at the junior varsity level.

Taking to the TRACK at New Balance in Boston, where all Hockomock League indoor track meets are held, was an experience MacDonald labeled both "exhilarating and exciting," though she was without a key piece of equipment: a racing-specific chair.

"I was going around in a regular sports chair that I use for tennis and basketball to race, but that isn't the adequate chair," MacDonald.

Luckily she was soon able to acquire a high-end racing chair, a three-wheeled chair that moves similarly to a bicycle while being slightly slanted and closer to the ground than her usual sports chair.

"It's a bit more aerodynamic and a lot easier to push," MacDonald said, adding she also uses custom-made gloves shaped to her fist to help propel herself."

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As the winter season turned to spring, MacDonald continued to grow and improve in track, competing at the varsity level in dual meets against Attleboro and North Attleboro and setting a personal best time of 0:29.33 in the 100-meter wheelchair as she finished second at the MIAA Division 1 Track and Field Championship at Merrimack College.

"Just to be able to get that far in my junior varsity year was one of the greatest things," MacDonald said. "Just getting to that point at any track meet. Some people don't even get to go that far, so I was very honored to be able to do that and it was one of the best things I've done."

Earlier this summer, MacDonald attended the Illinois Track Camp at the University of Illinois in Champaign. Running the camp were Fighting Illini wheelchair track head coach Adam Bleakney and several members of the team, some of whom are Paralympians.

"I got to meet a few Paralympians, one who actually had the same disability as me, so that made me very excited," MacDonald said, adding that she hopes to attend the school for college.

Between the camp and Adaptive Sports New England, MacDonald has had the opportunity to work with several Paralympians to help learn and harness her skills in her different sports, something she says she's very grateful for.

"It helps me a lot and I'm very appreciative that they help me because if not, it would've been a much different experience for me and I wouldn't have known that there even was track or other sports available for people in wheelchairs," MacDonald said. "They helped me through figuring out what sports I liked and finding me the right equipment, so if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be doing this right now."

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It's something her stepdad Leif Glass has been grateful for as well.

"She's very fortunate to work directly with them as her coaches, so that really has had a big impact on her athletic ability," Glass said. "Many teenage athletes probably don't even get to meet an Olympian or someone who's competed in the Paralympic Games ... Having that available to her has been very helpful in her athletic career so far."

Through Adaptive Sports New England, MacDonald has found another new sport to keep her busy during the fall and early winter: curling. It is in that sport that she's received instruction from Falmouth native and two-time member of the USA Paralympic Curling Team, Meghan Lino.

As for high school, MacDonald is headed to Bristol-Plymouth this fall, where she plans on studying Design and Visual Communications. Athletically, she is hoping to have Taunton and B-P come to a co-op agreement to allow her to continue to compete for the Tigers with an ultimate goal of eventually competing at the New Balance Nationals and possibly even the Paralympics one day.

Outside of sports and school, MacDonald said she's looking to take trumpet lessons through a local instructor and has started a blog, rollingwithmary.com, to keep people up to date with her latest activities and accomplishments.

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton's Mary MacDonald determined to make difference through sports