Paralympic Swimmer Mallory Weggemann Opens Her Accessible Minnesota Home to AD
Courtesy of Jeremy Snyder
Mallory Weggemann can get her own coffee in the morning. She can shower alone. She can sit with her husband, Jay Snyder, and their dog, Sam, on their porch in the afternoon, watching the sun fade from the sky before cooking dinner in a kitchen where every detail is within reach. “There isn’t one corner that I can’t access, or something where I have to ask Jay, ‘Can you come help me?’” she says. “It’s possible for me to be my full self in the place we call home.”
It might seem like a three-time Paralympic swimmer with a gold medal and an invitation to compete in the upcoming Tokyo Paralympic Games doesn’t mind a challenge. And while that’s true, there’s a difference between setting public career goals and competing against private spaces. As a wheelchair user who’s paralyzed from the waist down, Weggemann is like millions of Americans who’ve struggled to find an accessible home. She wanted to be able to leave or enter a room on a whim with the same confidence she has jumping into a pool.
