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204. Breaking Barriers: Matt Scott on Disability, Sport, and Empowerment

• Dr. Adrienne Youdim

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"Disability is not a bad word." 

Join us as Matt Scott discusses breaking down societal perceptions and the importance of embracing our differences. 

Tune in for an enlightening conversation! 

Who is Matt Scott? 

  • Five-time Paralympian and wheelchair basketball champion 
  • Executive director of Fly Without Limits Advocate for disability empowerment and inclusion 
  • Expert in breaking down societal perceptions of disability

What You'll Discover:
🔥 The transformative power of adaptive sports and community
🚀 How to challenge societal perceptions and internalized beliefs about disability
💪 Strategies for overcoming barriers and embracing opportunities
🧠 The importance of routine, support systems, and self-advocacy in personal growth

Why This Episode Matters:
In a world that often overlooks the capabilities of individuals with disabilities, Matt's insights will inspire you to:

  • Embrace your unique journey and redefine your potential
  • Foster inclusivity and understanding in your community
  • Recognize the value of resilience and adaptability in all aspects of life

🎧 Tune in now and learn how to change perceptions, both of yourself and others, while championing the message that disability is not a limitation but an opportunity!


"Disability is not a bad word. It's about finding ways to connect and educate each other." - Matt Scott

Connect with Matt Scott:

Ways that Dr. Adrienne Youdim Can Support You

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Connect with Dr. Adrienne Youdim

Adrienne Youdim

Welcome, Matt. Welcome, my friend. I'm so happy to have you here.



Matt Scott

It's so good to be here. Thank you for inviting me to your platform.



Adrienne Youdim

You know, I was thinking about this, Matt. I think we've known each other for 10 years plus. That's right. And I remember when I first met you, I was captivated by you. Not just because you are our viewers are listening. They can't see you, but you are a handsome man. You are also very distinguished. You've accomplished a lot in your career. But I was instantly captivated by. I don't know how else to call it other than like your spark, your essence. It was something that immediately showed through. So I'm so excited to share you with my listeners and to have this conversation.



Matt Scott

Well, grateful to be here. And it's mutual. I mean, I think that, you know, there's that term like real recognizes real. I definitely recognized you immediately when we met. Obviously we were there for like a shared passion of amplifying the disability community. I think you had a tie there as well. And it was nice to connect with someone who also had just a shared passion and also a spark in this world. So thank you for having me.



Adrienne Youdim

Appreciate that. So can we start by you sharing with us a little bit about your history? Yeah, start from the beginning.



Matt Scott

Yeah, okay. Let's go all the way back. Well, I was born with a congenital birth defect called spina bifida. So before, you know, the gold medals, before any, you know, playing wheelchair basketball overseas or living in San Francisco. I grew up in Michigan. Cold Michigan winters would have my wheelchair really like rusted out and just kind of in bad shape. I was pushing around in equipment that wasn't getting me from point A to point B, but I loved sport and I loved basketball. And before I found wheelchair basketball, you would just find me on the court playing with my friends, You know, there wasn't any adaptive sports in my future just because I didn't know about it. I always tell people that adaptive sports have had really bad marketing for a long time. And now I think we're getting to the point where we're starting to see adaptive sports athletes and para-athletes on billboards and commercials and in the mainstream media. But back when I was growing up, it wasn't the case. So I would just be on the court with my friends and just playing the game that I love. Fast forward, I tried out wheelchair basketball as I was really encouraged to do so. And it was much different than I ever thought it would be. Society taught me that having a disability was a negative thing. and society taught me that having a disability was something less than. So when I thought of wheelchair basketball, I thought like why would I want to do that? That does not sound, it doesn't sound competitive, it doesn't sound like something I wanted to do. When I tried it out and saw it for myself, it was It was, I mean these, these athletes were pulling off things that I could have never dreamed of at that time. And I was just like, yes, this is amazing. Since that day, it has really compelled me to not only show the world this game, but also to elevate myself to the point where I could be like those guys and even beyond. So I wanted to be as good as possible, maybe even become the best, so I could show the world what an amazing game this is. And in turn, showing people what people with disabilities are truly capable of.



Adrienne Youdim

Well, I've seen you play, and I remember watching my first wheelchair basketball game, and you were in it. And you guys are fierce and competitive. I mean, I remember you banging into people. I think you even flew off the chair once, and I was like, man. So you're right. I think when people think about wheelchair basketball, if they haven't seen it, You know, in my mind, it was something that like it was very gentle and tiptoe and, you know, people are like wheeling around. But no, this is a highly active, competitive and fierce game.



Matt Scott

Oh, it's full contact. When people see my... I'm quite soft-spoken off the court, and I'm just smiling all the time, but when I get on the court, I don't play around. There's no more games. It's time to go. It's a pretty aggressive game as well. I always tell people that we always saw the welder more than we saw the doctor. And the wheelchairs really take up front of the context. So there's not really a lot of injury out there in terms of crashing into each other, but there is a lot of physicality involved.



Adrienne Youdim

And you've really taken this to such incredible heights. You're a five-time Paralympian. You've won three medals, including two gold medals. You've played competitively for Team USA and for teams all across the world. And you started at a young age, right? You started, as you shared, I think I read you at age 14. That's right. I'm curious, why was sport so important to you? Why is it so important to you?



Matt Scott

Sport was important to me because it's always been about more than sport. So as a kid, I would watch people play, you know, compete in the game that I grew to love in basketball. And it was about respect and honor. And if you won a basketball game, it wasn't just you won a basketball game. It was like, you know, people wanted to be around you. You know, guys wanted to be your friend. Girls wanted to talk to you. You know, there were sponsors involved with being like in the NBA and stuff. You know, I'd watch guys like Jordan and Allen Iverson and some of the NBA superstars growing up, you know, popping bottles of champagne and cutting down championship nets. And it was things that I aspired to do. And I didn't want having a disability to stop that aspiration. So when I found the wheelchair basketball lane, I very quickly decided that was the mode that I wanted to go. I wanted to go the championship route. I wanted to show the world how important this game is to me, and in turn, show them just a little bit about people with disabilities, because there's a lot to learn about disability just through adaptive sport. If you watch a wheelchair basketball game, you'll quickly learn you don't have to be in a wheelchair full time to play wheelchair. Maybe you have a limb difference, or maybe there's an amputation. Maybe one leg is longer than the other. Because basically, you just need a physical disability of the lower extremities, a permanent physical disability, in order to play. So you don't have to be pushing around in a wheelchair full time to play the game. Sometimes people would see me, you know, the game would be over, and one of my teammates would unstrap out of the wheelchair, and he'd walk off with me, and people would be like, hey, what's going on with that? You quickly learn that disability is a spectrum, and you don't necessarily have to be fully in that wheelchair all the time just to compete.



Adrienne Youdim

Yeah, so I want to hone in on some of the things that you said, because yes, there was the champagne and the medals and the shiny things. But it sounds like what drew you to the sport were also values. You mentioned respect and community and So it was really, it came from a value-driven place. Is that something you recognized earlier or is that something that you kind of now in retrospect reflect on?



Matt Scott

That's a great question. Definitely in retrospect, like reflecting back on it, those things have become very important to me. But I think even at a young age, I saw I saw basketball and I saw sport as a way of connecting to a community, as a way of social acceptance, as a way of breaking down people's perception of who they thought I was to showing them who I can actually be. And so sport was just that very unique vehicle for me to be able to show those things. And I don't know that I saw it as that. As much as I do now, I do, like, in retrospect, I really see it that way, but it was a tool that I wanted to use to break down those barriers.



Adrienne Youdim

Well, the physical barriers are obvious, right? But I want to talk a little bit about the emotional barriers, the psychological barriers, because I think it's easy for people to see someone once they've gotten there all the accolades, all the recognition, the medals. And we forget that there's a process to getting there. So what was your process? Can you talk and describe a little bit about what you experienced or what barriers you had to overcome personally in order to get to this point?



Matt Scott

I love that question, especially because me having grown up with my disability and it being a congenital birth defect, these have always been my circumstances. So I don't ever see being in a wheelchair or having a physical disability as some insurmountable hurdle that I had to get over. It was just my circumstances at all times. And I think that's very different from someone who might acquire their disability later in life. You know, you're running, jumping, climbing, and suddenly that ability has been taken away from you. I have never felt like my ability has been taken away from me. Actually, I feel like I'm starting to be getting, hmm, I'm starting to get more abilities as I grow older. You know, I'm starting to become more able, so I'm never losing the ability. The barriers that you mentioned, I've always felt that my biggest barrier wasn't having a disability, it was always society's perception of disability. So the barriers that I'm getting through are accessibility in the world and trying to navigate through a world that just wasn't created for me. Just breaking down people's perception of things that I would be capable of. Breaking down the perception of an athlete. trying to break into mainstream commercialization and advertisements. I was actually the first Paralympic athlete with his own Nike commercial, which is a, you know, it feels like a lifetime ago, but it's an achievement that I'm very proud of, and not from a personal standpoint, but for the Paralympic movement, because I think that that knocked down tremendous barriers and really started a flow of other things coming in the future. The biggest barrier, I think, is society's perception, and I'm going to continue to fight that barrier.



Adrienne Youdim

Yeah, and you do such great work in terms of advocacy, and we'll talk about your organization in a moment, to try and propel this message and to disrupt that stigma around disability. It's very important work. I wonder if the societal perceptions, how did that impact you? Or more specifically, did you ever internalize these views? Because there's something to be judged or to be viewed in a certain way. And it's a whole other thing once you take that on personally.



Matt Scott

Yes, the answer is yes. I take it very personally. I internalize it every day and I use it as the fuel for the work that I do and the advocacy that I approach it with. I take it very personally. I want society to see disability like I see it. But I know that's not going to be just a snap of the finger thing. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of awareness. It takes a lot of advocacy. And I'm ready for that. That's why I do the work that I do. And yes, I do. I internalize it greatly. I don't see that as a bad thing. I don't internalize it. It's not a negative internalizing it. It's a fuel to continue to do what I do.



Adrienne Youdim

And you have such an optimistic, maybe optimistic is not the right term, but I want to dig into what you said earlier in terms of your disability enhancing other abilities. I know that they always say that when people have a missing sense, like people who are blind or they're deaf, they're missing that sense, that they amplify, like other senses are amplified, right? So like for the person who has loss of vision, their hearing is amplified. So talk about that a little bit, about how your physical disability amplified other things. Is that a sense that you have for yourself?



Matt Scott

I've never been asked that question before. That's a very interesting question. And I like it. I'm trying to think of other abilities that I feel like have been amplified from having a physical disability. I really think that it's just given me a very broad perception of ability. It gives me a very broad perception of what an athlete can be, of what the human, you know, But what human achievement is all about. I just, I really think that I see the world differently because of my disability. And I'm grateful for that. I think I approach things with a very empathetic approach. I think I see. each individual for their capabilities and the value that they bring and not what society has taught me what's valuable to a thing. I think sometimes society can push us to be a bit transactional. And I think that having a disability has pushed me away from that sort of approach. And I really see people for what they truly are capable of.



Adrienne Youdim

And that really resonates with me because I do recall when we met, I really felt your presence in terms of wanting to know me. So that really comes across even in your interactions right from the start. So I'm listening to you and I'm like, okay, you sound like a mental master, like you've got this all down, you're positive, you've embraced the disability, it's cultivated other abilities. Like, were you always like this? I know you were born with a congenital, you were born with spina bifida. So to your point, it's not like you lost something you had to learn to live or you lived this way from the very beginning. But come on now, were you always like just imbued with this sense of positivity and potential?



Matt Scott

Well, I'll start by saying, what an opportunity it is to have a disability in this society. What an opportunity it is because I have the opportunity every day to change people's perception. And not everybody can say that. I can go out and live my life positively and approach every day as if I'm going to win it. And that can literally change the way people view disability. I think there's so much power in that, and so I wake up encouraged by that every day. My alarm goes off, I'm jumping out of bed, and I'm ready to literally change the world, because I really feel that people, when they see me out in society, enjoying my life, doing the things that I love, going to work, just doing regular things, that can really kind of change the way that they view disability, and then that has this ripple effect through society. I won't say that there aren't times where it's just like, damn, really, this place has stairs? I can't go enjoy my dinner, really? Or damn, the elevator's broken? OK, I'm stuck here. There are times where it sucks to have a disability, just like there's times it sucks to have anything that's considered a disability. a hindrance, you know. I will never see my disability as anything less than an opportunity. And that's how I approach life. That's how I've always approached life. I get it from my mom. She's been a very bright light in my life. And she just doesn't Yeah, see, I think anybody that's ever come across my mother, has ever met my mother, you would understand what I mean, but she's just always been a bright light for me and has always taught me to exude the confidence that I want, that I know that I have deep inside me and never take a predicament as a negative thing. It just is your circumstance and you do what you will with it. There's no negative circumstances. There's just negative approaches to the circumstances that you're in.



Adrienne Youdim

I want to meet your mom.



Matt Scott

She's amazing. She's amazing. You can meet her. I'll introduce you.



Adrienne Youdim

You keep talking about this in terms of your impact on society and the people around you, the world at large. But I'm struck by this sense of belief and how that propels you personally. And I think that's such an important maybe takeaway for the rest of us, because disability or not, our belief in what we can accomplish, our belief in how we choose to hold things in mind, whether it's a significant barrier Like access or mobility. Or it's a self limiting belief and barrier. That is so important in terms of reaching our potential. I want to hear about you, like, dig into that a little bit more personally, not just how you're using or you've used these beliefs to change the world's perception, but how these beliefs actually change your perception, right? Like, you have to have the belief in order, you have to have the vision before you can see it through, before you can bring it to the world.



Matt Scott

I like that. I like what you just said last. You have to see it before you can bring it into the world. And I want to be that thing that the next generation of people with disabilities see so they can bring it to the world. I want to be that vision that they look up to so they can surpass that. My disability feels like a responsibility to the next generation of people with disabilities to give them not only something to aspire to reach, but also just go way beyond. You mentioned my foundation with Fly Without Limits. I also sit on the board of directors of Angel City, which we're both very close to. These platforms are are up there for the next generation to look to, to aspire to reach. And you're absolutely right. You have to see it before you can accomplish it. And I don't know how far I can take this. I have no idea, but I'm going to continue to reach and reach and reach and continue to elevate as far as I can go to continue to give these kids and this next generation something to really aspire to reach and just go way beyond.



Adrienne Youdim

Talk about your organization a little bit. What is the intention there, and what are you trying to do? And I love the name. Talk about that a little bit, too.



Matt Scott

Yeah. So I go by moniker Matt Scott Fly. Everything I do is I try to be fly. Fly is an acronym for fully living you. And I just really, really like to approach my life that way. I like to live life fully, and I want to encourage others to do so. I created Fly Without Limits last year. We launched literally a year ago, November 6, 2023. Oh, wow. Yeah, we just celebrated our first anniversary.



Adrienne Youdim

One year anniversary, yeah. Congratulations.



Matt Scott

So excited about that. Thank you so much. It's a milestone that I'm very proud of because Fly Without Limits is the organization that I dreamed of as a kid. We're all about disability empowerment. We don't take pity. We don't, we're not, you know, I'm using air quotes, we're not a charity. We are all about disability empowerment. We're all about creating programs that are going to empower the community and just have a scene in the best light possible. You know, we're only a year in and we've been able to make some strategic partnerships, which I'm extremely proud of. We've been able to host an event, which was, I'm pretty proud of that event, as well as really like a spicy wheelchair basketball tournament, three on three, like a streetball court tournament. That was pretty fun. And we're going to continue to make an impact in the community. It started off as a passion project for me, but now we have a community. And in that community, as a leader of the organization, I feel like I have an even more responsibility to lead by example and continue to to build something that the disability community can be proud of. I don't want to be the voice for disability, but I want to be a voice for it.



Adrienne Youdim

You used the word disability. And before we started recording, I asked you, there's different ways, right, to refer to this community. And I asked you if you preferred, you know, people talk about able-bodied and where my mind is going right now is, you know, especially right now, like in the world at large, there's so much, um, there's so much division and divisiveness. And then I feel like there's this, there's this desire to counteract that, or this feeling like we can counteract that by tiptoeing around things. Right. And, um, you know, how do we refer to a, black person, a white person, a homeless person, right? And I feel like this desire to be so appropriate and proper is actually getting in the way of that connection that we're trying to seek. It's actually creating more divisiveness. Does that land with you?



Matt Scott

lands totally. First of all, I appreciated the question, because how do people want to be referred to as a disabled person? As a person with a disability, maybe that is different for everyone. But I go by the mentality that disability is not a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with the word disability. There's nothing wrong with being disabled and to actually to try to talk around it where it's like, you know handy capable or differently abled like those come off a bit too I'll just I'll use the word it comes off a bit cringy like it's just you know, just trying to Go around it. I think having a disability is perfectly fine and I think anyone addressing someone with a disability should be comfortable enough to do that. I can't speak for everyone with a disability, but the word disability is not a bad word. And I think people should feel very comfortable using it. But what you said landed totally. I think we want to, in times like these, we want to find more connection. We don't want the division. And I think being ultra sensitive about the words or the way people refer to me as a disabled person is only going to push people away. And my goal is to bring more people in. I told you how I want to impact the disabled community, but I also want to impact society as a whole. I don't want to just impact people with disabilities, but people that live without disabilities. I want them also to be impacted and brought in. You mentioned earlier when you met me that you were captivated by me. I love that. That is the ultimate compliment. I don't think I'm going to stop smiling about that today. That's the effect that I want to have on people. And there's no way to have that impact if I'm waiting for you to say something that might trigger me and then be offended by it in turn. We can't bring each other in. It's about educating each other, but also just finding ways to connect. Yeah, finding ways to connect.



Adrienne Youdim

It's also a matter of being authentic, I think, and really embracing who we are. Embracing it instead of, like, I like what you said, disability is not a bad word, you know, but when we tiptoe around it, it almost feels like, yeah, that's the impression that we're relaying, you know, unintentionally, but that's, That's the messaging.



Matt Scott

Totally agree. Yeah. Anyone that ever talks around it, there's no ill intention there. There is usually the opposite, but like you said, it ends up coming off like disability is a bad word when you try so hard not to say it. And really it's just not an offensive word at all.



Adrienne Youdim

Yeah. And I feel like I'm spending, we're spending a little bit of time talking about it because I'm thinking in my mind how how relatable this is to other areas, right? To so many areas of our lives. And so I think that's something that we should ponder, you know, being able to really lean into what makes us different as a way of connecting instead of shying away from that.



Matt Scott

I totally agree.



Adrienne Youdim

What do you think, What do you think your community, the disabled community, and also your organization, Fly Without Limits, how can you, what messaging do you think is there or what can be learned outside of amplifying the voice of the disabled community and connecting them to sport? But what can we learn about ourselves through your work and your messaging if we aren't disabled, right?



Matt Scott

Right. Well, I think that the acronym Fully Living You doesn't just apply to a person with a disability. I hope you go on the rest of your day. I hope you have a fly day. I hope you feel fly. I hope that you're fully living your aspirations and reaching your goal. It's something that can resonate with anyone. It doesn't matter if you have a disability or you're a fully able-minded person. I think that our community can really resonate because we're all about removing barriers that exist in people's lives. Who has barriers in their lives? Everyone. Every single person. We're all about creating opportunities for people that may not have those opportunities. Who needs opportunity? Everyone needs opportunity. You know, we're all about bringing awareness. We're all about empowerment. Everyone needs those things. It's just that we represent a specific community that we're going to lend those resources to, that we're going to be the voice for. But in reality, every community can resonate with our message.



Adrienne Youdim

I kind of asked you this before, and I didn't get the answer that I wanted, so I'm circling back because we're talking about barriers, limitations, and the fact that we all have them. I'm thinking about, so I want to ask you this. In terms of personal barriers or beliefs, Do you have any practices that you use or any strategies that you use? I mean, I would love to think that you wake up every morning feeling fly. Maybe you do. But let's just say one day you don't. What kind of practices do you have to get around those mental barriers?



Matt Scott

Routine. Routine is very important for me. I think having a good workout routine is very important for me. I try to get to the gym every day, whether I'm just moving my arms in a circle or I'm trying to pick up the entire gym. Having that workout routine is very important. Movement is very important. The people that I speak to on a regular basis, that's important to me. So whether it be my mother or my girlfriend or my really close friend, having those solid voices and those encouraging people in your life to share ideas with, to share your up times, your down times, That's very important. Just being out and about is also very important to me as well. I find that if I'm too shut in, then I'm not at my best. So just having a routine, just making sure that I stick to that routine. And whenever I'm on my routine, whenever I'm sticking to it, I feel the most fly. And that is something that I try to really follow through with. And consistency is my biggest tool. It's not about being on this routine for three days of the week. It's not about being in this routine only on my bad days. Like, oh no, got to get to my routine. I'm having a bad day. It's about consistently approaching each day in that routine and trying every day to have an incredible day.



Adrienne Youdim

You know, that was unexpected, but I love that because on this podcast, we talk about small, actionable bites. And I try and give people practical tools and resources. And I thought you may go into some kind of mental health or spiritual practice. But what you're saying is really three things you're calling. Yes, there's routine. So what you're saying is doing something consistently the same way every day is what helps you manage your barriers. But what I also heard is the people that you surround yourself with, right? Like having people around you who uplift you, who you can aspire to, you can learn from, that is so important. Right. I call, I call all of these things nutrients, right? Like nutrients is not just the food that you eat. It's all of your consumption and the people around you. Those energies is also something that you're consuming. So keeping it, keeping it positive or inspiring. And the third thing, which you've come back to several times is staying in community, being in community. Love that. I wonder, Matt, if you have any spiritual practices that you engage in?



Matt Scott

I used to meditate quite often. And we talked about my Paralympic career, my competitive journey. I found that I meditated a lot for performance. So there was a lot of like external barriers and things that would steal my focus away and I would want to just kind of zone in and I would really find that meditation was my way of Harnessing that and like really getting my focus I will say that I've gone away from that practice and I it's something that I want to get back to so it's It is something that I found Incredibly useful not only not only for someone who's competing just just to just be centered and start your day and approach it with intention I Really want to get back to it. It's something that I found that my I used to do really just religiously, I would just always do it. I wake up every morning and I would have my, have my moment and I would have these, yeah, I just really want to get back to it. So even this conversation is kind of getting me back to, I need to, need to be more consistent with that because it's part of the routine when I'm at my best and I've definitely gone away from it. You know, busy, busy lifestyle can kind of steal you away from certain things, but you shouldn't ever, you should never sacrifice the things that make you.



Adrienne Youdim

Yeah, that's so true. And we do that all the time, right? Like, we say we want to live fully, we say that we want to aspire to be our best, but then in trying to achieve our best, we stop doing the very things that help us be our best. It's so counterintuitive, like we don't have time to do the things to be our best, but then I would argue we don't not have the time, like we must have the time, the goal, right?



Matt Scott

I totally agree.



Adrienne Youdim

So what are you up to these days? You said that you're no longer, you're no longer, competing professionally. And can we just highlight all the things you've done? Before we get to that point, give us a snapshot of all the professional accolades, because it's really extraordinary.



Matt Scott

Let's try to capture this. I'll go in chronological order. I'll try not to Pulp Fiction you. So I Went to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where I played wheelchair basketball through the collegiate division. There are about 13 universities with college wheelchair basketball, which is a growing thing. I was grateful to be a part of that growing part of the sport. During that time, I was also playing for Team USA. I made my first national team at 18. I was one of the youngest players to make the men's national team. I've competed in five consecutive Paralympic Games. So I went to Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, London in 2012, Rio in 2016, and Tokyo 2020. So competed in all of those, brought home three medals, two gold and a rose gold.



Adrienne Youdim

I love rose gold.



Matt Scott

So I brought home those medals. During my time with Team USA, I took my, I guess I took my talents abroad. I moved to Turkey in 2008 after school. So after University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, I went to Turkey to play wheelchair basketball professionally. It was a big crossroads in my life because I didn't know whether I wanted to, okay, I just finished with academia. Now I should just take the standard route, but I decided that I wanted to make wheelchair basketball bigger globally. So I took off. I lived in Istanbul, Turkey, playing for a club called Galatasaray. I played there for about six seasons, six years. That was awesome, transformative time in my life. It was amazing to live abroad, see the world in a different light, be amongst different culture, be amongst different people, eat different foods, and become a bit cultured myself. I moved from Where did I move from? I moved from Istanbul to Sardinia, Italy, which was easily the most aesthetically beautiful place I've ever lived. I basically lived in a postcard for two years. It was amazing. Won some games, still played for Team USA at the time. And fast forward, moved to East Germany, which a lot of people questioned why I would move from basically a beach to a very cold, old, old town in Germany. Again, incredibly different culture, incredibly different part of the world, won some championships, still played for Team USA, and then moved from Germany to Spain, which I played my last year professionally while I was preparing for Tokyo 2020, won that gold. finished. We won that gold in Tokyo 2020. I was actually nominated as the flag bearer to carry the flag out for Team USA for closing ceremonies. I couldn't think of a better way to say goodbye to competing for Team USA. Gold medal around my neck, flag in the sky. It was very much my storybook ending. And where I've retired from playing with the national team, I still feel very tied to the sport and I still feel that I'm, even with Fly Without Limits, I'm able to impact the adaptive sports movement by giving back to the next generation, by providing different equipment, by just being a presence in the sport. So those are, That seems like a chronological breakdown of my time with sports, but I continue to be a part of it, and it's something that changed my life amazingly.



Adrienne Youdim

And now, what's in store for you now?



Matt Scott

And now, so after about 10 days after Tokyo 2020, I started a started a position at Visa. I work, I work there professionally. I'm a corporate professional and no longer a full time Paralympian. I'm on the corporate comms team, which, which has been a incredible incredible experience, not only just working at a Fortune 50 company as a person with a disability and providing that level of representation, but also just have really sharpened my different skills as a professional. I find that there's a lot of transferable skills from being an athlete to being a professional. And I'm trying to take all of those things that made me one of the best wheelchair basketball players in the world to being the best teammate I can be on my team in the corporate world. I also do a little bit of speaking. I do some different I'm sponsored by a few companies that have me do appearances. We do some fireside chats and have different conversations where we can enlighten the community about disability, about parasport, and just about some of the things that I've been able to accomplish and aspire to accomplish in the future. And then lastly, I'm the executive director of Fly Without Limits, where I hope to continue to inspire the next generation while still impacting this generation.



Adrienne Youdim

You know, I'm so honored to have you here and to have this conversation with you. Thank you really for being with us and sharing your wisdom. For people who want to learn more about your organization, where can they find you? Where can they contribute?



Matt Scott

Yes. So we have our website, www.flywithoutlimits.org. You can find out about our programming, about our messaging, about ways that you can contribute and just follow along with some of the things we have going on. We continue to build and continue to grow in the community and hope that we have some people who will follow along from this conversation. We're also on YouTube where we have a lot of storytelling there. So whether it's some of the things from our basketball tournament, or just in the community where we're helping people's lives and providing different equipment. YouTube is our ability to tell those stories and get them out there for the world to see. And then we're also on Instagram, where you can either follow my personal Instagram, which is Matt Scott Fly, or you can follow the foundation's Instagram, which is Fly Without Limits Foundation. Yeah, we're everywhere. We're everywhere where you want to find your storytelling. We're there and mostly and primarily found on our website.



Adrienne Youdim

We'll definitely link to all of those sites in our show notes. And as we close, Matt, is there, what is the one thing that you would want us to know that you would want us to take away from the work that you do and the passion that you have?



Matt Scott

The one takeaway that I would like to leave people with is that disability is not innovative. And I'll leave that there. Just because someone has a disability doesn't make them unable to do things. They'll just have to find ways to adapt to make it happen on their terms or in their way. I think that disability for me has been an opportunity to inspire people, And I hope that people are inspired by this conversation.



Adrienne Youdim

Well, I'm inspired by this conversation and by you always. So thank you again for being here.



Matt Scott

Thank you. I appreciate you having me and I can't wait till we talk again.



Adrienne Youdim

Likewise.



Matt Scott

I got to introduce you to my mom.



Adrienne Youdim

Yes. I'm going to hold you to that one.



Matt Scott

I will.



Adrienne Youdim

Thanks again, Matt. No problem.





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Adrienne Youdim MD

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