When four-time Paralympic alpine skier Danelle Umstead talks about the power of sport, she speaks from her lived experience in finding community through isolation and hardship.

“Skiing gave me purpose and independence when I was losing my sight,” said Umstead, who is visually impaired and competed with her husband as her guide across four Paralympic Games. “It gave me community when I felt isolated, and it taught me that sometimes the biggest barriers aren’t the ones on the mountain. They’re the ones in our minds and in society.”

This need for community became the spark for the Sisters in Sports Foundation, which Umstead launched in 2020 to ensure that women and girls with disabilities have a place to belong, thrive and lead.

For Umstead, skiing represented a space she could turn to whe

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