Among other notable achievements, we invented powered flight and have been perfecting all aspects of it since 1903. Our industry is built on the brilliance, craftsmanship and vision of more than 11 million people, each with unique skills and abilities.

Having just watched the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, I was amazed at what people can do. The human spirit is unbridled. One would be hard-pressed to watch the Paralympics and not be amazed at what people can achieve and the tenacity required to succeed.

We all have different abilities and limitations, but for some, overcoming a significant physical or mental challenge is something that is far beyond the realm of what many of us would consider possible. Witnessing how people overcome adversity is both humbling and inspiring to me.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), which seems fitting after the Paralympics. Athlete Matt Stutzman, born without arms, couldn’t find a job in his small Iowa town — until after he competed on a global stage and won a gold medal in archery, a sport which traditionally requires two arms. Now people understand what he is capable of, which I suspect is whatever he set out to achieve.

You may also be familiar with FLIGHT contributor Jessica Cox, also born without arms, who did what many thought might be impossible: fly an airplane. Stutzman and Cox are two examples of those whose incredible achievements have proven that maybe people aren’t disabled, some just have unique abilities to harness, and in doing so, shift the paradigm of possibility.

Raising awareness, shifting paradigms and resetting expectations is what NDEAM is all about. And in case you think this is a relatively new cultural development of the 21st century, it is not.

In 1945, Congress set aside the first week of October as National Employment Week for the Physically Handicapped. By the end of World War II, more than 650,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and merchant seamen had been wounded, many with permanent physical disabilities, and many more suffering untold psychological wounds.

Since 1945, our level of awareness and accommodation for people with different abilities has continued to evolve. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. In addition to the prohibition of discrimination, accommodation has become the norm in an attempt to provide more universal access.

The FAA’s initiative, the Persons with Disabilities Program, is designed both to make the organization a model employer by creating a work environment that provides employment opportunities, and to make it easier for people to travel just by making basic accommodations.

Within the GA community there are also organizations that make flying affordable. Able Flight (ableflight.org) is a nonprofit organization that provides flight training scholarships and career training through a joint residency training program at Purdue University. Since 2006, nearly 100 people have obtained pilot certificates through Able Flight.

During flight training in the early 1990s, I would occasionally see a student at Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf receiving primary training. The CFI will operate radios to and from Class C airspace for training in Class E and G airspace.

Solo flights also took place over uncontrolled fields near the training area. Some CFIs communicated with students through sign language, and others used a hand-held whiteboard. There are several hundred hearing impaired pilots in the US and deafpilots.org is an excellent resource supporting this community.

In many cases, aviation may not seem like the most convenient thing to pursue for someone with a disability, but it can also be a life-changing experience. So what is the lesson to be learned from strong-willed people who put their skills to the test to overcome adversity?

Where there’s a will, there’s probably a way.

This column first appeared in the October 951 issue of the FLYING print edition.