Hail to the Competitors

Hail to the Competitors

The Olympics are in full swing and we couldn’t let that go by without sending our praise out to all of the athletes. There are two women athletes that we would like to highlight as they are both competing in the Summer Olympics AND the 2016 Summer Paralympics, which starts in September: Iranian archer Zahra Nemati and Australian table tennis competitor Melissa Tapper. These fine athletes join the ranks of others who have competed in both, including Marla Runyan, Natalie du Toit, Ilke Wyludda, and Assunta Legnante.

Nemati was a taekwondo competitor before a car accident in 2004, which caused paralysis in both of her legs and a spinal injury. As she could no longer perform taekwondo, she took up archery from her wheelchair. Due to her archery skills, she went on to compete in the 2012 Paralympics, becoming the first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics or Paralympics. She is currently competing in archery in the 2016 Summer Olympics and will be competing in the Paralympics in September. 

Melissa Tapper will also be competing in both, but in singles table tennis instead of archery. She competes standing up and utilizes just one arm to play table tennis, as she has Erb’s palsy, which caused paralysis of her other arm. Tapper is just 26 years old and has been playing table tennis against able-bodied individuals since 2002.

NTI is proud to support these amazing athletes by cheering them on and all Americans with disabilities by working to cheer them on in their path to returning to the workforce. Like our candidates, these two athletes have overcome insurmountable odds to achieve their goals. If you or someone you know is an American with disabilities, and are collecting SSI or SSDI, we want to talk to you. We can’t help you bring home a gold medal, but instead we can help you bring home gold in the form of a paycheck and the pride of being employed once again.

NTI works with Americans with disabilities to help mentor, train through NTI University, and guide them along the path to a new work from home job for our Fortune 500 companies. All you have to do is reach out to us at www.nticentral.org/apply to get started.

BIO: Mary E. Hart is the Digital Communications Specialist for NTI. She is also a freelance writer, editor and content strategist, specializing in writing copy that converts. Previously, she worked in Demand Generation marketing for UBM Tech and Ziff Davis Enterprise. In her spare time, Mary is working on the next great ghost novel.