The School of Greatness The Mindset That Took Her From 2% Survival Odds to the Paralympics | Amy Purdy
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Feb 20, 2026 
Amy Purdy, a double-leg amputee Paralympic snowboarder and motivational speaker, survived meningitis and rebuilt her life from near-death. She talks about setting audacious goals during crisis. She explains inventing prosthetic feet for snowboarding. She shares how limitations became fuel for competition, performance, and inspiring others.
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Design Tools That Match Your Movement
- Amy hunted for and then engineered prosthetic feet tailored to snowboarding because no suitable options existed.
- When tools don't exist, iterate and innovate until equipment matches the movement you need.
Control Trumps Complexity For Performance
- Advanced prosthetics can add capabilities but may reduce the user's sense of control or create new trade-offs.
- Amy prefers simpler, controllable feet over complex ones that felt like they controlled her movements.
Grassroots To Paralympics
- Amy co-founded Adaptive Action Sports to create adaptive divisions and community, pushing snowboarding into the Paralympics.
- Their grassroots efforts over years led snowboarding to debut at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics.
