Episode 171: Down Syndrome advocacy, swimming, modeling and more – with Mary Borman

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories of neurodivergent people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

On today’s episode I’m speaking with Mary Borman. Mary is the first person with Down Syndrome to attend the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and the first person with Down Syndrome to model in Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week.

She’s an ambassador for Down Syndrome for the National Down Syndrome Society, and in 2018 was named their Self Advocate of the Year. She has lobbied for disability rights and legislation in Washington DC. She speaks to organizations all over the US about health, fitness, and nutrition for people with Down Syndrome and helps others understand what it’s like to have Down Syndrome.

Mary also swims competitively, both nationally and internationally. She’s won gold medals at the Special Olympics National Games in swimming and paddle boarding, and medals at the International Down Syndrome Games in Canada in 2018. She will be representing the United States at the next international games in Portugal in October 2022.

Mary, welcome to the podcast.

Mary Borman: Thank you for having me.

Carolyn Kiel: I know you are very busy right now getting ready for the World Championships in Portugal in October. We’re recording this a few weeks before. And I’d love to talk about your swimming, because you’ve been swimming for many, many years.

So how did you get interested in, in swimming?

Mary Borman: Well, I started swimming since I was four years old, and I learned swimming really good. And my favorite stroke is backstroke because I don’t like to get my face all wet.

In 2018, I went to Washington State, Seattle for the Special Olympics and for nationals. And I have won two silver medals for freestyle and back.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow.

Mary Borman: And I was fast enough to try out for the International Down Syndrome Swimming Organization World Games. I went to Canada like four years ago, and now I am getting ready to go to Portugal, which is fun! And I’ve been swimming my whole life.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. That’s great. That’s gotta be so exciting to travel and compete in these big games with all different people. That’s really great.

Mary Borman: And four years ago, in Canada, I had my women’s relay team. And we did four by 200 freestyle and we got third and we’re the third fastest in in the world.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. That’s awesome. That must take a lot of training. You’ve been swimming for almost your whole life. How old were you when you started swimming?

Mary Borman: I was four years old, then I started Special Olympics since I was nine.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s great. You started swimming so young. How did you decide that you wanted to actually compete in swimming?

Mary Borman: Well, lessons. My parents wanted me to, like, to get into swimming because it’s a good life lesson as well. I went through swim lessons the whole summer and, and I think I was interested because I’ve been doing it for a long time and I just thought maybe I will swim.

Carolyn Kiel: And you just kept swimming and getting better and stronger and faster with the swimming. That’s really great.

I follow you on your Instagram, and I know you train a lot for swimming. So you swim a lot, but you also run, and I know you do strength training. What other kinds of physical training do you have to do to be able to swim like that?

Mary Borman: Well I do cross-training, I run downhill and uphill every day to, to work. And I also swim twice a day. And I do strength training one day of the week. And I never stop training ’til Sunday, which is my day off because I like to like recover and relax.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. So yeah, that’s a lot of physical activity, but that’s what it takes to be a competitive athlete! Oh, that’s so cool.

And you mentioned that you run to work and from work. And you work in an office, right, as a community manager?

Mary Borman: Yes, so I open the place up for people. So I make coffee, I turn on the lights, tidy up, make it so that when people come in, they will have their coffee and get everything to go.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow, that’s really cool. Yeah. So you have a lot going on in your life. We talked about your swimming, you have your job as the community manager and you also do advocacy a lot for people with Down Syndrome. How did you get involved in and start doing advocacy?

Mary Borman: Well, every year, sometimes I usually go to Washington DC, and I get to talk to my Senators and my Representative and talk about disability rights. So I talked about the ABLE Act which has been passed. So that’s good. It helps people to save money to go to college without losing their benefits.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm.

Mary Borman: And now we’re working on the Marriage Equality Act for disabled adults, so that when people get married, they don’t need to lose their social security. They get to keep their social security and help with their minimum wage. And I work hard to make sure that I get to talk about that with them every time. So we get that, so we get that passed through the Congress.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s great. It’s important for our people in government to hear directly from the people who are impacted by laws like this. So that’s great work that you’re doing to help get those disability rights laws passed.

And as part of your advocacy, you also speak about health and fitness and nutrition for people with Down Syndrome. How did you decide to focus on those topics and talk about them?

Mary Borman: Well I also do another thing, which is the Down Syndrome Convention. And I get to speak about health and nutrition and sleep. Because I want more people to know what I’ve been doing for my training so that I can help them do the same thing for their sport or whatever they are doing. I want them to be healthy and strong and I want them to be like me in a way.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s great. And do you talk to other athletes or you talk to non-athletes or everybody?

Mary Borman: I get to talk to everyone about, about that. But also, I also talk about my life with Down Syndrome. Tell them a story about my life and how, how it’s been beneficial for me. And I want people to, to know who I am, so that they can know that they will have a story of their own. So I let them know about my story but also want to hear about their story, because we all have different backgrounds and what we are doing every day.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. That’s great. Yeah. Everybody has a story and all of our stories can inspire and move and motivate people to, you know, be healthier or just live their best lives. So that’s great. That’s great that you share more about your story.

In terms of your future goals, your hopes and dreams, you’ve done so much already, and what things would you like to do in the future?

Mary Borman: Well, I do my very best. I’ll go to Portugal. I also did NWA Fashion Week, and that was a lot of fun. So I hope I get picked this year. I went to try out to go and hopefully I get to model for them because I love modeling.

Also, I want to get married. I wanna be adventurous. I love to travel, do fun things. Like, I did parasailing, I did sky diving with my grandpa. It was so much fun. So I want to, I want to get a job. I want to get married and I want to travel across the world and have a dog, have pet animals as my babies, as my kids. Because I don’t wanna have kids in my future. And I want my kids to be the pet animals.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, those are great, amazing goals. And you’re obviously very adventurous — and wow you, you skydived? Was that scary or were you excited about it?

Mary Borman: The first time I did it, it was so much fun. I felt good. And the second time I tried to do it, I got scared. So, I don’t why, but that just happened.

Carolyn Kiel: Yes. I’ve never been sky diving. I’m afraid of heights. So I don’t think I would do that. But I definitely admire people who go out there and try it and have a great experience. That’s awesome.

Mary Borman: And also I get to travel, like I get to go out of the country. I’ve been out of the country for a while. So I went to Europe, I went to Mexico, I went to South America and Peru. I went to England and France, and now I’m going to Portugal and Spain for the first time. So I’m super excited.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s awesome. Do you have a favorite country or place that you’ve traveled to?

Mary Borman: Well, my favorite place is South America, Peru. Because that’s a lot of fun. We got to like camp and walk. And it was a really pretty view. We went to Machu Picchu and it was gorgeous. I loved it. And I love, actually not just that, but also I love every country that I go to because you get to experience new things.

Carolyn Kiel: And that’s great that you get to see the country and enjoy what’s there. And you also mentioned that you, a couple years ago you were in NWA Fashion Week, which is Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week. Yeah, that looks really fun! What’s it like when you’re at the modeling show?

Mary Borman: Yeah, it was fun. I’m basically like selling their clothing, what I’m wearing. I wore Robbie’s Era company, that was in Little Rock, Arkansas. And also I modeled with the Anna Grace Formals in Rogers [Arkansas]. And I get to try out their clothes and model for them and I just felt good. I got to let people to see who I am, but also at the same time, see the clothes and maybe they can go and, and buy some stuff like that.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm. That’s fun. And do you get to like, interact with the other models there or meet people when you’re doing that?

Mary Borman: Yeah, so before we get to walk down and show people what clothes we’re wearing, backstage we get to get our makeup done, our hair done, our clothes to wear. And I get to meet other models. And sometimes we get to talk to them about what they’re doing exactly. And stuff like that.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. That’s really cool. It’s just great ways to meet all different kinds of people, you know, through your modeling, and with swimming you must meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends with all the activities that you do as well.

Mary Borman: I made some friends on the swim team, so it was great.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm. That’s great. Yeah. Well, Mary, it’s been great talking with you today and, and thank you for telling me all about all of the things that you’re involved in.

How can people get in touch with you if they wanna learn more about your swimming, your advocacy, anything like that?

Mary Borman: I have a Instagram account. Also, I have a TikTok account. It’s called mermaid_maryborman, and it shows you all these different videos and pictures about what I do every day and videos. And also at the same time, I have my own website, so it is MaryBorman.com. They get to see that and get to see what I do, and that’s how the people find me for stuff.

Carolyn Kiel: Okay. That’s great. I’ll put links to your Instagram and TikTok and website in the show notes for this podcast so people can just click on it and find you that way. Very cool.

Mary Borman: Yeah.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, Mary, last question. Is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know, or is there anything they can do to help or support you?

Mary Borman: Yeah, there’s a message that I’d like to send to the community. I hope to inspire and support people with disabilities to go after their dreams and don’t give up. And I want their heart to show who they are as a person and make things happen for them. Try everything that is possible for you. Nothing is impossible. There’s always something you can do.

Carolyn Kiel: Thank you Mary. Those are great words to end on. And thank you for all of your work to uplift and support everyone in the disability community and educate everyone about Down Syndrome. Really great work you’re doing. And thank you for being a guest on my show today.

Mary Borman: Thank you.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help me spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give it a shout out on your social media or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of my episodes and sign up for my free newsletter at beyond6seconds.net. Until next time.