Army Major Tammy Duckworth was piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in the Iraq war when she was ambushed by small-arms fire. Flying outside Baghdad, her aircraft was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade and it exploded. The explosion cost her both legs and shattered her arm. This was the beginning of an inspiring journey that would test Duckworth's resolve as well as make her a resilient voice for people with disabilities. Duckworth is currently running for a seat in the House of Representatives in the sixth district of Illinois. She took some time off the campaign trail to speak with DiversityInc.
DiversityInc: How do you feel about your role as a hero to people with disabilities?
Tammy Duckworth: I think of myself as a survivor. The hero of my story is my friend, Dan Millberg, who landed the helicopter and saved my life--the other pilot in the aircraft. I'm just a survivor, and if I can be a role model for other people with disabilities, then I'm honored by that. And I hope to live up to that responsibility the best that I can. I understand that I am going to be seen as a representative for all of the various communities that I can be a part of, and that is a great responsibility. And if I can show that I am continuing to live my life to the fullest of my personal wishes, and nothing stops me, then that is great. That is the message we should be sending out to everybody, whether or not they have a disability.
Q: Why do you feel it is important to take on a new challenge as a political figure?
A: After I was injured, my greatest challenge was just living. There was a period of time where I was in so much pain in the hospital room that I didn't sleep for five days. The challenge then was just surviving one minute at a time. I literally lay in bed and counted to 60 seconds because that was all the energy I had left to do. It's important that I got through that, and now, whatever I have to do in my life, it's never going to be that tough again. It's never going to be as tough as learning to walk again ... I think now that is something that fortifies me as I face new challenges in my life.
Q: What are your views on civilians with disabilities' access to medical care?
A: There's one thing that I think is an absolutely important thing for me to do ... to make sure that other Americans have access to all of the medical technology that exists, and then it becomes their decision in how they want to live their lives. They're not limited by technology, and that is one of the reasons I decided to run for Congress, because I would come home to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in that wonderful environment and was never self-conscious that I didn't have legs because I was surrounded by 40 other guys who were missing limbs as well. And so I wandered around wearing short pants with my artificial legs and it never occurred to me, really. When I came home on the plane I didn't try to cover myself up because I never really thought about it and it's who I am.
But I would be stopped in the airport by people who really were interested in my artificial limbs because they had a loved one who needs [an artificial limb] like my right leg, which is a C-leg. It's about $80,000 to $100,000 for one leg, and civilian health insurance considers it a luxury, so they won't pay for it. It's got a computer chip in the knee ... people would stop me and ask me because they were saving personal money to buy that for their brother or dad or sister. And I just thought it's inherently unfair in this country with how wealthy we are and how technologically advanced we are that there are people who don't have access to medical equipment that exists already, and that's not right.
Q: How do you feel about the preparation process for wounded veterans as they re-enter the mainstream world?
A: I had incredible care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The minute I opened my eyes, my husband could look at me and say, "You want to run again, you'll be able to run again." That preparation for entering into the real world was tremendous. The doctors who came to visit me, right at the beginning, said, "What do you want to do?" I said, I would like to walk again and I would like to fly again. And they were like, "Well, that's nice, but you're signed up to the New York Marathon a year from now."
Q: How has your perception of leadership evolved over the last two years?
A: For me, continuing to be an officer and continuing to be a leader at Walter Reed was incredibly important because it got my butt out of bed a lot of days when I didn't want to, but I knew if I wimped out it would give an excuse for the 19-year-old private to wimp out. We have a saying in the army: "You don't make your men do what you're not willing to do yourself." If you want them to scrub the bathroom, you need to scrub the bathroom at least once so that they see you're willing to do it.
This country is incredible ... I can even run for Congress--the fact that I have the medical technology accessible to me to do this. I think about President Roosevelt and when he ran for president as a disabled American and what that meant, and how different it is for me and for him. There's a lot of pictures of me out there in my wheelchair or sometimes walking with my cane, but it doesn't matter anymore. The message isn't so much about "Hey, look at me, I'm disabled," it's "I'm going to fight for you in Washington and fix the problems we have in this country."
For more stories on people with disabilities, read the October 2006 issue of DiversityInc magazine.
