Para-athlete Laura Dennison joined USMS and the New England LMSC in 2013 and quickly set about making Masters Swimming more inclusive and welcoming to athletes of all abilities. In 2014, she joined the NELMSC Board of Directors, becoming the first LMSC Para-Athlete Chair within all of U.S. Masters Swimming.
Since joining the board, Dennison has worked to increase the visibility of para-athletes among coaches and members alike by organizing para-coaching clinics in conjunction with Adaptive Sports New England’s Paralympic Sport Club.
In 2020, Dennison continued that work by becoming the founding member of the NELMSC Diversity & Inclusion Subcommittee, which ran a survey of NELMSC coaches to determine what resources are most needed to help them better serve para-athletes in the future. She also advocates for para-division and exhibition race options for upcoming NELMSC championship meets to further increase para-visibility.
An accomplished para-swimmer, Dennison has generously shared her own journey and experiences in the sport. She qualified for and competed at the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Trials in the 50, 100, and 400 freestyle, the 100 backstroke, and the 100 breaststroke. In 2021, she presented a TEDx Talk at Western New England University titled “No Kick, No Prob: Becoming You in a World That Says Otherwise.”
Dennison, who works at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, regularly shares information and resources related to para-swimming including meets, coaching clinics, panels, and discussions hosted by USMS and other organizations.
Born in Senegal with cerebral palsy limiting the use of her lower limbs and causing spasticity in her hands, Dennison lived in Niger until she was 4 and needed major surgery. This led her to Boston Children’s Hospital where she underwent a series of interventions over the next year. Dennison later moved to Vermont, and after graduating from high school, she enrolled in Western New England College. She went on to complete a Masters in special education at the University of Alabama. While in Alabama, Dennison met six-time Paralympian Aimee Bruder, who encouraged her to try competitive swimming, and the rest is history.
Friend and teammate Jennifer Downing says that Dennison is “a terrific advocate and champion of DEIB efforts and takes great pride in educating coaches and other swimmers about para resources and training modifications. It's been inspiring to watch her progression since she joined the team, and she definitely exemplifies perseverance and hard work. We're lucky to have Laura as a role model and active member of the NELMSC community.”
For her part, Dennison says her aim is to make sports better for people like her and particularly for people who didn’t find swimming until later. “Sports is a powerful tool to change perceptions. I may not be the fastest in the water (I sure try) but this can be my contribution to swimming and the larger Paralympic movement,” she told Joe Walsh of Adaptive Sports New England in October 2020.