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Edie Perkins

@edperk

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Family, friends, cats, being active, enjoying the outdoors and all of life's pleasures

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Throwback to interviewing Hugh Herr — double amputee, MIT professor, and the man behind prosthetics that don’t just replace a limb, but restore movement, feedback and freedom!

Talking with him, I kept coming back to one image: picture a person on the cover of Time Magazine with a wooden peg leg. Everyone would say the same thing — that’s archaic, that’s ancient, how did we let amputees walk around on that for so long.

Now picture a person on that same cover in a wheelchair. The device hasn’t fundamentally changed in a century. And no one blinks.

We like to Band-Aid things. With disease and disorders, yes, it is complicated (i.e. more work, time, money) to get at the root of the problem. Spinal cord injury is not alone in that, it’s just my personal experience and advocacy point.

When I finally got my wheelchair, society’s implicit message was “you’re fixed now, good luck out there.”

That complacency did not — and still does not — jive with me. I went from setting and breaking records to being pat on the head and praised for going to the grocery store, or being called an inspiration to strangers simply for existing while disabled.

I’m wheeling the Twin Cities Marathon this October for Unite 2 Fight Paralysis, because this organization is pushing for research that directly affects my quality of life and the lives of everyone living with this brutal, all-consuming injury. I am lucky to have use of my arms and hands, but I have friends who are not so lucky.

SCI research and functional recovery is not as “far-fetched” or impossible as we have been led to believe. It takes people who live with the experience, like Hugh Herr, to think big, try hard, and make it happen. U2FP works under that same sentiment — and like any nonprofit doing this work, it runs on the support of people who believe in it.

Link in my bio to support the run — every donation is a vote for a future where the wheelchair isn’t the finish line, it’s just the starting gear.

#spinalcordinjury #running #fundraiser #wheelchair #letsgo

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AMAZING Appreciation LUNCH at Piecasso today! Thanks everyone for coming, what a perfect way to kick off the weekend of Adaptive Mountain Biking Festivities in Stowe!

A couple of times a year, we invite a few key partners who we feel help GMAS achieve new heights. For today’s lunch, we had a very ‘SKI’ minded group - also the first, and largest GMAS program! Key partners came to network and share experiences, including affiliates from Stowe Mountain Resort, athletes, instructors, board members, parents of athletes, donors, supporters, and more!

We all value YOU and what you bring to the plate, your contributions are what make our programs so special and impactful. THANK YOU, we appreciate YOU! And huge thank you to Piecasso for hosting us, you guys are the best!

#adaptivesports #vermont #stowe #volunteers #community

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Slide 1: The Americans with Disabilities Act anniversary is today. (ID - different handcycles lined up at eve starting line of a marathon with sunrise colors)

Slide 2: Slide to 36 years of fighting for true community inclusion. (ID: two wheelchair users chatting one is using a freewheel device)

Slide 3: Access shouldn’t stop where the pavement ends. (ID: a wheelchair Euser with her back to the camera, staring out at the ocean on gravel)

Slide 4: Equal opportunity means inclusion in community programs and recreational activities.
(ID: a female in full scuba gear about to dive in at the back of a boat in blue water)

Slide 5: Everyone deserves to experience the joy of the great outdoors. (ID: two wheelchair users posing at the finish line of the Green River).

Slide 6: We need adaptive programs so everyone can play on equal footing. (ID: a female user standing in an Adaptive golf chair with a fairway and mountains in the background.)

Slide 7: Accessible trails, parks, and waterways open nature up to all of us. (ID: five people on a dirt trail some are on off-road Handcycle some are on two wheeled bikes).

Slide 8: From@catching the wind and finding freedoms out on the open water (ID: two wheelchair users and two teenagers on a dock next to a harbor getting ready to load onto a sailboat with Boston skyline in the distance.)

Slide 9: True inclusion means funding adaptive gear and inclusive community sports. (ID: three off-road Hand cyclist on a trail posing for a picture with an old log cabin behind them.)

Slide 10: To lift access so we can carve down snowy mountains on adaptive skis. (ID: to mono gears posing at the top of a ski run. The ground is snowy and sky is sunny.)

Slide 11: Let’s keep pushing for a world without barriers—indoors and out. (ID: a young girl on her strider with a tutu and bike helmet, holding hands with a three wheeled hand cyclist as they stroll away on a paved path the leaves are red and yellow autumn colored.)

#disability #outdoors #americanswithdisabilitiesact #adaptivesports #adaptiveathlete

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Meet Edie Perkins.
A marathon runner whose life changed in an instant, Edie chose resilience over resignation. Her courage, determination, and unwavering spirit remind us that strength isn’t defined by circumstance—it’s revealed through perseverance.
Networthy is honored to celebrate a woman who continues to redefine what’s possible.
#Networthy #WheelchairTennis #WomenWhoInspire

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Vermonters Edie Perkins, Maggie Gettys, Emily Coolidge, and Keenan Weischedel joined 14 other players who all lit up the courts at this weekend’s 3 day All Comers Wheelchair Tennis Camp in Hanover, MA. Organized by USTA New England’s Social Impact Director Mavi Sanchez Skakle and South Coast Wheelchair President Thomas Dodd, players gathered to train, compete, and have fun around the sport we all love. Supported with scholarships from USTA Vermont, our athletes gained skills under leadership and guidance from USTA National Coaches Paul Walker and Brendan Fitzpatrick, USTA New England Coaches Thomas Dodd, Dick Lane, and Merc Evangelista. Thank you to coaches, players, organizers, and wheelchair tennis supporters!

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I want to share to share my view of Marathon Monday via photographs. Since I’m a blind autistic adaptive runner who teather runs with a guide. I’m also team photographer for @achillesboston when not racing myself.

I wish people would see adaptive, para and duo teams as part of the running community. We all came here to race and to have fun. Most of all to cross the finish line.

That’s why I made it my mission to take as many photos of athletes like us at the Boston Marathon. I just want to tell your story as a proud community member. Who documents events through shooting completely blind through my camra. I want to tell each one of your stories of your marathon finish. Because stories like ours that don’t usually get told in the way we want them be told.

@achilles_international @achillesboston @flutiefdn @teamhoytofficial @bostonmarathon @teambaa

#goachilles #paraathletes #adaptiverunners #bostonmarathon2026

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CONGRATS TO OUR 2026 HANDCYCLE CHAMPS💙🦄💛 #Boston130 #MeetTheMoment

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In October of 2025, wheelchair players and coaches from across New England met at The Edge in Essex to participate in the first All Comers Wheelchair Tennis training event in Vermont. Guided by Thomas Dodd and Cliff Skakle, the stage was set to ignite the wheelchair community in the Green Mountain State with support from USTA Vermont and USTA New England.

Throughout the winter, players continued to gather weekly to support each other through training, competing in practice matches, and led by player Edie Perkin, sharing their continued dedication to promoting the local wheelchair tennis game.

We are excited to announce that on March 13th, the first USTA supported Wheelchair Tennis Tournament was held at The Edge at Essex. Eight players from around the state gathered in the early evening for pizza, competitive play, and a deepening commitment to the game that brings them so much joy. Maggie Coolidge, Emily Coolidge, Maggie Gettys, Edie Perkins, Keenan Weischedel, Patrick Curtis, Bob McLane competed in a “Fast Four” Round Robin format with Emily and Edie taking first place in a well-fought tie-breaker. Prizes included Tennis Warehouse gift cards!

With organizational and registration support provided by USTA New England staffers Mavi Sanchez-Skakle and Carolyn Bohmiller, courts donated by The Edge, and gifts, food, and prizes provided by USTA Vermont, the stage is set for more matches, more clinics, and more opportunities to expand wheelchair tennis throughout the state and across age groups. High fives all around!

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Friends.

8 is an arbitrary number. A highlight of the Twin Cities Marathon this year was the rich time I spent with people I love. This “community of the broken” has been my consolation prize for having an SCI. I don’t know what I would do without my people. There is an instant understanding that comes with shared trauma, loss and grief. It’s a brotherhood, to be sure. Even greater when a shared experience, like racing the TCM, lends to the greater good: expediting research for quality of life.

Here are 26.2 reasons (one for every mile of a marathon) that I am hand cycling the Twin Cities Marathon as a charity fundraiser for Unite to Fight Paralysis (U2FP). U2FP is a grassroots, spinal cord injury advocacy, non-profit. The lion’s share of our financial support comes from donations from real people, who care about our work to expedite recovery. Please take a moment to visit my fundraising page and make a g contribution to keep us in the fight! You can find a link in my bio page.

https://secure.qgiv.com/event/2025tcm/account/2074742

#26.2, #twincitiesmarathon, #spinalcordinjury, #sciresearch, #sciadvocacy, #scisurvivor, #u2fp, #friends

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USTA Vermont All Comers Wheelchair Tennis Workshop

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It’s been 9 days and I’m not really any closer to putting into words what last Sunday and Monday were like.

Thirty year friendships reconnected like it had been thirty days. It was nothing short of phenomenally special, and I sobbed during their set on the second night, just thinking over and over again how much I love my life and how lucky I was to be there in the 90s for that special time and place, and even more lucky to be able to be experiencing it again.

If there is a band that encompasses all that MY hardcore means to me, then it is @policyof3_official. I’ve searched for more words, I’ve tried to come up with why, but I cannot explain it in a post, it would take an essay.

The joy that @policyof3_official, @sleepytime.trio and @frail_burnsandburns brought to us with their reunion shows was indescribable.

All that I can do is thank my friends.

I didn’t take enough pictures but luckily the incredibly talented @art_karen_kirchhoff did, most of these are hers.

Thanks guys. I love you all. 🥹💛❤️🧡

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I still don’t really have any words for the last few days. I’m welling up with tears again just thinking of what to say. Didn’t take enough pictures as always, but here’s the few I did take. 🧡🧡🧡🧡

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