Ellie Simmonds: Winning a BAFTA, The Paralympics & Disability Representation | E19

Trailer even in 2023 children with a disability are in a sense stuck in the care system a lot harder to place into adopted families and I wanted to have my opportunity to talk about it then but also from a personal point of view I know what that is like it's not a thing that you can do overnight Finding Me birth mother it was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be emotionally and I couldn't have done it without the support system around me hopefully from London 2012 things have changed and it's not just tick boxing but not every person needs to be putting the pressure on them to be the next voice we all don't want to be like activists actually some people will just want to be and that's also like totally okay yeah that's all okay as well social media if I didn't have to do it I would I wouldn't do it literally I find it quite tough actually at the moment I'm just also trying to make sure and make mentally be aware of myself that not comparing my body to what it used to be when I was an athlete [Music] hello and welcome to the purple goat podcast I am joined today by the Intro incomparable Ellie Simmons oh thank you so much D how are you doing today yeah know I'm really good nice that it's nice weather outside and looking forward to chatting with you absolutely me too if people have been living under a rock for the last many years uh 12 13 14 years that you were definitely have been in their psyche um would you mind giving us a little couple of lines on who you are and what you do yeah yeah so I'm Ellie Simmons a retied par Olympic swimmer went to four par Olympic Games my first being Beijing 2008 when I was just 13 I came away with two Golds and then four years later was my High games really a pinnacle of my career I would say was London 2012 at home games I think we all remember where we were during those games I came away with two Golds a silver and a bronze and then four years later Rio 2016 came away with a gold and a bronze too in swimming and then four years well five years actually after that because of covid uh was my last par Olympics in Tokyo and then since retirement I think a lot of people know me for TV things um I've done two documentaries and also uh competing on Strictly Come Dancing and yeah entering this next World of this next chapter of TV and all the opportunities that I'm getting which I'm loving there are already so many questions I want to ask off the back of that um number one Winning a BAFTA you're very modest you're just this last week coming off the back of winning something else that's very big and shiny and gold I think that's Trump it's trumping my medals at the moment yeah how it feels yeah so I won a ba on Sunday um with the team of flick at Flicker and ITV we weren't a bter for my single document for single documentary my documentary finding my secret family and I think yeah because I think for me my medals in my swimming it was my sport it was what I trained to do is what I did for over gosh 26 well just under 26 years a long long time and then now this is this next chapter and to to get Awards in something that is not just a personal story but it's something that you really enjoy doing in this next chapter of life so for me it's an a bter apparently it's like the Oscars of TV and it's like the Olympics and Par Olympics of TV so for me it wasn't just like the achievement of for myself but it means a lot to the team that I worked with during the whole documentary filming so it just means a lot to to all of us amazing and just in terms of like the Journey of that program going from Disability & Adoption conceiving it through to winning an award winning such a prestigious award how has that Journey been like is it is the product that you ended up with kind of what you wanted it to be and that whole journey of working in and around it how was that for you as an individual where you're center stage of the documentary itself yeah it was it's the outcome was better than expected really going into it we thought we just wanted to talk about opening up that conversation of disability adoption and disability in the care system because we know even in 2023 children with a disability are in a sense stuck in the care system a lot harder to place into adopted families and I wanted to have my opportunity and my voice to talk about it them but also from a personal point of view I know what that is like so but from a personal point of view I never thought it was going to be as big as it was because you never know the outcome I've been so so lucky that I've been able to find my answers to all those questions that I had about my adoption and my fostering and my whole life Journey where a lot of people people don't get that answers don't get those questions answered and again having that opportunity to beat my birth mom as well so I think the whole documentary took a a positive turn but a positive turn on my life my journey and my story where we got to meet so many people it was just over a year filming actually because it was again it's not a thing that you can do overnight finding your birth mother it's you've got to go to the social workers you've got to go to your um Council all that type of stuff but throughout the whole year filming I got to meet so many amazing families and follow social workers and talk to people with all different disabilities and Charities as well that support people who are adopted or who are in the care system who go on that journey of finding their families because it's an emotional roller coaster and I think at the time I was still having that athlete inset in me where I was very fixated I was very strong where it was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be emotionally and and I couldn't have done it without the support system around me I think because it triggers so much on you as a person and what happened to you at the start like it's traumatic you've at the start of your life you've been given up from someone that was meant to love you to who was your your family your parents and I didn't really think of it in that way in that sense at the start so it's definitely brought a lot of emotions up and a lot of questions that you ask about self and you know throughout my life I've had it where when you go to the doctors they go is there any medical history and I've not had any of those I I don't know I don't know the answers like I've got glossip on my passport never been to glossip but why is that on my passport you know I've had all those where I just now I know why and I know all my medical history and again speaking for everyone who's been adopted I I've been really lucky that I've been able to find my birth mother but there's a lot of people out there that haven't had their answ answered and yeah I'm I'm just that only certain percentage Yeah and you mentioned around almost the sort of it taking a turn and you're being almost more vulnerable than you maybe anticipated at the start of that Journey you're obviously very used to being media trained from such a young age when it comes to the World of Sport and being in and around sport but how does that feeling of Ellie Simmons's par Olympian you know in front of the cameras in that sense how is that feeling felt different to you as part of the documentary and how that Ellie kind of you know is approaching it yeah so actually throughout my whole swimming career and being an athlete I never got media trained well we had like words on stuff and like what to use at like a paral Olympics and things but never in the aspect of like this is what I've got to say this is what I've got to do so I think throughout my life I've probably been hopefully my authentic self and you see it sometimes when after like interviews I cry and things and I get emotional and that's just me but I think what made it different doing this documentary was more of a it was a personal story it was a personal journey and it was me opening up to about my adoption that I've never spoken about in the public before but also what made us such a difference and what made me be able to share my emotions and share my vulnerability and share how I felt was the team around me so I worked with Flicker and I've done two of my documentaries with them and it's a women well there is like two men but majority of them are women so again it makes that super comfortable but also throughout the whole year process it was just Jazz the director and Flora her assistant or cat her assistant so we built a great relationship so it wasn't a a situation where you go in and there's loads of cameras around you there was probably just one or two cameras and it was just them two and I felt like being with them for a whole year I got really comfortable with them and they made it so easy that I didn't I forgot I was talking into a camera and I just was talking to them and because we shared so much emotions and show did spent so many days with each other you forget so I think that made it really comfortable that I could speak about how I felt and my emotions and my vulnerability because it was just like speaking to some close friends amazing and from a kind of perception from the general population afterwards have you been kind of very pleased by how it's been received and and that General sentiment that you've seen on online and in the media so so so positive and it's been cuz you never know because again it's one of those it's a tough subject talking about adoption and fostering and then disability also but it's a subject that needs to be spoken about and since SP speaking about it the amount of people that have come up to me on the streets and said like I'm adopted or I know someone who's adopted and having that opportunity to to open up that conversation and also to shine a light that there's so many disabled children out there or people that are looking for homes and fam so to have that amazing responsibility to to hopefully be the voice of them too but the response has been absolutely overwhelming and incredible and to again adoption is a subject that we really don't really talk about and to open up that conversation and for get to get people talking about it is just something I'm very proud of yeah and rightfully you should be like it was it was an amazing education uh it was amazingly emotional you made me and my girlfriend cry thank you but it was no it was it was honestly it's a fantastic piece of work so you rightfully should be very proud in terms of like your Now TV career your TV Life after retiring personality have you kind of got the TV bug now in all shapes and sizes of like what you want to do into the future have you have you got a vision of where you as an individual want to move your career yeah you know what D actually I don't have that just yet and I've been so lucky like I've been retired now just under three years that every day a different opportunity comes up whether it's talking to you today whether it's um chatting for Lorraine show and interviewing some famous people whether it's h me too she want of after as well such a lovely person and such a lovely show to be part of whether it's talking about Sport and comment ating to documentary Making I'm loving all the opportunities that I'm getting to do and if I could continue doing that I love to do more documentaries and I'd love to do interview more um that's what I really enjoy and like how much of you I suppose like your your personality is Ellie like do you find do you find it's coming out more now you're in this domain and you as your identity is it becoming more Ellie timens rather than Ellie the par Olympic swimmer yeah no definitely like I always hope that that par Olympic swimmer is never going to go though because I'm so proud to be a swimmer and represent the par Olympics and I did it for so long that I I hope that that identity of me never goes but it's really nice now actually to to yeah to be seen from a a differ perspective and yeah like you said for my personality to come out and to be comfortable and to help also you we know and from you guys as well at purple goat is having the The importance of representation opportunity to be on a media platform I hope that I can help create change because I remember when I was younger seeing the likes of My Someone Like Me on TV and representation we know how important it is that it changed my life seeing people like War Davis seeing the likes of disabled swimmers paralympians on TV like I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't see that on TV and now to be able to have an opport Unity to to go on TV to be seen as just Ellie Simmons you know see to be seen as myself yes I have a disability I've got dotism but at the end of the day I think start people are starting to see it as just me and that's what I want because I hope that this children out there of every dis different disability but also every single child or every person out there it just sees so many variety of representation on TV and I think that's so important and you as an individual are the things about you personally that you have enjoyed the world kind of known more about is terms of your personality the things that the world don't know yet that you're kind of almost sort of starting to share with the world more openly that you hadn't before in that kind of paralic guys do you know what I think from a it again I think people probably see I'm quite social I quite I love a laugh um I hope that's coming out um I'm quite lighthearted I'm a woman as well I'm self-conscious and worry all the time worry a lot probably that's coming out starting to come out too but there's also stuff that you do want to protect yourself from the outside world scene as well like socially and personally and all that type of stuff but I definitely have showed the world big thing about myself which is my adoption that I've kept um in my close Circle for for all my life really they're amazing and as we kind of look forward now and you you Disability, Sport & The Paralympics obviously mentioned and rightly so like you and your platform and your ability to genuinely create change in media marketing everything in the future absolutely aligns with how we think and what we do at purple goat we often talk about you know the Paralympics every four years being this moment in time where the world will see more disability will be thinking about more disability than maybe any other time in terms of looking forward to Paris particularly are there kind of conversations or things that you want to make sure that in this games gets covered in the media that maybe hasn't previously or are there certain things about it that you want to make sure that there's creating that change into the future from these games yeah no exactly I think the par Olympics is every four years and we see it on TV and it's incredible and I think the the publicity of it is getting bigger and bigger each games and I think these athletes are seen as professional athletes and that's where it should be I think going forward it'll be great that Paro Olympic sport is not just seen on TV every four years I know um world Champs last year for swimming was on TV but more a way of like the whole publicity of par Olympic sports and not just swimming or Athletics but all the sports are seen on TV and or seen with the med the same media support that they are at a par Olympics because these athletes they don't just compete every four years they're competing pretty much every week you know we've got World Series you've got European championships you've got championships World Championships so I'd love that to to happen and also I think from a society point of view it would be great that a disabled person going forward is not just seen as being the next paralympian it'll be great that with par disabled people are seen as everyday society and can do exactly the same as everyone else and hopefully that the publicity of the Paralympics helps that but also it could also I you hear it don't you where it has a bit of a negative impact on the everyday Society too we need to uh steal you and make you one of the purple goat team cuz you're you're saying the kind of things that I say in meetings every day so absolutely I think theas I like How to authentically represent the Disabled community we of course have seen this perception of try and through the adversity as one end of the sort of scale and this sort of pity of disability as the other end and the reality of everyone in the middle that just happens to be disabled has up to this point got that much air time and and so I suppose ultimately a purple goat what we try and do and what we're going to continue to strive for is that Progressive Forward Thinking authentic representation of everyone no matter what your background or what you're doing you know we we know we all don't want or need to be par Olympians um but absolutely like the par Olympics becomes this incredible moment for us to start thinking about these conversations and having these conversations and making sure that we're progressing that narrative yeah but also from those conversations aren't they progress into something you know and I think like hopefully from London 2012 things have changed and it's not just tick boxing it's not just conversations actually these businesses these companies implement it and it's not just a tick boox situation that actually they do think about having a diverse um employees having things adapted so every single person that they employ can work work yes it might be different yes it might be they have to put a bit of money towards it but things needs for for employees to work of all different disabilities it should be put in place and they should go out and do that thing because we just want to make sure yeah like you said not everyone is going to be a par Olympian whether it's be um a teacher or someone who works in ssbd like that's just as incredible as a paralympian you know and yes paralympians have seen on TV and they've got a gold medal around their neck but actually I think everyday society and achieving everyday things is just as just as amazing absolutely and the way Not every Disabled person wants to be an activist that you're now being engaged by Brands by sort of TV have you seen the like that change in terms of how clued up they are and you know the things that you would just have as a default in the back of your mind around like wanting to make sure you're not working people working with people that kind of doing things tokenistic or anything like that have you found there to be a natural shift for things to be better or you still having I'm not going to make you name name the bad ones or anything like that but like if you still finding that you're kind of dealing in circles where actually there's still a real education that's needed I think a bit of both really I think there's been some amazing companies and people that I worked with that are just treat me exactly the same and help and adapt and make things a life a lot easier but then there's always room for improvements and you always see those individuals that I think yeah you're just there for a tix box situation and hopefully it could can improve but I know like we mentioned earlier so we were chatting earlier around your over your maiato and my water and my B big piece of banana bread and your caramel um protein bar very chewy caramel protein bar we were talking about like there's some amazing people who are using their voices out there and I know my my good friend Liz Johnson she's got incredible company called the ability people that educates um companies and how to Wi to incl for inclusion and again you see the likes of chenade B with tilting the lens and stuff but also you've got those amazing people and like myself like yourself and purple goat but not every person needs to be putting the pressure on them to be the next voice no absolutely I think it's like realizing that we all don't want to be like activists actually some people will just want to be and that's also like totally okay yeah that's all okay as well in in terms of your kind of commitments sort of we've got Paris coming up and then after that is it still very much like you thinking about sort of the opportunities coming up as being kind of anything as possible and just opening up yourself to all opportunities that come your way or have you got distinct Milestones into the future that you want to like oh in five years I'd love to be doing this or anything like that yeah do you know what it's funny because when I was an athlete I was very much like so focused on the future so focused on like foure plan year plan day plan all that type of stuff whereas now it's just it's take each day as it comes which is crazy because I've changed so much from what I used to be but I never really I don't really have like my site set on in five years time this is what I'm going to do do you know what to be as busy as I am now with all the amazing opportunities that I'm getting in three years like since three years since reti is just wonderful like I'd love to carry on doing what I'm doing now that would be would be great but again if this diminishes again going into coaching or teaching or swimming or being a primary school teacher is something I like to do but at the moment I'm loving I'm loving like TV work this amazing and obviously What does Ellie Simmonds think of Social Media? we're a kind of social first agency so I've got to ask this question like what's your relationship like with social media you know what social media if I didn't have to do it I wouldn't I wouldn't do it literally I find it quite tough actually but again I think that's my personality um I worry all the time at what I'm quite self-conscious with that and um I'm not really the best at it um I know from a from a platform point of view when when you work with sponsors and all that type of stuff that they want to put posts out and stories out but I try my best as much as I can like I have stages where I'm I'm really good at like I always um send like examples of what I'm going to post to my agent well he's my agent but he's also my best friend as well because again I'm quite conscious of like getting things mixed up or saying the wrong thing or just yeah I'm quite like it does affect me mentally so I try and not go on it past normally about 5:00 p.m. at night because otherwise if I see something it can affect me quite negatively but if I didn't have to do it I wouldn't literally I would be off it I've deleted Facebook I've got rid of Twitter and just using Instagram now nice yeah well I've seen a few nice uh coffees on your Instagram oh yeah and we need to still go and do the sort of tour of London coffee shops don't we yeah know we do definitely I mean you're totally right there like of course social can be it's a different place for different people and you can take or leave from it what you want and what you need and we obviously work with loads of creators that all day every day are living breathing social and they've got an amazing capacity to do that in a way that you know even I I wouldn't be able to do that and like you I I would need that time not on social as well I suppose because I work it and around it all day every day naturally in the evenings I probably spend less time on it myself for my own personal you know time as well I think as we've done this podcast but also as you know working in the industry it's fascinating like the different relationships that people have with it and obviously you're like very prominent in media and we've seen that move from sort of terrestrial TV into digital and then obviously to Social and actually like that doesn't necessarily mean as an individual you follow that path exactly the same so it's like I'm guessing there's at times been pressure for you to almost feel like you have to be a sort of influencer you know etc etc but actually you're like well then maybe that isn't me yeah no I know it's definitely not me and I know like even things now I've figured out and again having this 3 years to figure that which I'm not good at public speaking like I just get so so I probably beg to differ that like I'm good like in front of live cameras and live TV and things like this but like if I had a whole room like you know when you have to do like a 30 minute after dinner speaking I hate it like I get so nervous and I just like I'm like and I just I think to myself why I put myself in that uncomfortable situation now I can I'm I'm very fortunate that I can do stuff that I enjoy yeah absolutely I mean it might it might be the retirement plan you never know just do a try to get over those nerves no that that's really and for you in the sort of coming weeks months I Future plans know you're after to Paris probably in some shape or form um have you got any nice plans coming up over the the coming weeks coming months oh yeah so um again every day is different at the moment which is so lovely it's so so nice so from like today chatting with you to being doing TV stuff to interviewing to I'm trying to think what am I doing that's why at the moment holiday oh yeah holiday oh I love holidays I love going away it's definitely that's one of my hobbies um is traveling and yeah definitely I'm going to wonderful um Health retreat called the body camp in a couple of weeks and um then also going away with my friend Liz to roads and then I'm going to Australia cuz I'm 30 this year 30 so and my friend is getting married in Australia so I'm going to extend my trip and spend my 30th in Australia that's amazing have you ever been before I have I've been a couple of times I could live out in Australia literally I think maybe in 10 years time I might immigrate and be an a heard it here first break news mentioned about the wellness retreat obviously that plays into you making sure that you're looking Looking after your mental & physical health after your mental health and things like that and how do you find that balance of looking after your mental and physical health is it something that you work actively on on both fronts and do you think that you have to sort of be very mindful of both of those things I suppose yeah no I think also it's changed a lot when I was an athlete I was doing exercise for my job really in my Sport and since retirement my body has changed a lot I know being an individual with dwarfism you put we put on quite weight quite easily and now I'm not doing that same as I used to do exercise wise I very much have to watch what I eat but then now with my job Wise It's exercise isn't a thing that I have to do like I can do every day because of timings of work maybe trying to make sure sleep is more important than doing it but at the moment I'm just also trying to make sure and make mentally be aware of myself that not comparing my body to what it used to be when I was an athlete I used to swim nine times a week three gym sessions yoga all that type of stuff whereas so my body was the fittest I've ever been whereas now I try and go to the gym if I can three three four times a week so just being mentally and that's changed you know and I definitely have my highs and lows but I think that's also um being a woman in in society as well you you compare yourself to other people you compare your body shape size all that type of stuff and I'm trying to get better and better but it is definitely tough but I think it's getting better with my body shape and my confidence more and from a kind of mental health perspective as well like do you find that you're as you grow up you're also more mindful of what the things that you can do to support a positive mental health as well yeah I know very much so and also being aware like naturally my personality is I have highs I have lows and being aware of my lows and what to do to get out of them such as now it's ringing friends going for a walk getting some fresh air not overworking not burning myself out having that balance and not saying yes to things all the time even though I love being busy like I'm addicted to being busy and doing something all the time but also making sure that I do have a day to myself where I can just like just chill you know just get those jobs done at home whether it's cleaning washing EX that type of stuff but yeah I'm very much aware of what helps me mentally but also I think being aware of your feelings as well really helps yeah is there anything before we wrap up that you would like to tell the purple Goat world is there anything you want to share anything that you want them to know about anything like that anything that you want to plug tough question I think we've all got a um again like I'm very fortunate and very lucky to have The Disabled community this responsibility of speaking for people like myself and I'm very thankful for it and I'm very HED to to to do the best that I can and but again there's some amazing companies like yourself that are doing that like you've got individuals but then also coming up together as a collective as well and again like we were chatting in the cafe we all we all yes we want the best for each other and ourselves but also we're all individual personalities and what works best for others doesn't work best for for for others as well so it's being aware that yeah don't take out like even if we've said something wrong accidentally we don't mean to you know it's just sometimes things happen like we're talking about from a a point of view like in swimming um par Olympians we call the ab swimmers ab able-bodied ab swimmers that's just been a language that we've always said and it's not like I I say non-disabled in the everyday world you know but in the swimming World AB is what we've just said and I know that word can can be quite s itive to people which I totally understand and totally get but again that's just been our terminology in St for so so long yeah and and I suppose that Joel identity that you've had for so long now you know especially being in the public eye and therefore representing and being a natural advocate of disability very broadly but then also you are still very much in that kind of par Olympic sphere as you know incredibly successful paralympian so you've you've had that unique lens on life which very few people have had probably so you can be our kind of Guru from the inside um and uh you know you've got an Insight that just so few people have had that and like you know representing and progressing all of those conversations like the par Olympic conversation the par Olympic movement the professionalism of par Olympic sport but then also like creating you know opportunity and awareness Ness and a progressive tonality you know in the media around disability more broadly and it's a a really interesting in fine balance that you've got there yeah like I've been so lucky from the age of like 12 I've been in the par Olympic scene where I've been surrounded with people of so many different disabilities so I've learned a lot from Friends teammates and what it's like living with all different disabilities but even now in 2024 when I meet people from different WS life from different not swimmers or not par Olympians in in from influencers to Fashion advisers to all this like I'm learning still every single day and it's been so interesting to to yeah have that paralympic point of VI and disability point of view but also to expand my knowledge and learn myself and yes I know I've been living with a disability all my life but I'm still learning from all different disabilities and I find it so fascinating to still be learning and still keep learning yeah again we'll still you the purple goat because absolutely every day is a school day and we say that if we can help Brands if we can help individuals you know to iterate their practices over time just be open to learning and educating themselves and then being that little bit better the next day that's that's all we can really ask the people obviously we want them to have Perfection sort of somewhere deep in the distance is where they're heading but as long as they're on those steps to do that like that's how we should approach it and that creates something something that's genuinely possible and sustainable as well yeah no exactly that and I think again it's learning is exciting isn't it yeah you know and I think being also open to to have those conversations and topics to learn from each other is just so greatly and so amazing well thank you very much for your time thanks and going and enjoy this lovely sunny day thank you and um Outro we'll catch up to you very soon L doubt yeah really nice to see thanks D and thanks everyone at purple coat and also thank you very much to the ID Studios um for hosting us at purple goat the Studios have been amazing the team here has been awesome it's a wonderfully accessible welcoming inclusive place to be so please do check out ID Studios as well [Music] a