TUCSON, Ariz., July 20, 2010 – The Muscular Dystrophy Association has named Kristin Duquette of East Hartford the recipient of its 2010 Robert Ross Personal Achievement Award for Connecticut.
Duquette, 19, was selected for MDA’s highest achievement award in Connecticut for her outstanding work on behalf of others with disabilities and her determination to excel in the face of personal challenges.
Duquette has facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, which causes weakness and wasting of the muscles around the eyes and mouth, shoulders, upper arms and lower legs. She is ambulatory, but also sometimes uses a wheeled walker or manual wheelchair.
An accomplished swimmer, Duquette has broken three junior national Paralympic records and is the only person in the country with her disability classification to complete the 200-meter backstroke. Her time in the 50-meter backstroke has her world-ranked. A student at Wheaton College, she hopes to qualify for the U.S. Paralympic team for the 2012 Paralympics in London.
Duquette also is an accomplished violinist and public speaker. She has made many presentations to raise awareness of disability issues in communities and schools across Connecticut.
“I’m very pleased to recognize Kristin Duquette as Connecticut’s Robert Ross MDA Personal Achievement Award recipient for 2010,” said MDA President & CEO Gerald C. Weinberg. “Her accomplishments are a tribute to the East Hartford community, and an example of the kind of leadership MDA is proud to support.”
Duquette will accept the award during the local broadcast of the 2010 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on September 6 on Fox61 at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn.
About the award
Duquette was selected as Connecticut’s state recipient after having been selected for a local achievement award by MDA’s Northern Connecticut Chapter.
One person will be selected from among all the state honorees around the country and named MDA’s national 2011 Robert Ross Personal Achievement Award recipient. The national award recipient will be announced on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, broadcast Sept. 5-6.
The award is named in memory of Robert Ross, MDA’s longtime chief executive who died in 2006. Ross created the Personal Achievement Award program in 1992 to recognize the exemplary accomplishments and community service of people who have any of the 40-plus neuromuscular diseases for which MDA seeks treatments and cures.
John Quinlan, a medical doctor from Lakeside Park, Ky., is MDA’s 2010 national award recipient. Quinlan, who has facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, also is director of the MDA clinic at the University of Cincinnati.
MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive health care and support services, advocacy and education.
In the East Hartford area, MDA maintains clinics at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield and Hospital for Special Care in New Britain.
For more information about Personal Achievement Award recipients, visit http://www.mda.org/commprog/paa/.
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