Climbing Beyond our Limits

Lori Schneider developed a bad case of wanderlust when she was only 15 years old. Over the years, she traveled to over 50 countries in search of unique cultures, people, and challenging experiences. Lori graduated from an all-women’s college in 1978 and began a twenty-year teaching career, working with special education children, as well as kindergarten and first grade students.

In 1999, at the age of forty-three, Lori developed something else. She awoke one morning with numbness in 50% of her body. Within two months, it had spread throughout her entire body. The doctors uttered two little letters from an alphabet she had recited so many times — MS. When the crippling shock of the Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis wore off, Lori decided to accelerate her love of travel and mountains, and set out to climb the highest peak on each continent. With the highest peaks in Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Australia, Antarctica, and Asia under her belt, Lori became the first person with MS to conquer the “Seven Summits.” Lori’s message reminds us to dream BIG, take a leap of faith, and believe in the unbelievable. Ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things! Climb beyond your limits…

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)