Melanie Barratt, a gold-medal winning Paralympian, swims tethered to an elastic bungee in a small pool on her own. But, after 20 years of fitting personal goals around motherhood, new ambitions are burning – she’s desperate to try open-water swimming. Being blind, the only way to do this is to ask for help, but asking for help is a complex and often controversial issue for disabled people. Melanie has always hidden her disability because of social stigma and internalised ableism, but the lure of new adventures is greater than the shame she feels. What happens next surpasses all expectations as she not only finds community, but also an increasing pride in her identity as a disabled woman. With the support of her ‘Ironfish’ friends, she not only learns to swim in open water but enters the record books by becoming the first blind woman to swim the English Channel.