Emma’s a real winner (Picture: ABC North Queensland)

Emma Lynam faces many obstacles in her life, but she’s sure as hell not gonna let them hold her back.

The 21-year-old from Queensland, Australia was born with Down’s syndrome. She also has a mild form of autism, hearing loss, and was born with a cleft palette.

As a result of these challenges, Emma – who loves music and loves to dance – can’t read or write.

But Emma hasn’t let these difficulties hold her back. No, not at all. Instead, she has turned the situation to her advantage and set up a business shredding classified documents.


Emma at her new shredding machine (Picture: ABC North Queensland)

Emma’s mum Jo explained that the idea for the company came from Emma’s time at school.



She told ABC North Queensland: ‘When she was at school they used to sometimes take them to the office and do office skills. Em wasn’t interested in anything except using the shredding machine.’

Emma and her mum Jo (Picture: ABC North Queensland)

Once they’d had the idea for the business, Jo sent hundreds of letters seeking a use for Emma’s skills, and eventually heard back from Steve Scholefield at the Queensland Credit Union.

Steve explained: ‘Her enthusiasm for shredding and the fact that she couldn’t read made her the perfect candidate for something we also had a need for, which is to have someone do our shredding.’

The shirt says it all (Picture: ABC North Queensland)

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Emma, whose business name Master Shredder was inspired by her love of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, now has four clients, and couldn’t be happier.

Her mum Jo gushed: ‘I just cannot speak enough about how gratifying as a mum it is to see my daughter… feel fulfilled, that she’s doing something, and making a difference in her own life. Making her way like any other 21-year-old.’

Meanwhile, Steve Scholefield commented: ‘It was amazing how little effort we needed to input to be able to have such a great outcome for Emma and her family, and our organisation.’

What a brilliant, positive, and truly inspiring story.

MORE: 4-year-old girl with Down’s syndrome rocks the socks off shoe brand’s back-to-school ad

MORE: This woman has refused to let Down’s syndrome stop her from running a successful business

MORE: Toddler with Down’s syndrome follows in his model mother’s footsteps

Advertisement Advertisement