Susan Audé

Susan Audé was a well-known television news anchor in South Carolina. She is best known for entering the news business 12 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. "If I went to cover a story that was on a second floor of a building that didn't have elevators or ramps," Audé said in a 2006 interview on the Today Show, "I couldn't go back to the newsroom and say 'I couldn't get the story.'" Cameramen would often have to carry Audé and her wheelchair to the source of the story.

Starting out doing general assignment reporting and weekend weather, her talent and popularity quickly propelled her to the anchor desk with a Columbia, South Carolina NBC station where she was "the face of WIS News" from 1982 until her retirement in 2006. At the time of her retirement she was the anchor of WIS News Ten Live at Five and WIS News at 6.

Audé received dozens of honors for her work both as an anchor and reporter, including Newscaster of the Year from the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, and that same organization's prestigious Master's Award. In 1998, Susan was named to the University of South Carolina College of Journalism's "Diamond Circle", joining a national group of esteemed individuals chosen for outstanding contributions to their field.

The Governor's Commission on Women honored Audé with its 2001 Woman of Achievement Award which is presented for "remarkable accomplishments and commitment to our state".

Audé was paralyzed in an auto accident during her junior year at Erskine College. Following a year of hospitalization and rehabilitation, she went on to finish her college education. She then went onto earn a Master of Mass Communications degree from the University of South Carolina, and began her exceptional career.

Her inspiring life and accomplishments have been the subject of stories in Good Housekeeping and Ms magazines, as well as on CNN and Lifetime cable channels and Sally Jesse Raphael.

Audé is also known for her community involvement and has received numerous humanitarian awards. She is a Meals-on-Wheels volunteer, member of the Community Relations Council Lunch Club of Columbia, a frequently requested speaker, and has a daughter, Blythe.

Audé has often spoken of how her spiritual faith shaped her life. As a college student she was actively involved in what was then referred to as the Jesus Movement. In 1995, while attending a Methodist Church where she was teaching Sunday School, Audé began to embrace the Baha'i faith.