Macdougall was born without a right foot and fibula and competes in S10 swimming events. Macdougall became involved in competitive swimming in 1998. She represented Australia at the 2002 FESPIC Games and won two gold medals. In 2002, she broke the world record in 50m Women's Backstroke S10. She won a bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Games in the Women's 4 × 100 m Medley 34 pts event. At the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, she was a finalist in Women's 100m Backstroke s10. She competed at the 2008 Beijing Games but did not win any medals. In 2009, she competed at the 1st World Short Course Swimming Championships and won a bronze medal in the Women's 100m Individual Medley and was a finalist in Women's 100m backstroke, Women's 200m Individual Medley and Women's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay.