Redefining Disability

Josh Pauls was born without a tibia in both legs and had them both amputated at 10 months old. At age eight, he would be introduced to the game of sled hockey. Within eight years of first trying out the sport, he was called up to his first world championship team. Pauls made his Paralympic debut at the Paralympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010, where he was the youngest player on the team at 17. He would later serve as captain for the U.S. sled hockey team at the 2018 and 2022 Paralympic Games. Pauls is the only sled hockey player to win four Paralympic gold medals. He is the author of “Lessons Learned: My Journey to the Podium” and hopes to be a professional hockey coach when his sled hockey career is finished.

Pearl Outlaw's journey with vision loss began at age nine with a diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Now 27, she's experienced the full progression of RP—from night blindness in childhood to using a cane in high school, to a rapid transition in 2018 that left her almost completely without vision within months. Her introduction to Nordic skiing came in 2019 while attending the Carroll Center for the Blind in Boston. After taking a semester off college to learn how to navigate life without sight, she got involved with New England Ski for Light. The following year, she reached out to BethAnn Chamberlain, the US Para Nordic development coach and is pursuing that sport, She is also attending her third The Hartford Ski Spectacular in Breckenridge, Colorado this month.

Bob Balk is a 6X Paralympian and Paralympic medalist, representing the U.S. in both summer and winter games for over three decades. He has competed in Nordic skiing, the pentathalon, and para canoe. He has chaired the IPC Athletes Council. Now, he's racing down ice tracks at 70 miles per hour with a singular goal: getting para bobsled recognized as an official Paralympic sport.

Gene Calantoc joined the U.S. Army as a Combat Engineer in 2011 and deployed to Afghanistan in 2012-2013 with the 101st Screaming Eagles. A motorcycle accident in March 2020 led to his medical retirement and it was during his recovery at Fort Sam Houston when Gene discovered adaptive sports. He has competed at the DOD Warrior Games and plays with the Texas Parasport wheelchair basketball team. As a Move United Warfighters Ambassador, he is interested in helping other veterans be active in sports and recreation as well.

Shawn Meredith attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a varsity athlete on their world-renowned wheelchair track team. He earned numerous national championships, national records, and four world records while at Illinois, and represented Team USA twice at the Paralympic Games in 1992 and 1996, winning a total of 5 gold and one silver medals. Shawn also played wheelchair rugby for the Fighting Illini, the first collegiate team to qualify for the National Championship tournament. He was a player and assistant coach for the Texas Stampede. This past July, Shawn was inducted into the National Adaptive Sports Hall of Fame.

Kenley Teller was five years old when she started with adaptive sports, after going on a ski trip with Outdoors For All, a Move United member organization in Washington State. There, she was told about a swimming program and she has been swimming at the club level ever since. Kenley also started swimming at several of the para swim meets, including the Jimi Flowers Classic, The Hartford Nationals, and some international competitions. Kenley and her dad Aaron joins us in conversation.

In 2017, Kate Brim sustained a spinal cord injury when she went in for a routine surgery for a herniated disc. She was introduced to adaptive sports through Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, a Move United member organization based in Grand Rapids. She particularly fell in love with handcycling because of the freedom and peace that it brought her. She now is an elite competitor, having won one gold and one bronze at the 2024 Paralympic Games.

Dominic Norris started playing ice hockey at three years old, having his jersey retired in Maryland after having the most points scored in state history (244 points in 58 games). He continued to play in college at Franklin Pierce University and Stevenson University, where he is finishing a master’s degree, as well as in Europe. While diving into the deep end a pool, Dominic would sustain a burst fracture in his C7. At MedStar, a Move United member organization in DC, he would be introduced to a variety of adaptive sports. This year, he competed in seating field events at a number of Move United Sanctioned Competitions, including The Hartford Nationals and is aiming to compete at the Paralympic Games in 2028.

JD Drinkard enlisted in the Alabama National Guard as the result of September 11th and would be deployed to Iraq with his unit. As the result of injuries sustained in country, he would be medically retired. He would be introduced to adaptive sports through the Warrior Transition Battalion, starting with wheelchair basketball. He now plays in the USA Wheelchair Football League with the Birmingham Hammers, including the Tampa tournament this month. JD is also working on his MBA and continues to hear the call to serve through nonprofit work.

As a teenager, Tyler Merren was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease which causes gradual deterioration in sight. He was introduced to goalball in 1999 at a sports education camp hosted by U.S. Association of Blind Athletes at Western Michigan University. He is now a 5X Paralympian, with one silver and one bronze medal, in the sport. Tyler recently retired from Team USA, but still plays in Grand Rapids for a team sponsored by Mary Free Bed, a Move United member organization. Tyler also works as a personal trainer, motivational speaker and founder of ReVision Training LLC.