Adz Dumapong, the Pioneering Paralympian

“Challenges in life are a given. So what do we do now? We rise above them and live the best life that we can.”

Adz was three years old when she was infected with polio. It was the 1970s, and Filipinos did not have widespread access to the polio vaccine — especially indigenous people like Adz, who lived in the mountains of Ifugao Province. But by the year 2000, Adz had become country’s best para-powerlifter, lifting the Philippines to its first ever Paralympic Games medal.

On the Go Hard Girls podcast, Adz says:

“If people see us persons with disabilities or PWDs as capable, then you will give us opportunities to prove ourselves that we are indeed capable. But if people see us as less than others because of our disabilities, well, that will affect how they treat us. So I think we need that we need that widening of perspective to see that we’re equal as human beings.”

After 27 years as a national athlete, Adz has retired and become a coach for the national para-powerlifting team, as well as a project manager for WOWLEAP (Women With Disabilities LEAP to Social and Economic Progress), a women-led organization that improves financial outcomes for persons with disabilities.

“I have learned that grit and resilience means being persistent. You endure. Don't give up in the face of hardship. When you move forward in spite of it all, then you start to thrive.”

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