Always having cherished the dream of serving individuals with disabilities (IwD), my search for higher education opportunities in disability sports brought me to the United States in 2012. Since then I have obtained a Masters degree in Adapted Physical Activity (Emphasis: Disability Sport) and am currently a Doctoral candidate in Adapted Physical Education (Minor: Educational Leadership and Sport Management). The community based amenities that empowered IwD to fully participate in cultural and social life in the United States encouraged me to dream of similar amenities for Indians with disabilities. This exposure to the other side of the world is a major inspiration behind my interest to take Adapted Physical Education into schools and communities of developing countries.
I started the #AdaptedSportsIndia social media hashtag and curate disability sport content from Indian competition and community scene on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
My life goal is to guide India out of its current Paralympic movement crisis and create world class training opportunities for Indian Paralympic athletes through athlete empowerment programs.
When I am not at school or volunteering, I enjoy photo blogging and writing about life experiences at Jussri.com. A firm believer in humanism that transcends the 3Rs: religion, region and race, I draw inspiration from the nature around me.
I use WAVE Web Accessibility Tool every time I make changes to this website. If you are a person with disability and have problems fully accessing my website, please write to me at sri[dot]chennapragada[at]gmail[dot]com. I will be more than happy to get the accessibility errors fixed.
Some #hashtags I commonly use for social media based advocacy are
#AdaptedSportsIndia #IndianParalympics #BeautifulAmericans #IndiaStories #IndianWomeninSports
I was born Padmini Chennapragada to Kanaka Sundaram Chennapragada and Seeta Sundaram. Added ‘Sri’ from my grandfather’s name to become SriPadmini Chennapragada. Friends and colleagues in the United States call me ‘Sri’ but I prefer to go by Padmini :)