As an athlete, Adam Purdy built a good life through participation in sport.

Now, as a coach, advocate and researcher, he’s made it his mission to create those same opportunities for children and youth.

He has a particular focus on athletes with disabilities, a group Adam believes remains significantly underrepresented in sport.  

“I’ve worked with a lot of sport organizations across Canada in various capacities, and too often people with disabilities are not well represented. Representation is important. It creates a space for disabled athletes to have a voice.”

Adam can say that because he has lived with a disability all his life.  

Born with a condition called arthrogryposis, his ankles and wrists were fused, making them stiff and unbendable. He has no biceps. He has two severe club feet. He was in and out of hospitals, needing multiple surgeries.  

But his physical challenges didn’t restrict his future.  

When he was six, rehab specialists at the Thames Valley Children’s Centre in London, Ont., introduced him to swimming.  

“I can vividly remember feeling this connection with the water and feeling empowered by it. From that moment, I thought, ‘Let's stand, let's get upright, let's feel a little bit of freedom,’ instead of being restricted to mobility on land.”

Supported by a loving family and caring coaches, Adam went on to become a global swimming superstar. He won gold and silver medals at Paralympics competitions around the world before retiring from competition in 2016.  

Adam is proud of his achievements. But he’s also grateful he simply had the chance to participate in sport. And creating that opportunity, he believes, is the key to enabling any athlete with a disability to reach their potential.

He remembers an athletic event in Windsor, Ont., in the early 1990s that had a huge influence not only on his own athletic future, but also on what he felt could work for other athletes with disabilities.

“It gave people with physical disabilities the chance to compete, but it also allowed them to celebrate their embodiment in different ways with others like them. Events like that really do a lot for the Paralympic movement overall. They give athletes something to aim for. Without something to aim for, you're not going to have that next generation or grassroots development of athletes. They need to see something and aspire to something.”  

Adam’s doing his part now to make that happen.  

He’s a doctoral student at Western University, conducting research on sports leadership and management. He’s a coach with the London Aquatic Club, where he works with young athletes of all abilities.  

And he’s an advocate for athletes in the Para sport community through groups such as Accessible Sports London and Swim Ontario. Adam also works with the Canadian Paralympic Committee, where he focuses on sport performance — working with national sport organizations as they plan for and compete at major international games and events. He recently worked to help bring the Canadian Paralympic Team to the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics and will do so again for the 2027 Para Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru, and the 2028 Summer Paralympics in Los Angeles.

When he works with athletes, he helps them develop the specific skills necessary for competition. But mostly, he encourages them to look squarely at their difficulties and find a path forward.

“It’s challenges that make life exciting. Disability is both an eye-opener and an eye-closer: I want to see it, but I don’t want to see it. I want to deal with it, but I don’t want to deal with it. It’s deeply emotional and full of ups and downs, yet it can also be enlightening. How you navigate all of that — and the outlook you choose — is what allows you to move forward.”