Former Paralympic athlete publishes children's book

Jun 06, 2023

MADISON, Wis. — When her children were young, Patty Cisneros Prevo noticed something was missing from the books she was reading to them.

“I was just noticing that there weren’t many books with characters in wheelchairs or just characters who were disabled,” she said.

Cisneros Prevo herself uses a wheelchair after an accident when she was a teenager. She had a successful career as a wheelchair basketball player, winning two gold medals at the Paralympics.

It was the athletes she met during her career that inspired her.

“I was like, ‘I know all of these people, so I’m going to write that book,’” Cisneros Prevo said.

That’s how her book, “Tenacious: Fifteen Adventures Alongside Disabled Athletes,” was born. The book profiles real athletes, many of whom Cisneros Prevo knows personally.

“I really wanted to showcase diversity, so they all have different disabilities, and they all participate in different adaptive sports,” she said.

It represents a source of inspiration Cisneros Prevo said she didn’t always have when she was younger. After she became disabled, she didn’t initially have other disabled athletes to look up to herself.

“It wasn’t like I was seeing them in movies or in books or newspaper articles, it was just because of the community that we were in,” she said.

It was the ability to compete with others like her that helped Cisneros Prevo overcome her hardships.

“It really was just life changing,” she said. “It sounds so cheesy, but it really was therapeutic for me emotionally, physically, mentally and psychologically.”

Now Cisneros Prevo hopes her new book will be that source of inspiration for other kids in the same position. She also hopes it educates and sparks conversation among kids and parents of all abilities.

“I want people to see the beauty of adaptive sports and the community that we have in each of the sports and the collective Paralympic movement,” she said. “Hopefully we start changing the narrative or the negative perception and misconception around disabilities.”

The book is out now and available in most bookstores and on Amazon.