Wuuff & Meow partner Mr. Pradeep Raj is the General Secretary of the Association for Disabled People (ADP) — the platform behind the athletes you have been meeting in this series. Manisha. Sharmila. The next champion you will read about. They each have their own medals and their own story. But ADP — the structure that gave them a coach, a training ground, a path to nationals and beyond — was built by Pradeep Raj. In 2013, he received the National Youth Award from the President of India for that work.

His own story begins long before any of it.

At the age of two, Pradeep Raj contracted polio that affected both of his lower legs. He began his education at the Amar Jyoti special school, where he first moved around in a wheelchair and later in orthosis. From very early on, he had one stubborn instinct: he wanted to be treated like every other child. He pushed hard to move out of the special-school system and into inclusive education, sitting alongside non-disabled students — and he was happiest there. Financial difficulties cut his college years short, but his journey didn't stop. He came back to Amar Jyoti — this time as a teacher — and later took up a corporate role at Genpact in 2007.

Somewhere along that road, he stopped just living his journey, and started clearing it for others.

He became a disability rights activist. He helped physically challenged Indians find jobs. He helped them set up STD/PCO booths and small businesses. He picked up table tennis — and won medal after medal across nearly a decade of National Para Sports Meets, capped by the IWAS World Games 2009 in Bangalore. He competed in chess, volleyball, swimming, athletics, badminton and powerlifting. He has been honoured with the Bajaj Allianz IBN7 Super Idols Award and the Achievers Award from the Sun Foundation. He joined HWF, and then he built his own — the Association for Disabled People — which today trains and platforms para-athletes representing India.

We sat down with Pradeep Raj to ask him about the journey, the mission, and the bigger picture that connects everyone in this series.

You've crossed every kind of hurdle — physical, financial, social. What kept you moving?

"Honestly, the refusal to be treated differently. I had polio at two, and from very young I knew I wanted to sit in the same classroom as every other child — not in a separate corner. That stubbornness is what carried me through school, through the years when I couldn't afford to finish college, through all of it. And somewhere along the way, the question stopped being how do I cross my own hurdles and started being how many others can I help cross theirs. That's when the work really began."

Tell us about ADP. Why did you build it?

"In India, for a long time, a disabled child was seen as someone who needed charity, not someone who needed opportunity. We had the talent — what we did not have was the platform. There was no real structure for para-sports, no clear path from a school playground to an international stage, and almost nothing that took our athletes seriously as athletes. I built ADP to change exactly that. Today ADP is a platform for training, for rights, for employment, for dignity. It is the system I wished had existed when I was the child in the wheelchair — and now it exists for the next generation."

What does it mean to see athletes like Manisha and Sharmila represent India?

"It is the proudest part of this work, and also the most humbling. When Manisha wins on the platform, when Sharmila wears the India jersey at an international meet — that is not just their medal, it is a quiet message to every parent across this country who was once told their child could not. These are not stories of pity. They are stories of preparation, of coaches and families and years of work, and of athletes who simply refused to be underestimated. My responsibility is to make sure the next Manisha and the next Sharmila have an even better road than this one did.

You've spent your life proving that strength isn't about the body alone. What does fuelling that strength look like — for athletes, and for their families at home?

"Every athlete I work with has the same simple need: the right fuel, day in and day out. That's true on the training ground, and it's true at home. We talk about discipline in nutrition for ourselves all the time — but our pets, the companions who keep us grounded through every campaign, deserve the same standard. That's why ADP is proud to partner with Wuuff & Meow. India's first BIOFIBER™ functional fresh diet — vet-formulated, slow-cooked, real food made the right way. Real care, for the whole family."

Why this partnership — Wuuff & Meow and ADP?

"Because both come from the same belief. That every life deserves dignity, real care, and the chance to live to the fullest. Our athletes train hard, travel constantly, and carry the country's name. The least the homes they come back to deserve is real nutrition for every member of the family — including the one with four legs."

About ADP The Association for Disabled People is India's platform for para-sports development, rights advocacy, and community building. From training champions to fighting for inclusive workplaces, ADP has been opening doors for over two decades. Founded and led by General Secretary Pradeep Raj — recipient of the National Youth Award, 2013.

About Wuuff & Meow × ADP Wuuff & Meow is the Official Pet Nutrition Partner of ADP, fuelling India's para-athletes and the dogs who go everywhere with them. India's first BIOFIBER™ functional fresh diet — vet-formulated and slow-cooked. Real food. Real care. Real champions — on the field and at home.