Four-time Paralympian Chuck Aoki strives to make athletes with disabilities more visible

Minneapolis-native Chuck Aoki wanted to play for the Minnesota Twins as a kid, but his dreams quickly changed due to a rare genetic disorder he was diagnosed with at the age of six. Hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy type II means Aoki has no sensation from his elbows down and knees down. At age 12, he became a wheelchair user.

But that didn’t stop Aoki from staying active. He began participating in wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby. He made his wheelchair rugby Paralympic debut at the 2012 Paralympic Games helping Team USA win bronze. He’s been to every Paralympic games since, bringing home two more silver medals.

In August, Aoki will once again be representing Team USA in wheelchair rugby at his fourth Paralympics. This time he’s going for gold.

MPR News senior producer Aleesa Kuznetsov recently talked to Aoki at Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute.

Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Tell me about the condition you were born with and how it’s impacted your life.

I think I was about six, I broke my leg and walked on it because it didn’t hurt, which is not good for it. And so that is sort of when we said, we got to figure out what exactly is going on here. So I went down to the Mayo Clinic where I was officially diagnosed with the condition.

And that sort of led me on this journey where I would walk for a little while, injure something in my legs, use a wheelchair, try to walk again, use a wheelchair. And eventually, that led to about 10 doctors essentially saying, “Look, you’ve got some function in your legs and need to preserve that. And the only way we’re going to preserve that is by using a wheelchair full-time.”

But as I like to say, the silver lining to all of this is that the sport that I found somewhat success in, wheelchair rugby, is a sport where you actually have to be impaired in all four limbs to play. And so had I not had all these injuries and things happen to me, I actually wouldn’t even be eligible for it.

I understand Courage Kenny is where you got started in sports. Can you tell me a little bit about its importance in your life?

It’s not really an exaggeration to say that I would not be where I am in my life without Courage Kenny. I grew up with a disability, but I was a really active kid. I wanted to play sports. But when it turned out I was going to have to use a wheelchair full time, my parents were sort of like, you’re still going to be active, we’re still going to find ways for you to do it.

Courage Kenny is where I discovered wheelchair basketball, and it was here that I tried wheelchair rugby for the first time as well, which is just a really, really, really special thing.

Who were your sports idols growing up?

My idols growing up were Kirby Puckett, Kevin Garnett, Randy Moss, sort of that late 90s, early 2000s era of sports. Joe Mauer was someone I really idolized growing up, of course. You know, you name any early 90s Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves player, that’s it for me.

Notably, those are all people who are able-bodied.

Yeah that is notable. They are all able-bodied because I didn’t really have access to seeing disabled athletes in media, it just wasn’t something that exists.

I think one of my goals is to be a visibly disabled athlete that other visibly disabled athletes can look up to and amplify other stories of visibly disabled athletes for kids.

Have you been someone else’s sports idol?

In 2022, President Biden invited both the Olympic, Paralympic Summer and Winter together. An athlete came up to me who was a lot younger than me. He’s like, “You’re Chuck, right?”

I was like, “yeah.”

He’s like, “Oh my gosh, like, you were the first Paralympic athlete I saw. Like, I watched you on TV. I played rugby at camp.”

He went to the Paralympics for skiing.

It warmed my soul in a way that I had never felt before. Because it was like, this was the kid who’d seen me and was like, “Oh, I could be it.”

You know, I think Billie Jean King said something to the lines of, “If you can see it, you can be it.” And if I can be that person, for one kid or for one adult out there, too. You have to see it and know that it exists to be a part of it.

Can you take me back to the first time you found out that you were going to be a Paralympian?

It’s such a powerful memory for me because it’s one of the few times in my life where I legitimately cried tears of joy, like I was so happy that I could do nothing else but cry. And it’s because, you know, my childhood was tough. A lot of the sports I wanted to play were taken away from me.

I couldn’t play the sports I wanted to do. I remember sitting in a hospital bed, sitting at home, like I couldn’t go to tournaments, I couldn’t compete because of the injuries. And suddenly, in that moment, it was like it had all been worth it. You know, I had made it. I’d made it to this goal, this dream of mine I’d had, and that was just, it was an incredibly powerful feeling.

You do a lot of disability education on social media. Why do you take on that role?

The reason I do it is because mostly I’m willing to do it and willing to be a voice. When someone says “I’d like to learn more,” they can say, “Oh, well, Chuck, talks about this a lot.”

If I can take that burden off of somebody else, I think that’s great.

Social media obviously has its challenges, but the beauty of it on the one hand, is it really does allow you to talk about things in your own voice, distinctly.

If I want to post a video talking about how hard it is to do something, I can do it. No one is stopping me from doing that. And I can say it authentically, and I can be true to myself. And I think that is powerful, you know?

Where do you see room for improvement in how people view and interact with athletes with disabilities?

I think that the biggest challenge is that when I tell people that I’m a Paralympic athlete, I cannot tell you how often the response to me is, “Oh, congrats on going to the Olympics.”

And it’s not that it’s a problem. There’s no malice behind the statement whatsoever. But the challenge is that I’m not an Olympian. I’m a Paralympian, you know, I’m something different, and there’s a lot of value and power behind what I do.

Paralympics is still building that passionate fan base, and we’re waiting for our moment where we really launch off. And so I think there still needs to be that sort of infrastructure growth, because the Paralympics are coming to the United States in just four years, and it’s going to be this exciting moment where the world is watching us. And I just, I hope we’re ready.

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