Meet Nengah Widiasih
With the right support, the sky’s the limit
Nengah contracted polio at an early age, which affected her body severely. Unable to walk upright, she could only move around on all fours. Simple tasks were often challenging, if not impossible, for her to complete. She was not sent to school and her future did not seem very positive.
PUSPADI Bali found her when she was 11 years old, in a poor condition. They sent Nengah to undergo surgery and rehabilitation at Yakkum Rehabilitation Center in Yogyakarta. PUSPADI also provided Nengah with quality braces and crutches, which enabled her to stand for the very first time in her life.
PUSPADI Bali then helped her enrol in school at YPAC Jimbaran, where she learned to read and write, and completed basic studies. Despite having never been to school, Nengah proved a bright student and was often one of the top ones in her class. She also started to develop great upper body strength and discovered a passion for powerlifting. Through training and support from the Bali Sports Foundation, Nengah became a world-class athlete.
“PUSPADI Bali has made a lot of changes not only for me but for other people with disabilities in Bali. Now, people with disabilities in Bali are daring to express themselves, with many of them working in companies, hotels and going out to socialize - and I feel very proud to see all of those changes”
She has won multiple Gold medals at the 2011, 2014 and 2015 ASEAN Para Games in China, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. She participated in the Rio Paralympics in 2016 and won a Bronze medal for Women’s 41kg Powerlifting. She also won gold at the Berck-sur-Mer 2018 World Para Powerlifting European Open Championships, silver at the Asian Para Games 2018 in Indonesia and silver at the 10th Fazza World Para Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai in February 2019. She’s now 29 years old and focusing on qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Nengah is a true inspiration to many, proving to the world that with the right support, the sky’s the limit.
Inspirasia Foundation has been supporting PUSPADI Bali since 2004 and provided the initial funding for PUSPADI Bali to begin manufacturing braces, wheelchairs, and prosthetics for people with disabilities in Bali, like Nengah. Today PUSPADI Bali is based at the Annika Linden Centre, Bali and has supported over 5,500 people to date.