Nyoshia Cain-Claxton, who won two medals at the recent Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru has called for the support of all for local para-athletes, on her and the team's return from the event on Tuesday evening.
Speaking at the VIP Lounge at Piarco International Airport, the national para athlete who won gold in the women's 100 metres T64 dash and bronze in 200m T64 emphasised that the "Paralympians need to be treated equally just as the Olympians are treated".
"We work hard and compete with a disability and we do not want anybody to feel sorry for us. But we want to be able to be recognised and be able to be appreciated in every area even with the funding and equal rights with everything we do. We want to know that T&T supports us, all the way from Prime Minister, President and everybody, we just want the support."
Cain-Claxton said the Games was a great experience for her and knowing that this year was a challenging year trying to find coaching and doing several things including preparing for 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
"I just want to say thank you to all my fellow athletes who supported each other and lived like one family. It was a great trip, everyone supported each other," she said.
World record-holder Akeem Stewart also used the opportunity to express appreciation to all who contributed to his successes, record-breaking gold in the men's discus F64 and silver in the men's javelin F64.
"We had a very successful campaign and I would like to say special thanks to Shantol Ince and the coaching staff for making it a success. We were happy to be around each other and we wait for our participation in Dubai," said Stewart referring to the World Para Athletics Championships from November 7-15.
Ince represented T&T in swimming, competing in three events placing fifth in the 400m freestyle S9 and sixth in both the women's 50m and 100m freestyle S9 finals.
Also in athletics, field athlete Carlos Greene placed fifth in the men's discus throw F11 final and sixth in the men's shot put final.
T&T's other participant table-tennis player Dennis La Rose was eliminated in the early round.
Terryann Evelyn, interim manager of the team, praised the athletes for their success for making T&T proud.
She said, "We just came from Peru, we were there for approximately two weeks. It was definitely an adventure for me being with the team for the first time."
Her fellow staff members included coaches Wade Franklin and Edwin Marchand.