Beatriz Hatz knows what it means to step into the spotlight. She has done it on the track, wearing a Team USA uniform and competing against the best athletes in the world. She has done it on the Paralympic stage, where years of training, sacrifice and belief led to a bronze medal in Paris.

And now, she has done it in a very different arena: walking into the villa on Love Island USA.

For Beatriz, each stage has shown a different side of who she is. Athlete. Competitor. Paralympian. Medalist. Advocate. A woman looking for a connection. Together, they tell a bigger story about confidence, access and what happens when athletes with disabilities are seen as their full selves.

More Than One Story

Beatriz was born with fibular hemimelia, a congenital condition that affected the development of her right leg. Her leg was amputated below the knee when she was 10 months old.

As a child, she learned early what it felt like to be different. She has spoken openly about being bullied and growing up with a visible physical disability. But sport gave her another way to understand her body. Before track and field, Beatriz tried softball, basketball, soccer, karate and skiing. Movement became a place of possibility. Competition became a place where she could focus less on what made her different and more on what made her powerful.

When she discovered Para track and field, something clicked. The speed. The precision. The feeling of pushing toward a finish line. The chance to measure progress not by comparison, but by effort, discipline and belief. Track gave Beatriz room to grow into herself.

The Running Leg That Opened a Door

Talent alone does not create access. For athletes with physical disabilities, the right equipment can determine whether a sport is possible at all. A prosthesis used for everyday walking is not designed for sprinting, jumping or absorbing the force of elite competition. A running prosthesis is specialized, expensive and often not covered by insurance.

CAF helped Beatriz get the running leg she needed to participate in track and field.

In an interview with CAF Co-Founder Bob Babbitt, Beatriz shared that CAF helped provide her running prosthesis, giving her access to equipment her family otherwise may not have been able to afford.

That support changed what was possible. It allowed her to train. To compete. To build confidence. To begin seeing herself not just as a kid who loved sports, but as an athlete with a future.

The running leg was not the whole story. Beatriz brought the work, the resilience and the drive. Over the years, CAF continued to support her journey through grants that helped cover adaptive sports equipment and sports participation expenses as she progressed from a promising young athlete to a Paralympic medalist.

But access helped open the door.

Becoming a Paralympian

Once Beatriz had the opportunity to compete, she made the most of it.

She quickly became one of the top young Para track and field athletes in the country, earning international medals as a junior athlete and establishing herself as a rising talent in the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump. Her first Paralympic Games came in Tokyo, where she represented Team USA on one of the biggest stages in sport.

Four years later, in Paris, she returned with more experience, more perspective and another chance to prove what she could do. This time, she came home with a medal. Beatriz earned bronze in the women’s T64 long jump, marking the first Paralympic medal of her career and a milestone built over years of training, setbacks, support and persistence.

“I grew up very ashamed of my disability. All I wanted was to hide my disability from the world and look ‘normal.’ When I found Paralympic sport, I finally felt comfortable with myself and my disability. Sport improved my confidence, my mental health, and helped me become part of a community where I felt like I belonged.”

Bringing Disability Representation Into a New Space

Then came Love Island USA.

For many viewers, Beatriz’s appearance was a rare opportunity to see a woman with a prosthetic leg represented in a mainstream dating show – not as a lesson, not as a feature story, but as a cast member.

She entered the villa with the same hopes, nerves and openness as anyone else. She talked about attraction and connection. She showed humor, vulnerability, and confidence. She brought her full personality into a space where people with disabilities are rarely included.

That matters.

Disability representation is often limited to stories of hardship or inspiration. Beatriz’s presence offered something more complete. She showed that athletes with disabilities can be strong and feminine, competitive and playful, accomplished and still searching, admired and still human.

Her prosthetic leg was visible, but it did not define the entire conversation.

She was not asking to be seen differently.

She was asking to be seen fully.

Confidence That Carries Beyond Sport

CAF believes sport can change the way athletes see themselves—and the way the world sees them.

For Beatriz, access to adaptive sport helped build a foundation of confidence that now reaches far beyond the track. The same belief that carried her into starting blocks and long jump pits has carried her into interviews, advocacy, the Paralympic podium and now a national television audience. That is the power of access.

It does not stop with a piece of equipment. It can become a pathway to independence, identity, community and visibility. Beatriz’s story is a reminder that when athletes with physical disabilities are given the tools to participate, they do more than compete. They expand what is possible for the next person watching. A young girl with a prosthetic leg might see Beatriz on the track and imagine herself as an athlete. She might see her on Love Island and imagine herself as confident, beautiful, wanted and fully included. Both matter.

Expand Access Through Sport

Beatriz Hatz’s journey began with opportunity and continues to grow each time she steps into a new arena. Through grants, clinics and community programs, CAF helps athletes with physical disabilities access the equipment, training and support they need to pursue sport and discover their potential. Because sometimes, the right support does more than help an athlete reach the starting line.

It helps them see how far they can go.