“When I was four, my older sister started playing soccer, so I immediately wanted to play too. During high school, I played for Utah Avalanche and La Roca and competed on the Olympic Development Program team.

After graduation, I attended Shoreline Community College in Washington and played for their team and then competed in a semi-professional league in Washington. When I transferred to the University of Utah, I played for the U women’s club team and continued to play with my summer teams.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study, but I have always been very interested in women’s rights and disability rights. I decided to take a few courses in the School of Cultural and Social Transformation, my first semester at the U, which led me to major in gender studies with a disability studies minor. I graduated this past summer.

Previously, I had trouble getting professors to accommodate my hearing loss. Even though I would advocate for myself and fill out the necessary paperwork, I would still have issues. But the Transform professors were so easy to work with and made sure that anyone who needed accommodations received them.

Through my various soccer experiences, I learned about the Deaf Olympics, and I joined the USA’s deaf women’s team in 2017.

In November, I competed in my third international event with the team—the Deaf Olympics in Tokyo. Our team has never lost, so I took home my second Olympic gold medal. I have also won a World Cup gold medal with my team.

When I first started training with the deaf team, I was terrified. I had never been around people who signed. I didn’t know there were also people on the team who spoke like me. But at the next camp, I started connecting with the other women in a way I had never connected with anyone else before. My teammates understood my life experience because they shared it. I always felt accepted and like I fit in, which has not always been the case in other aspects of my life.

My whole life, my mom has taught me to advocate for myself, but I haven’t always felt like I deserved to. During my time at the U, I learned so much about not only my disability, but about the range of disability and the variety of accommodations people need. It opened my eyes to what I could have if I speak up.

I want to become a women’s rights attorney so I can use my career to advocate for others, especially women in sports. Through disability studies, I learned how far people have come. When I look at my own life, I see how people can do hard things, no matter their disability. I want to be part of supporting others in accessing what they need to succeed.” 

— Sophie Post, Class of 2025, BS in Gender Studies, School of Cultural and Social Transformation, from Murray, Utah