(NEXSTAR) – U.S. Paralympian Dani Aravich is currently in Milan, supporting Team USA and preparing for the upcoming Paralympic Winter Games, which begin in March. Aravich, who has competed in both Summer and Winter Games, spoke with Nexstar at Team USA's Winter House in Milan, advocating for increased visibility for the Paralympic movement as the United States prepares to host future games. She helped to secure the 2034 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games for Salt Lake City. Aravich has been in Europe since January, completing her World Cup season and training camp. She'll return to training camp after rooting for her fellow U.S. athletes. Aravich has roots across the Mountain West, having lived in Idaho and Utah before moving to Montana. To celebrate her journey, she created shirts for her family and friends that feature the tagline "from Montana to Milan." "I think that right now, especially, we need athletes to be really proud of where they're from, and I just feel really honored to represent the Mountain West, represent you know my home state of Idaho, Utah where I lived for many years, and now where I live in Montana," Aravich said. Her path to becoming a Paralympian began while she was working professionally for the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Through colleagues who were involved with the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, she learned about the opportunities available within the Paralympic movement. "For me, the Paralympics came into my life when I think I really needed them," Aravich said. In addition to her athletic career – participating in track and field as well as cross-country skiing and the biathlon – she serves on the steering committee for the Salt Lake City 2034 Paralympics, an event that will feature a single athlete village designed for greater accessibility. This differs from the current games in Milan, where she noted her competition village is located nearly four hours away. The consolidated layout in Utah is expected to make it easier for fans to attend multiple sports. The 2034 Games will mark the fourth time the U.S. has hosted the Paralympics, following the upcoming games in Los Angeles, and the first time the "Agitos" logo, the official symbol of the Paralympics, will be used during Salt Lake City-hosted games. Aravich, who wears an Agitos necklace, noted that while the symbol was added to the movement in the early 2000s and was not present during the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Its visibility is crucial for building public familiarity, she added. "I think anything that we can throw the Agitos on and the Paralympics on is important because the more times people start to see that symbol, they're going to build familiarity with it," Aravich said, adding the importance of using specific terminology to distinguish between different types of athletes. She noted that people often mistakenly call Paralympians "Olympians," but she believes consistent use of the correct terms will help the movement grow. "And I know there's no ill intent, but the more we can talk and say the word Paralympics, say the word Paralympians, we're going to continually see this grow in so many different areas," Aravich said. Although she is unsure if she will be competing on the field of play in 2034 at age 39, Aravich said she plans to remain involved in the games through her committee work. "And the Paralympics, I think, still has the power to change how this world views people with disabilities... but I'm really hopeful that people tune in this year because I think that there is some really good momentum coming in," Aravich said. All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by Nexstar. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by Nexstar staff before being published.