Despite having no plans to return to politics, she was symbolically on the 2011 ballot for PAR as a member of the Congreso de los Diputados.

Taking up swimming at the age of 19, she joined the Aragon-based disability sport club CAI CDM a year later.

The following year, she made her national team debut at the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) Swimming World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, where she earned a bronze medal.

She has earned several other honors including being named the Woman of the Year by the Spanish women's magazine Mujer hoy.

[3] When she left the hospital for the first time in a wheelchair, she was embarrassed because she felt a need to explain to others the events[3] that led to her becoming a paraplegic.

[3][7][12] She served as the directora general for Ayuda a la Dependencia[3][4] in 2003 after having been approached to run following her success at the Sydney Paralympics.

[15] She ventured back into politics on a symbolic level in 2011 when she was on the ballot for PAR as a member of the Congress of Deputies.

[17] In 2007, Perales co-wrote an autobiography with her husband about her life titled Mi Vida Sobre Ruedas,[2][4][7][note 1] attending at least one event to promote the book.

[17] She has supported efforts by Doctors Without Borders to provide a treatment on avoiding the spread of AIDS from breastfeeding mothers to their offspring.

[20][21] Perales was a major sponsor for December 2012 Gala Solidaria Deportivo-Benéfica, which benefitted Fundación Carlos Sanz, an organisation that helps feed the hungry in Aragon.

[22][23] In 2012, while serving as an ambassador for the Fundación Vicente Ferrer, she traveled to India where she spoke with low-caste Indian women with disabilities.

[28] As of 2013[update], her swimming coach is Angelo Santamaria, who has been with her since 2000 and during her time serving in political office.

[29] Perales took up swimming at the age of 19 at a pool in Salou by accident and stuck with the sport because she liked the feeling of being weightless in the water.

[4][30][31] Within a year of that first swim, she joined CAI CDM, a sports club in Zaragoza for people with disabilities.

[34] A year after the 2008 Summer Paralympics,[14] following the 2009 European Championships,[35] Perales took a break from swimming in order to give birth and spend time with her young son.

At the 2006 IPC World Swimming Championship in Durban, South Africa, she earned one silver, two bronzes and had one fourth- and one fifth-place finish.

[1] While in Athens, she visited the Greek Parliament as a representative of Cortes de Aragón and was presented with a copy of the epitaph of Pericles.

[39][40] While in Athens, the vice president primera of Parlamento autónomo, Ana Fernández, and Argonese party leader Javier Allué visited Perales to congratulate her on her success.

[3] Her first medal, a gold in the 100 meters freestyle, was the first earned by a Spanish athlete at the Beijing Paralympics and also broke a world record that had been set by Beatrice Hess in 2000.

One of the reasons she wanted to hold the position again was to support Madrid's bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

[47] Going into the 2012 London Games, Perales was one of three Aragon based Spanish Paralympians[48] and was selected to serve as her country's flag-bearer during the opening ceremonies.

[3] Following one of her victories, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, sent her a telegram to congratulate her on her success.

[64] That year, she was also honoured with the Homenaje a las Heroínas medal at a ceremony that took place during the Fiestas del Pilar.

Her figure exceeds the limits sports to become a social relation that makes you feel proud to belong to that community.

"[65] [note 2] In 2011, she was one of five Spanish athletes with disabilities featured in La Teoría del Espiralismo, a documentary produced by New Atlantis and Mafalda Entertainment.

[28][68][69] In September 2012, she was featured in Unidad móvil, a television special that had two reporters who followed her around for her 48 hours in Madrid following her return from the London Paralympics.

[70] Perales was honored at the 2012 Fiestas del Pilar and gave the festival's opening speech.

[8][note 3] Spanish female basketball star Laura Gil said if she were to have given the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or to someone, she would have given it to Perales.

[76] In 2013, she was awarded the Grand Cross in the Royal Order of Sporting Merit, Spain's highest recognition to a sportsperson.

[78] Since 2022, Teresa Perales has been a Global Advisor for the ACE Global Leaders of Excellence Network,[79] which is a diverse platform of ACE Health Foundation, a non-profit organization in United States of America, for connecting highly accomplished and successful leaders globally committed to international leadership development, grounded in the premise that focused sharing of knowledge, expertise, and resources increases the probability of productive and powerful outcomes.