“I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. The fifteen-year-old boy who landed on his head while wrestling with his brother, leaving him paralyzed and barely able to swallow or speak. Travis Roy, paralyzed in the first eleven seconds of a hockey game in his freshman year at college. Harry Steifel, paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident at seventeen, completing his education and working on Wall Street at age thirty-two, but having missed so much of what life has to offer. These are the real heroes, and so are the many families and friends who have stood by them.” HeroesParalyzedQuadriplegic Book:Still Me Source: Still Me
“Some disabled people spend a significant amount of their energy on trying to come across as abled or as not that disabled.” HumorAbleFunnyEnergyAbilityActingHumourJokesHumorousShameReputationAshamedSatirePretendingDisabilityAphorismJokeHumiliationHilariousDisgraceDisabledActPretenseAphorismsStigmaLameParalyzedCrippledPretendDishonorWheelchairsHandicappedAphoristAphoristsBad ReputationShamingEnergiesIgnominyWheelchairCrippleShamedStigmasDifferently AbledDisableBedriddenQuadriplegicParaplegicIncapacitatedNot BadNot That BadAbledImmobilizedDebilitatedIn A WheelchairInfirmOpprobriumOut Of Action Author:Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“Don’t you think it’s actually harder for you . . . to adapt, I mean? Because you’ve done all that stuff?’ ‘Are you asking me if I wish I'd never done it?’ ‘I’m just wondering if it would have been easier for you. If you’d led a smaller life. To live like this, I mean.’ ‘I will never, ever regret the things I've done. Because most days, if you’re stuck in one of these, all you have are the places n your memory that you can go to.’ He smiled. It was tight, as if it cost him. ‘So if you’re asking me would I rather be reminiscing about the view of the caste from the minimart, or that lovely row of shops down off the roundabout, then, no. My life was just fine, thanks.” AdventureRegretRegretsQuadriplegicParalysed Book:Me Before You Source: Me Before You
“I turned in my seat. Will’s face was in shadow and I couldn’t quite make it out. ‘Just hold on. Just for a minute.’ ‘Are you all right?’ I found my gaze dropping towards his chair, afraid some part of him was pinched, or trapped, that I had got something wrong. ‘I’m fine. I just . . . ’ I could see his pale collar, his dark suit jacket a contrast against it. ‘I don’t want to go in just yet. I just want to sit and not have to think about . . . ’ He swallowed. Even in the half-dark it seemed effortful. ‘I just . . . want to be a man who has been to a concert with a girl in a red dress. Just for a few minutes more.’ I released the door handle. ‘Sure.’ I closed my eyes and lay my head against the headrest, and we sat there together for a while longer, two people lost in remembered music, half hidden in the shadow of a castle on a moonlit hill.” HopeQuadriplegicParalysed Book:Me Before You Source: Me Before You
“You're going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. But I hope you feel a bit exhilarated too. Live boldly. Push yourself. Don't settle.” United KingdomMauritiusWill TraynorLouisa ClarkQuadriplegic Book:Me Before You Source: Me Before You