WHO ARE WE (?)

28.07.04

I am sick of writing it but I will. Oh, Dada, of course I can’t get rid of my disability, man. We’ve said that, I’ve resigned myself to that fact. Indeed, it’s an integral part of myself but this constitutes another reason why I should not bother with that issue all the time.

Can you imagine me talking incessantly about my eyes, my hair or my whole body? These are parts of myself as well but I don’t need to make a big deal out of them. Of course, there is something else that I always have in mind and I will remind you to the point of boredom: ‘FIRST WE ARE HUMANS AND THEN EVERYTHING ELSE’. Consequently, when I meet someone, I don’t introduce myself as the ‘disabled Nicholas’. I say: ‘Hi, I’m Nicholas’. What the hell, my disability is out-and-out obvious. Do I really have to say it? Only some blind bloke wouldn’t see it but in that case he is also ‘one of us’ and we would therefore have more interesting things to say than figuring out each other’s disability.

Some people used to tell me: ‘Nicholas, you have to find a girl who will have a similar problem with yours so as to understand and love you.’. I replied: ‘All right, but I have to like this girl as a whole. Being in a similar position is not enough. I have to enjoy my time with her, whatever that may mean.’. Conclusion: In my opinion, disability is an attribute of us but not the main one. if some people don’t manage to make even one step forward, it’s because they think and act first as disabled guys and then as free and creative human beings.