The disabled people that do sport, they don't think about what they don't have but try to get better with what they do have. That is the same for me.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When you hear the word 'disabled,' people immediately think about people who can't walk or talk or do everything that people take for granted. Now, I take nothing for granted. But I find the real disability is people who can't find joy in life and are bitter.
For me, disability is a way of getting some extremity, some kind of very difficult situation, that throws an interesting light on people.
For me, Paralympic sport isn't about being the best human being. It's about being the best human being with that particular level of disability.
The Paralympic Games actually turned my whole mentality around about disability. When you're in the Paralympic athletes' village and there are 4,000 disabled people, you stop seeing disability. Totally.
I used to think of myself in terms of who I'd be if I didn't have this pesky old disability.
We think we know what it's all about; we think that disability is a really simple thing, and we don't expect to see disabled people in our daily lives.
For lots of us, disabled people are not our teachers or our doctors or our manicurists. We're not real people. We are there to inspire.
I don't see myself as disabled. There's nothing I can't do that able-bodied athletes can do.
I think that everyone has something about themselves that they feel is their weakness... their 'disability.' And I'm certain we all have one, because I think of a disability as being anything which undermines our belief and confidence in our own abilities.
I'm definitely more understanding of people who have disabilities and who are suffering.
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