Fighters with no arms, no legs

• Lessons they teach all of us

Life without limbs yet without limits; changing obstacles into opportunities. The only person keeping us from reaching our full potential is our own self as False Evidence Appearing Real manifests FEAR to hold us back. These are words of wisdom that have inspired me to pen this lines.

Nicholas James “Nick” Vujicic (pronounced Voo-yee-cheech) is an Australian (35), born in Melbourne to Serbian orthodox emigrant parents from Yugoslavia.

Janis (pronounced Yanis) McDavid is a German (25), born in Hamburg. It was soon after last Christmas when I met Janis here over two hours to share our thoughts and experiences.

Nick and Janis both were born with no legs no arms, but that could not dampen their spirits. They also have several other things in common.

They both are two people who had overcome significant physical limitations – made into obstacles by others in same society – to achieve greater success in daily life and continue to live as productive citizens. 

They both have faced challenges head-on, surmounted extraordinary odds, turned their dis-ability into a blessing and proved again and again that “ability (of all) is much stronger than dis-ability”.

They both believe that everyone is worthy being treated with respect and dignity – which in turn is also an inherent right to enjoy.

Affording opportunity to be heard – regardless of the degree of one’s ability – is now a legal obligation and moral duty of the Government of Sri Lanka and a prerequisite for inclusivity and equality of treatment.

Ability is stronger than dis-ability

Nick has a tiny deformed foot. He use his toes as fingers to grab and turn a page; and his foot to operate an electric wheelchair, a computer and a mobile phone.

Janis looked up at me, extended his stump of an upper right arm in greeting, and smiled… “Hi, I’m Janis.”

He gently takes the edge of his glass of water between his lips, lifts it with the help of this short right arm and balances it there while he drinks.

He writes with his mouth holding the pen between his molars and drives a specially modified van.

Nick is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from Griffith University in Queensland with a double major in financial planning and accountancy. 

Janis is an undergraduate studying business economic at the University of Witten/Herdecke. He believes education is the key to open people’s mind that had also helped him to gain knowledge and develop creativity.

Nick never thought he would find love. Four years ago he was blessed with to marry Kanae Miyahara – a wonderful, devoted wife.  The couple has two sons and they now live in Southern California.

When only 17 years Nick formed the non-profit organisation Life without Limbs and in 2007 founded Attitude Is Altitude(AIA) – a company dedicated to spark passion, kindle hope and ignite positive change and thereby to empower people across the globe in transforming their lives.  Nick and Janis are both authors and motivational speakers.

Nick has started his mission in using his restricted ability – what most of us still often call dis-ability – to start conversations that change lives. Over the past 15 years Nick has spoken in more than 50 countries not only of his own life story but on topics as varied as inspiring positive change, persistence and determination.

Nick is the author of several books including ‘Life without Limits (2010) Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life,’ which has been translated into more than 30 languages, and ‘Stand Strong (2015): You Can Overcome Bullying’.

He also markets a DVD for young people titled ‘No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!’

In 2009 Nick also starred in the short feature film ‘The Butterfly Circus’ and for his starring performance was awarded Best Actor.

Janis speaks at conferences and workshops to motivate people to focus on the positive side and to concentrate on the power within themselves to achieve great things. His book ‘DeinBestesLeben’ (Your Best Life) is a top seller in Germany.  He joins German Parliamentary sub committees as an expert on promoting wider acceptance of people with dis-abilities.

Mind openers

What is different in persons – even with no arms no legs – who find success in situations where others often might fail? 

Achievements are far more appreciated when they are accomplished with apparent significant physical limitation in ability. 

It takes courage for any normal man to achieve an outstanding feat when he lacks something important in daily life; it requires extraordinary effort and commitment continuously for a person with a serious physical limitation to level the fame.

Few people are successful in situations where others would have given up. They surmount with determination and perseverance hurdles that lead others to fail. 

How have these people managed to succeed in the face of adversity? They all have ambition – but I have found there is much more in them.

Lessons Nick and Janis teach

They both are positive and firmly believe strengths outweigh weaknesses (we all have).

Nick communicates one core message that — no matter your circumstance, you can overcome adversity!

We have a choice: To be angry and cursing for what we have lost or don’t have or thankful for what we do have. Hope is strength to live. 

There are several things in life out of our control that you cannot change and you have got to live with. The choice we have is either to give up or get up and keep going. 

We all can take only one step at a time and just keep doing that. 

Along the way you are sure to fall down. Then just get up each time you fall down and keep going. If you fail and you give up, you shall then never get up. So keep trying again and again and again. 

As long as you try and try again, there is always the chance of you getting up. There is still hope as long as you keep trying. 

Are you going to believe in yourself or everybody else’s judgement on you? The fact is that often people put you down. People even don’t look you in the eye.

Effort never dies, not until given up

Janis’s core message is that even under difficult circumstances it is possible to make the impossible possible. And that is true for all of us.

As an adolescent, Janis has hopped up stairs and avoided going out in public without a wheelchair. But he had ultimately realised that his embarrassment was an additional unwanted limitation, as were bad moods. 

Getting upset about lot of such things that we have no control about, Janis had soon realised wouldn’t do him any good.

FAIL - First Attempts In Learning

Nick and Janis make sure to remind themselves frequently not to get disheartened and give up when some things do not work well as expected. 

Of course a lot will go wrong and often it does for every one of us. In real world we all do things differently and that is normal. 

Setbacks should not be allowed to frustrate us too deeply so we could bounce back to continue with greater resilience.

What is really important is to achieve the desired goals well but not the way of doing things. Remember, there are several ways to succeed in today’s society. 

The burning desire should be to constantly learn and try out new things and new ways. We need to experiment to do things differently in a way that best suits us in particular circumstances. 

The self-discipline to constantly overcome barriers to move ahead and not to dwell too much on failures other than to identify the root causes.

Don’t dis-able us

Janis in Sri Lanka has showed us how he enables himself to live a life anyone else would live, provided the built environment do not make him dis-able.

Yes, dis-abling built environments are a colossal waste of resources Sri Lanka no more can afford.

Like all of us, Janis also has limitations as some things he simply cannot do; to open a door, for instance, or to overcome even two steps at an entrance.

All of us are abled differently and our abilities keep changing. When entrances, doors, steps and toilets are rightly designed, people are empowered to live up to their optimum potential enabling them to become productive employees, entrepreneurs and consumers, along with everybody else. It’s a low cost investment with rich dividends for everyone.

It is important to think about the design of buildings – that includes places of education, shops, bookshops, restaurants, banks and ATMs – so that no one gets dis-abled and marginalised, everyone is equally catered for and equal access is assured to all. 

This is also paramount for services and businesses to grow and achieve their optimum potential.

Ensure that physical infrastructures, public facilities and services, at least, under new Megapolis agenda include, not exclude, everyone. 

Proper advice and close guidance are essential prerequisites here.

Inaccessible tourism denies new profits for Sri Lanka

The international theme for 2017 is Accessible Tourism but still, permitting man-made physical and social obstacles to grow, Sri Lanka is wasting resources and preventing becoming the destination of choice for a generation destined to transform the travel, hotel and tourism industry.

[Dr. Ajith C. S. Perera – a professional – is the pioneer accessibility activist here and a widely experienced accessibility adviser promoting over two decades of time the theme ‘Ability (of all) is much stronger than dis-Ability’. For details see: goo.gl/wPeOax]