“Dear, why do you sit on this chair? You’re still too young for such things, what will you do when you grow up?” said to me by a lady I don’t know while we were in the waiting room at a doctor’s. There are people walking in the street who look at me and say, “Praise be to God who forgave us” or “May God heal you, my son”, and I am not even sick! And a lot of words I hear until now, such as “You will not be able”, “It will not work”, “I will not be in your case”. Why won’t it work? Why not for my sake? I find myself in sports, this is the only thing that you doesn’t say no and is always there, it never told me no, or it doesn’t work, it is not possible, nor you’re “disabled”. The more fatigue and effort I give it, the more it gives me strength, speed and self-confidence and helping me make achievements that were for me dreams years ago.
My journey from the of the accident to the moment I imagine from one suffering from negative thoughts and frustrating thoughts of the world number 5 in swimming, the first in the Arab world and Africa, and the fastest swimmer in Egypt 9 years in a row. I worked hard with perseverance, hope, and most of all, I worked to develop my way of thinking, my outlook and my judgment on things, and that I see opportunities in challenges and turn these challenges into a success story through faith in our Lord and faith in myself that I can. This is the story that society wants to see. Uh, the journey is difficult, but not as impossible as I was told.
That’s why I believe in the role of awareness and inclusion. The society’s perception of persons with disabilities must change, and the perception of themselves by persons with disabilities must also change. In both cases, they must be aware that people with disabilities are valued and not inferior to any member of society. We need systematic awareness campaigns and we start with the new generations in schools and universities so that when they grow up, they will still understand what a disability means and accept it, not out of pity, but because this is their right. I see all the places, such as there are no stairs where a house and an elevator remain, and there is a garage where corners for people with disabilities are kept, and a special queue for people with disabilities in all government and private departments and bodies.
I support the Ataa Fund and encourage you to support it because they work on ensuring that public and private spaces remain equipped for people with disabilities and as I have not been able to break barriers in my life, you also broke with us the barriers that will let us all take our rights no matter how different we are from each other.
