I was around 10 years old when I watched the movie Superman, I must say I loved the whole movie but I especially loved the actor who played it: Christopher Reeve, his deep blue eyes and his smile were something difficult to forget, that same year, I traveled to LA, CA. with my parents, I had a doctor’s appointment and during those days we also went to Disneyland, to Universal Studios and to the Wax Museum, I was simply fascinated with the full size, Superman’s statue that was there, in those moments, I never thought about the way fate would turn Christopher Reeve’s life, transforming him not only in one of my favorite actors but making him an icon of my same fight: the disability rights.
It was May 27th,1995 when Christopher Reeve’s life changed, he was the proof about how life can change in just a second, he was not only a great actor but also an excellent athlete, an avid Horseman and in an irony of destiny, he fell down from his horse at a competition in Virginia, due to it, he got paralyzed from the neck down, he broke his neck and suffered Spinal Cord Injury, these words can’t really describe the way Christopher’s life, his family’s life, his fans’ life and the way the life of all those disabled people who followed him and his career revolved, it was a whole 360 degrees turn for everybody who knew and was able to understand his tragedy and what means being disabled.
After Christopher Reeve’s ordeal, while trying to recover, fighting for his life, he became an avid activist for the disability rights, starting a great crusade for finding a cure for SCI, making an emphasis on the Stem-cell research as a way for finding a cure for paralysis, he lobbied for government funding of embryonic stem-cell research, trying to create awareness about the importance of using stem cells not only for fighting SCI/Paralysis but also for fighting cancer and other degenerative diseases.
In the same way, Christopher Reeve was the first celebrity with a disability who made a point about how expensive is living with disabilities, how much is the cost of making a home accessible for people with paralysis, also pointing out the big discrimination that people with disabilities live every day, during a speech at the 1996 Academy Awards, Reeve urged the Hollywood community to make more movies about social issues and talk about the lack of opportunities, discrimination and other situations that affect disabled people’s lives.
While Christopher Reeve was alive, we had a superb spokesperson for the disabilities rights, Christopher Reeve Foundation started to make research for finding a cure for paralysis and for improving disabled people’s lives, Reeve’s tremendous desire for walking again and recovering his health was contagious and we had hope for a better future despite our disabilities, for stopping being ignored by a society who see us more like a problem, like a burden, a society that for a long time has made us invisible and that hope increased after we witnessed the way he was able to walk a few steps in a machine, with the obvious help that someone who suffers SCI need, it was also wonderful to see him moving his index finger by himself and there is even a strong rumor about that a few weeks before his passing, he was able to walk without help, supposedly he got a very strong cell stems’ therapy in Middle East (it was said, it was in Jerusalem), unfortunately, on October 10th, 2004 Christopher Reeve lost his fight and the world lost a great actor and spokesperson for the disability rights.
Despite he left us 15 years ago, Christopher Reeve’s legacy is still alive and for many of us who live with disabilities, we try to continue working for this cause, creating awareness for our rights and for a world that still needs to understand the problems that disabled people face every day, the work has never been easy but our fight goes on despite the multiple barriers and disadvantages we find on the road and as Christopher Reeve, the only Superman in a Wheelchair said: So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
Sandra Villanueva
#Dismov
#Discapacidad
#CelulasMadre
#ChristopherReeve
#StemCells
#Wheelchair
#DisabilityRights
#Disability
#SCI
Dismov & Life from the wheelchair by Sandra Villanueva are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.