UN General Assembly
2018

of the pain of another, because I found that there are other, and perhaps even greater, pains. It was also good because now, from my wheelchair, I see at the height of the heart. When people have legs, they see straight and upwards. Whereas from a wheelchair, we see horizontally and downwards, and as such, we discover other realities and worlds. We see those who encounter obstacles impeding them in their efforts to move forward, to continue, and even to live — obstacles of varying types: mistreatment, xenophobia, racism, injustice, machismo and inequity, in other words, exclusion. That story is not just my story; it is the story of 1 billion people around the world.