I'm a lawyer, I'm a social activist
and I'm a world medalist dancer in Latin para dance sports.
And I've done all that on four wheels.
The first three years of my life
I was living in hospitals
and went through treatments for my cancer.
I beat the cancer at three
but by then I was already paralyzed
due to its damage to my spine.
And as a child I was always on my parents' hands
or was dependent on people's help to do anything
and at the age of 12 I started using a wheelchair.
That was also when I first discovered the world
of accessible sport
and then I tried every sport I could
because it opened up a world of accessible opportunities
I never knew exist.
Back then wheelchair accessibility
and making things accessible wasn't a mainstream idea.
When I was 16 I wanted to study physics and chemistry
but a problem was
that the classes, the science classes were on the second floor
and the mindset at my school was,
well, we're not gonna add an elevator
just because you want to study in a class
that sits on a second floor.
And the thing is that they were required by law
to put an elevator
and I wanted the same opportunity
to choose the topic that I want to study
just as all my friends
so I knew that I'm gonna fight for it
and I knew that it's not only for me,
it's also for all the people that are gonna come after me
and I don't want them to deal
with the same lack of awareness.
So eventually after a long fight
they did install the elevator
and I did study physics and chemistry
and that was my first time
that I actually fought the system for my rights
and that was also what enables me
and gave me the power to continue doing that
in the rest of my life.
(inspirational music)
Dancing was a big big passion for me.
I went to clubs and I went to bars
and for years I was the only one
that rocked on the dance floor in a wheelchair.
So later on after a few years
I got a call out of the blue
from the coach of the national team
for Latin dance on wheelchairs
and it was so surprising
but it was the perfect timing for me
because of my passion for dancing
and because I wanted to get back to my competitive sport.
And she offered me to join the team's practices
and it was so hard, it was really really difficult
but basically it paid off
because after a few months
we had the national competition here in Israel
and I won the first place in my category
and from then on it launched my career
as a Latin dancer on wheelchairs
and I started competing in world champs and European champs
and continents club
and it's around almost 10 years now
that I'm in the national team representing Israel
and bringing tons of medals and honor to our country
and actually fulfilling my passion
not only for dance but for competitive sport.
People think that disabled people
are automatically poor or pitied or weak
but it's totally not true.
So many times when people hear that I dance
and I dance Latin style
it's a concept they can't comprehend
and only when they see me dancing
something in their point of view changes.
They're realizing that even what you can't imagine
or difficult to imagine,
it's possible if you work hard enough for it.
When you're proactive
you're gonna achieve everything you want.
(inspirational music)