DONAVIA WALKER: I really just be me and people just watch me. I don’t even realise it but they’ll come up to me
and they’ll be like, “Oh you inspire me so much.” I’m like, “Oh, thank you” or “You’re welcome.”
DONAVIA WALKER: I got my nickname, “Angel” from my great-grandmother because I didn’t have arms;
I have wings according to her.
DONAVIA WALKER: I was born with Bilateral Amelia and basically that is when you’re born without arms.
DONAVIA WALKER: I don’t really get negativity anymore but people would put me down because they didn’t think
I could do as much as I can.
They would tell me, “You can't hold it, you have to use your hands to hold it.” Or, “You can’t get that, you got to
use your hands to get it.” And I was like, “I can get it with my feet, I’ll find a way.”
TISA JONES: I found out when she was actually born that she was born with Bilateral Amelia.
I saw these different nurses and doctors, they just ran in the room like. So I’m asking my mom and my aunt,
"What's wrong with her?" And I looked over at them, they were crying and the doctor was like,
“She’s ok, you need to relax”, and I took a glimpse over at the incubator where they had her and I saw one of her
arms was missing. And I’m like, "She’s missing her arm." And then that’s when he told me she was missing both of
them. And at that point, I didn’t care. I just wanted my baby so I can go home.
TISA JONES: It really didn’t affect her life because the way we do stuff, everything comes to her natural.
DONAVIA WALKER: I can eat with my feet, I draw with my feet. At school, I have little tables that go in
the classroom. They sit about this high and they are not long but I put the paper in there and I just write.
Or sometimes I just draw on the floor, if I’m too lazy to get a table.
DONAVIA WALKER: I get dressed with my feet.
DONAVIA WALKER: Brush my teeth with my feet.
DONAVIA WALKER: I can drive with my feet, everybody’s surprised by that.
DONAVIA WALKER: They always ask, “How?” You know, when I explain it, they’re like, “Oh yeah, that’s simple.”
My right foot for the steering wheel and my left foot for gas and break; that’s how I explain it.
A’DARIUS PHILLIPS: She’s very determined, she will not let you say she can’t do something. Because a lot of
people thought she could not drive a regular car, they thought she had to drive a special car.
She drove a regular car.
DONAVIA WALKER: I used to try to be a football player but she won’t let me so I became a cheerleader.
I just did the body movements and the leg movements. I didn’t really worry about the hand motions. We made it
work. It was fun, I mean I made new friends. We all bond together, so.
DONAVIA WALKER: I like playing soccer. Playing soccer was easy because you use your feet. I felt like I have
more control over both because I’m used to using my feet more than other people so it was easy.
That’s why I played three years, you know.
DONAVIA WALKER: JROTC is a program at high schools. It motivates some people to become better citizens,
and at first I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do anything.
But then after, probably the first semester in 9th grade, I knew I could do stuff and that’s why I stay in there
because they’re like a family. One team, one fight, one family. So they made me feel welcome.
DONAVIA WALKER: I command a squad and I’m also platoon sergeant in fifth period. I’m trying to work on
becoming Battalion Commander. That’s over the whole battalion.
Yeah, he’s helping me, Sergeant Major is helping me.
RUDY CARTER: I’m Sergeant Major Rudy Carter US Army Retired. I’m the Senior Army Instructor
at Winterhaven High School.
RUDY CARTER: I’m also the Senior Army Instructor for Cadet Donavia Angel Walker. A lot of moments stand out
to me as far as you know, being impressed with Angel. I remember the first day she walked through the doors
and, I had that vision that, “Man, I hope this student manages to stay in the program four years because I had
high hopes for her and she hasn’t disappointed.
DONAVIA WALKER: He helped me with my self-confidence because when other people didn’t believe me,
he was always there and he pushed me to do better than I’m already doing.
DONAVIA WALKER: This competition we are going to get to other schools, we are doing routines, we have drills
and colour guard.
DONAVIA WALKER: They judge you on how loud you are, if you can remember your commands and tell your squad
to execute your command.
RUDY CARTER: It’s people like Angel that makes my job worth getting up in the morning.
When I had my diagnosed prostate cancer, you know, I didn’t have to look far to get inspired. Having Angel in my
program has done wonders for me. You can't feel sorry for yourself when you have a student who doesn’t find
any reason to give up, doesn’t complain.
YAZMINE HADLEY: Man, she is like an inspiration to me because like, she has done so much without her arms.
She does so much and it like, it kind of shows me that I shouldn’t have an excuse as to
why I can’t do certain things.
JOSHUA JOHNSON: She is really like, kind of like, motivated me to do better as a better person.
Not just as a cadet, as a better person like, she tries her best and she expects everything 100%. Like, she don’t
want no special treatments or nothing. She expects a 100% from everybody
and I’m going to give her a 100%, it's all I can do.
RUDY CARTER: She brought tears to many people’s eyes, including mine. That inspiration that she gave me,
that she can go through things on a day to day basis and not look at herself as disabled or limited, she hasn’t.
So that has inspired me and inspired many others and everyday that I see her walk through my classroom is the
day that I realise that you know what, when I get up in the morning there is nothing that should limit me or
nothing should hold me back.
DONAVIA WALKER: I would say to anyone with a physical condition that you should love yourself and
find people who make you feel comfortable with yourself because it’s no reason you shouldn't love yourself.