Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy: “We disabled people are disgusted”
Having become an idol on the web thanks to the ironic interview he gave immediately after winning the gold medal at the Paris Paralympics, a competition in which he also set a new world record, Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy talks about himself in an interview with There Press.
Affected by Guillain-Barré syndrome, the athlete says: “Sports have been a rebirth for me, it has given me the opportunity to not think about negative things”. And on those who attacked him for the color of his skin he replies: “Well, they are the ignorant ones, it slides off me”.
He has always been reserved, but now he has become a star: “And now I find myself overwhelmed by this wave, with all these interviews. But in the end, also on the advice of other athletes, I threw myself in, even if with a little discomfort”.
On his disability he says: “I have experienced certain things first hand. When you are hospitalized you meet boys and girls with problems, but also their families. They are people who unfortunately do not have friends. Now I use a bad expression, I know, but we are disgusted because there are those who are in a wheelchair or who perhaps have a catheter with a urine bag. We are like everyone else, but we are discriminated against for a disability that we did not want. We found it and we keep it”.
Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy says he will bring “the medal, I will make people feel the weight and the meaning to understand what I wanted to say. Sport rehabilitates people. It satisfies you. This is why I dedicated the gold to others. I was only an athlete, but behind me there were many people who assisted me, helped me and believed in me. And this victory is for them”.
Now she receives “many messages, all very nice. For example, a foreign girl wrote to me explaining that she too suffers from Guillain-Barré syndrome and can’t do anything. I advised her to throw herself into it, to do what she wants and not think about the risk of failure. Getting up in the morning, eating and brushing your teeth is already a victory. There are many who can’t even do that.”
Then he sends a message about equality: “We disabled people can be on par with able-bodied people and we shouldn’t be discriminated against because we can do the same things as them. Obviously with a bit of difficulty. But we are on the same level”.
On inclusion in Italy, however, the athlete states: “On a sporting level I have always felt good. Of course, sometimes you get lost in many small things. I think for example of Niccolò, a blind friend of mine who lives in Focene, outside Rome, has to travel about sixty kilometers every time to train. Either there are no facilities or the existing ones are difficult to reach”.
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