La Milliaire college invited three well-known athletes as part of a disability awareness day. Poignant testimonies and simulation workshops dressed this Friday dedicated to the acceptance of all differences.
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Yesterday at 8:00 p.m.
Students of 6e play big. The top is given by Grégory Colom: “Ready? Go! “The face-to-face are linked on the arm wrestling table brought by the multiple world champion of the discipline. Yes, a real sporting discipline that requires technique, tact and strength of… conviction. In this little game, it’s a young lady, Shaïna, who folds the “game”. “She has talent this young,” gratifies Greg.
Confined to a wheelchair, this force of nature, with bulging and tattooed biceps, enjoys this little improvised tournament in a classroom. For him, sport is today a vehicle for conveying a simple message: “To make the world of disability recognised, to prove that there are no differences between people with disabilities and – I don’t like this word – normal people, he unfolds. Personally, I am a victim of multiple sclerosis. If I wasn’t in this chair, people wouldn’t necessarily see my pain. Disability is also invisible illnesses. Young people need to be made aware of this. »
“If you get stuck on your disability, you’ll take it easy”
Grégory, who is one of three renowned athletes invited by La Milliaire college, seems to be in great shape. His secret, he will share it with the college students. Unsurprisingly, the one who has just won his thirtieth consecutive title of national champion in Paris, evokes the benefits of physical exercise: “Sport helps the mind. And it is the mind that helps fight disease. If we remain stuck on his handicap, he will take his ease and will only grow. An admirable and valid life lesson in other areas…
Change of room, change of champion. Odile Hochard takes all the light. Elegant, this sportswoman recognized beyond the borders of Thionville suffers, from birth, from retinitis pigmentosa. An illness that plunges her, today, into total darkness. “To sum up, I was very visually impaired from a very young age”, summarizes the Thionvillloise, back from the Paris half-marathon completed in 1h53′. It’s been a good decade that she responds, with good grace, to requests from Céline, the Ulis coordinator in charge of the event.
Odile Hochard is a recognized sportswoman beyond the borders of Thionville. Photo RL /Armand FLOHR
This loyalty is explained by the personal journey of this sexagenarian with an athletic physique: “In 6th grade, they made fun of me. My classmates were not aware of my disease, which was rather unknown at school. I couldn’t read on the blackboard, some teachers even thought I was acting,” she recalls without leaving her delicate smile. Odile smiles at life, her life which she revolves around sport: “I can’t see but I function normally. In his view, disability is not an insurmountable barrier, but an obstacle to be overcome. It is not Franck Festor, tibial amputee at the origin of several exceptional sporting challenges and third guest of the day, who will say the opposite…
