My job has nothing to do with my wheelchair

My story

After high school, I spent a year in the USA as an au-pair. I was curious to see the world. Towards the end of that year, I toured the west coast of the United States. In Monument Valley, I fell off my horse and injured my spinal cord. Since then, I have been in a wheelchair.

I was just 20 and, of course, it was hard for me at first. My life changed completely within seconds. I returned to Germany and moved in with my parents. In the beginning, I could hardly do anything on my own and had to relearn many basic things, like getting dressed.

Doing things differently

Gradually, I got back in synch with my body. I just had to do things differently. I love my freedom. My parents raised me to be a free, independent woman, and the wheelchair reinforced that need.

Sometime after the accident, I started looking around for a suitable sport. Someone told me about wheelchair basketball. I was never good at ball sports, but they convinced me to try it. And sure enough, I enjoyed it and got competitive! The more I trained, the better I got. And then came the invitation to the German national team tryouts: It was unbelievable, but fantastic.

Like in the movies

2012 brought about more big changes. The first came with the Paralympic Games in London. I had trained so hard for it and suddenly I was really there, at the Games! It was like being in a movie. Our team got better and better with each game. We made it to the final and beat Australia 58-44 – we won gold!

Open-mindedness

After the games, I applied for a job at ING. I talked openly about my wheelchair. Why not? In the job interview, I made it clear I didn't need any help, as long as everything was set up to be barrier-free. There was an elevator, and the toilets were sufficiently large. So it was all no problem. ING is very open-minded and supports diversity.

At first, my colleagues had to get used to the fact that I didn't need any help 😉.  But my independence is important to me. If I need help, I ask. By now, everyone understands that. I'm proud of my work. After all, I'm responsible for over 60 trainees and work-study students. And isn't it cool to be a role model for so many people?

There are only some occasions when I feel "different" among strangers because of the wheelchair, like if they talk to me like I am a child. In such cases, we are literally not seeing eye-to-eye. So, I just stay true to myself and show them that my job has nothing to do with my wheelchair.