“For the past years I have been working with disabled children. Most of the children I work with have a mental age of a 2-year-old. Over the year I have learned to communicate with the kids in their own language. Many people don’t realize this but each disabled person has their own language. It’s a challenge but I try to learn each child’s language as best as I can. Every time it amazes me to see that despite of their limitations they still try to get their message across and even develop new skills. For example, one of the children recently sat on the toilet for a little while. Even though it might sound as if doesn’t make much of difference because the child will never be potty trained or go to the toilet independently, To them and to their parents it makes all the difference in the world.”

½ “I used to be an intern at a television network. Things were going really well and after two months we had our annual editors meeting. The editor in chief had prepared a presentation in which he summed up all the things the network had achieved that year. In the final slide of his presentation there was a caption that said: ’‘Diversity” and right underneath my name was written. When I saw my name up there I froze. I felt so ashamed and at the same time I wondered if they had just hired me because I was contributing to the diversity within the network and not because of my talent.“

“Both my biological parents are gay. They have never been a couple. They were really good friends who wanted to have a child so decided to have kids. I have 3 loving parents and honestly I only see advantages. It sometimes does worry me to see that homosexuals and lesbiennes are still being discriminated.
Four years ago my dad got beat up in the middle of the night when he came home from a party. He was found unconscious by a lady in the street. He was brought to the hospital by ambulance. Even though now he has no physical damage it did have a big impact on him. Still he says that he will never change who he is. I really admire him for doing so. He said that one day he wants to share his story with the world but right now he is not ready yet. So until then I’ll do it for him.”

“I just simply think I’m not made for the school system. At school you do things because the teacher tells you so. When I have a certain freedom I end up being way more productive. Take my act for example. I started about a month ago and whenever I feel like it I perform on the street. It is something I love to do and that is why sometimes I can practise for hours. I’m starting to get the hang of it. I have been going to school for the past 13 years of my life so when I’ll finish high school I don’t think I’’ll go to University.”“So what is it you wanna do when you finish?”“Work on my new act, be free and learn how to survive.”

“In high school I was bullied very badly by a group of seven boys and one girl. They always asked me why I didn’t dress normally or why I listened to strange music. At some point they made up a rumor that I had said something racist. They waited for me after school and while I tried to explain that I was no racist, they threw me on the ground and kicked me in my face. An eyewitness pressed charges against them but nothing ever came out of that. Two years later two of them showed up in my class and pretty soon the bullying started all over again. They said they would stab me with a knife and throw me under a train. This time I pressed charges against them. When the police came to my school the principle claimed that I was the one who had provoked the situation. At some point one of their friends thought it would be fun to punch me in the face but this time I didn’t put up with it anymore so I grabbed him by the neck. At that very moment a teacher walked in and I was suspended from school. I went to another school and changed my attitude. I didn’t want to be bullied again so I developed an extremely aggressive attitude. Which is strange cause that’s not the way I am at all.