How can you handle or use your handicap skillfully? What obstacles are there that you put yourself in the way of, but actually do not exist? Time and again, people ask me how to deal with my disability, whether I have no limitations in my job or are disadvantaged in other leisure activities.
In fact, I lost "only" five fingers, with two of them getting replaced. A good deal, considering that the machine I was in put me in for only about 2 seconds. Could have been worse. In the hospital, of course, were the first thoughts in "how many fingers got it" and "what could be saved". Since I did not know 100% of what was wrong with my right hand for more than a week, I stayed afloat with jokes and a positive mood. One single thought manifested during this time: I hope I can play games again. Sounds crazy, but that was one of my few thoughts at the time.
The first time I learned what my right hand was missing and saw it for the first time, I knew that gaming would be a problem. Over the weeks in the hospital and then at home, I had no need to deal with the truth and the loss of a beloved hobby. But when I came to more and my joy of life slowly returned, I began to read about people with similar handicaps and to watch videos bout them. I was looking for inspiration, trying to design a controller that would allow me to play with just one hand and much more. I did not realize that a stupid accident took away something that I liked doing in my free time.
In the summer of 2011 - I had already had my first new finger transplanted - I stumbled upon a video in which a person was playing with only one hand and his foot. He used a certain technique while sitting and could play without any problems every game. So I started imitating this technique and slowly playing games again. My goal was to be able to play shooters and other very fast games again. After a few months I could play the shooter "Battlefield 3" again. At first I was anything but good and had to learn my skills from scratch, but I did not give up. Every game-over and lost game reminded me of what had happened to me and why I was so bad as a very good gamer. It hurt and the way was anything but fun. But the motivation was too big to give up and so I went on.
Today I can play everything without problems, have a high reaction speed and play almost as I did before the accident. Why I found it worth writing about the one post? Because I believe that every single one of us can do what he wants. There are no borders. Borders arise in the head and when one says: "I can not do that anyway." If you put something as a goal and put in the necessary time and work, everything is no problem. There were many things that I had to relearn after my accident. But writing things, tying shoelaces or driving a car is necessary and there is hardly a way around. But playing with the Xbox was a goal that I set myself and achieved.
Every time you think you can not or someone tells you you can not do that, forget it quickly. You set your limits for yourself and thus, how far you want to go out of your comfort zone. Of course, change and learning something new requires work and also time. But in the end, it always pays off. An experience is richer and you grow from it.
The first step to getting somewhere is to decide not to stay where you are.
Thank you for your time and I would appreciate comments and feedback.
