Nico creates awareness around persons with disabilities
“People like me who were born without an arm learn to cope and carry on, just the same as a person with both arms,” said Mr Nel.
Born with only one arm, Nico Nel was never treated any differently by his parents.
If anything, they would encourage and motivate him to do the best he could despite his disability.
Nel, who is an industrial engineer by trade, left Sasol after 20 years of service in December.
“Throughout my life I have leant a few life lessons,” said Nel.
Nel went for a routine check-up in 2011.
“Besides my cholesterol being high, the doctor was happy with my results. I was advised to look into my diet to help the cholesterol and to quit smoking,” said Nel.
The following morning, he lit up a cigarette but immediately began to feel pain in his chest.
“The pain did not want to go away. I was rushed to the emergency ward, hooked up to a machine and was told I was having a heart attack.
“The doctor who was treating me said if I do not quit smoking we would be seeing more of each other,” said Nel.
This was where Nel made the decision to quit smoking.
“That was my last cigarette. I began losing weight, I exercised and picked up cycling and jogging.”
Nel competed in his first Iron Man race in Port Elizabeth in April 2015.
He said 2015 was a hectic year for training.
In November the same year he suffered a stroke.
“Doctors could not understand what had brought on the stroke as I was extremely fit, below 50 and led a healthy lifestyle,” said Nel.
After tests were done, Nel was diagnosed with Fabry disease where his body does not make the enzymes that is needed to digest fat.
“I was the 12th person with this condition in South Africa. Since this is a genetic disease they tested the entire family.”
Doctors discovered that Nel’s brother, daughter and two of his cousins have the same disease.
As a result of the stroke, doctors had to remove a big portion of the right side of Nel’s cerebellum.
“You get visible disabilities and invisible disabilities. I miss my second arm as much as an able-bodied person would miss a third arm.
“I learnt to swim, catch a ball, played hockey and golf without my one arm.
“My biggest challenge is the fact that I lost the right side of my cerebellum. That is where your balance is housed. Fortunately this was not affected.
“However my speech was damaged because of the pressure during the stroke,” said Nel.
Today, Nel still continues an active lifestyle of running, cycling and swimming and also enjoys the more laid back sport of fishing.
His bicycle is fitted with a prosthesis where he can comfortably slot in his arm and can just as easily release it in case of a fall.
He also creates awareness about people with disabilities and is open to speak to businesses and schools on how disabled people can do just about the same as an able-bodied person, just
maybe in a different way.
“Close to 80 per cent of people with disabilities are unemployed. The processes in our society is created by and for people with two arms and legs.
“The aim of universal design is to make the environment more applicable to a wider audience. For example people who are deaf can’t hear a fire siren, universal design require to install a red light that indicates to people with a hearing disability of a fire warning.”
He said that there are so many forms of disabilities that society groups all different disabilities as the same.
“Not having an arm is the least of my worries. For me, having a stroke was my biggest worry.”
He has a huge interest in creating awareness among people without disabilities to include people with disabilities.
“People with disabilities can’t include themselves. Awareness is necessary so that people without disabilities can include people with disabilities.
When referring to a work place, Nel said: “It is very important to have a manager who is able to look at different ways and can think critically about the outcome and not be fixated on how the job is done. I learnt to tie my shoes in a different way than an able-bodied person. At the end of the day the shoe is still tied. The fact that I do it differently than you should not be a problem.”
He said there is still a huge concern where persons with disabilities are being looked down on.
“A lot of people with disabilities are excluded from society because society does not think out of the box.
“People like me who were born without an arm learn to cope and carry on, just the same as a person with both arms,” said Nel.
Nel has an informative website that educates society on persons with disabilities.
His page is also a journey on his achievements in the sports he loves doing.
Visit his website on https://differentabilities.co.za/#about
