Paris (AFP) – Ezra Frech’s dream is to become the most successful Paralympian in history, and with two golds at the age of 19, he is well on his way. However, his goal extends beyond personal achievement; he aims to use his high profile to “de-stigmatise” disability. Frech was born with missing bones in his left leg and just one finger on his left hand. At the age of two, he had to have his left leg amputated, and one of the toes from that foot was transplanted onto his hand.
“When I was younger, I used to be really upset wondering why I was born like this, and I would get really down on myself,” the Californian told CBS KCAL9 in 2020. “Then I realised, as I got older, that I was born this way and that there was no need to sulk in the sadness.” Instead, he resolved to “make the most of my life, be the best athlete and student I can,” the T63 high jump world record holder added. He easily won that event at the Paralympics in Paris on Tuesday, having claimed a surprise gold in the men’s T63 100m the night before.
His parents—father Clayton and Iranian-born mother Bahar Soomekh—readily embraced his positivity. However, his mother noted that he was named Ezra for a reason. “It was hard, I have to admit. My first baby, and I had never heard of a child being born missing limbs,” Soomekh told the same media outlet. “It was a complete and total shock for me, but there was this belief that there was a purpose and reason for this child to be here; hence why we named him Ezra.” Ezra means to help, to teach.
Her son has indeed lived up to his name. Along with his parents, they created Angel City Sports, a not-for-profit entity that holds approximately 250 adaptive sports clinics a year for disabled athletes. Frech is mindful of “how many barriers there are to engaging in disabled sport,” such as prosthetic blades costing $15,000 and expensive racing wheelchairs. After all, children with a disability “cannot just roll up to a YMCA and play basketball.”
“I am most proud of me and my family organizing Angel City Sports because sports can last only so long, but the impacts it makes on children and veterans’ lives lasts forever,” Frech told CBS.
Frech, who has two younger brothers, experienced firsthand how sport can provide a safe haven for those with disabilities. “Roughly 15% of Americans have some form of disability, (but) everywhere you go, you felt like an outsider,” he said. “I was the only kid at school with one leg, and I was stared at, had fingers pointed at, and was underestimated everywhere I went. Sports was almost like an escape from all that, and it is somewhere I did not feel different anymore.”
This is why Frech wants to use sports as a vehicle for changing long-held clichés about disabled people. “I think what serves as my north star, my real motivation, is the disabled community at large,” Frech told Olympics.com in May. “Life with a physical disability is really difficult, yes, (but) my overarching goals are to normalise disability, change the way society views disability, de-stigmatise it, and take away this taboo that surrounds this community, which really shouldn’t be there. I believe that through proper representation, promotion, and awareness of the Paralympic Games, children around the world won’t have to be abandoned by their parents just because they were born different.”
While his proud father worries he “might be putting too much on his shoulders,” Frech’s enthusiasm mirrors that of Soomekh, who was a successful actress and starred in the 2005 Academy Award Best Picture “Crash.” “I want to build these families up,” she said in 2019. “When they see just darkness, we can bring light and show them that there’s an amazing world out there for them.”
Frech, who recalls that watching the 2016 Rio Paralympics as a child drove him to become a Paralympian, believes that differences can be turned to one’s advantage. “Whether we think different, look different, or act different, we all have some sort of challenge,” he said. “We should embrace the challenge and obstacle, using it to our advantage to be a better student, athlete, or person.”
© 2024 AFP
