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Jeison Aristizabal: A disabled man educating disabled children.
In much of the world, the greatest loss of talent is disabled people with so much to offer, yet left to languish because of prejudice against them.
But 33-year-old Jeison is doing something significant about this.
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At his birth in Cali, Colombia, his brain was deprived of oxygen. As a result, he has lifelong Cerebral Palsy.
"When I was a child, a doctor told my mom that I would amount to nothing," Jeison told CNN Heroes. That doctor was wrong on a grand scale.
Despite the limitations of his Cerebral Palsy, Jeison is smart and he is determined to help himself, and other disabled people.
There was skepticism when Jeison’s mother had him mainstreamed in school, and in his parents’ garage, Jeison began his physical therapy.
Today, Jeison runs a non-profit foundation in Cali, and what began as garage therapy now operates in a large facility with 480-disabled children.
These children, many of them poor, not only receive therapy and medical care, but free meals and a first caliber education.
The quality of education is so good, some parents of non-disabled children pay for their children to be educated there.
In Colombia, Jeison is redefining what it means to be disabled, as his school is bringing many formerly stigmatized disabled children into the mainstream of the nation.
As for Jeison, he is also becoming an attorney, and among his objectives is to change Columbian laws that limit access for disabled people.
To see Jeison, and his school in action in a heartwarming 4-minute, 56-second video click here.
Editor's Note:
To learn more http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/23/health/cnn-heroes-jeison-aristizabal/ and https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/jeison-aristizabalthe-boy-who-raised-a-village-erink/
Jeison’s foundation is ASODISVALLE, an acronym which translates in English as Association of Disabled People of the Valley.
In the next KazanToday:
A man who overcame repeated rejections to become highly successful.
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