Manuela Vos: “I am the same as before but in a different body” | Culture | EUROtoday

“Do you need a quadriplegic actress?” Manuela Vos (Leeuwarden, Netherlands, 56 years outdated) requested Emilio del Valle the primary time they met after her accident. Then, the playwright answered no. Now he does want her, he wants her, not simply anybody. You are the axis on which it rotates Manuela, the infinite flight, which opens tomorrow, Thursday, October 17, on the Madrid theater Cuarta Pared and can tour Galicia, Cantabria, additionally Zaragoza, Valladolid… The piece is about, mixing music, video and textual content, a few girl whose neck was damaged ( He has broken the fourth cervical, the fifth and the sixth) and life on July 5, 2021 climbing the needles of Tajahierro, within the Picos de Europa.

In simply over three years he has overcome many obstacles and reached many targets. The final one —for now—, the one which handed on September 24 in Zurich. By profitable her class, H1 (the place these with the best diploma of incapacity compete), she turned the primary Spanish world champion in Paralympic biking (she turned a nationalized a 12 months in the past).

Ask. Is society ready to reside with individuals with wants completely different from these of the bulk?

Answer. I do not assume so, though I can not communicate for different individuals. In the work we work to normalize, that’s the message. It’s based mostly on my story, however hopefully it helps people who find themselves completely different, who we take a look at as in the event that they have been bizarre. The extra completely different individuals we see, the extra accepted will probably be.

P. Do you are feeling these condescending seems to be?

R. There’s all the time that, so I smile, individuals smile and calm down slightly. What occurs to me rather a lot, and bothers me, is that if I’m accompanied they don’t deal with me, they ask or communicate to the opposite individual as if I might not perceive them or discover out. It shocks me rather a lot.

P. Are cultural services equivalent to museums, theaters, auditoriums accessible?

R. I’ve been doing this for such a short while… There is increasingly accessibility. Let me clarify: there may be extra accessibility for others, however there are few quadriplegic individuals like me who’re as energetic and for us it isn’t so widespread. Spaces are more and more extra accessible to the general public, however what about actors in wheelchairs? If somebody needs to audition or needs to review theater, are the areas ready? [En la Cuarta Pared han habilitado un camerino para ella].

P. What do you imply you’ve got been doing this for some time?

R. It’s solely been a 12 months since I’ve felt myself in my physique. At first you’re in a bubble. It is such an enormous drama, so sophisticated to imagine, I’m not even speaking about accepting it, I have never accepted it. It takes you some time to really feel your self. For a 12 months now I really feel that the one that’s right here, in my physique, is identical because it was earlier than, I’ve not modified. Before I used to be in a greater than cell physique, I did numerous sports activities, and now I’m on this; But my thoughts hasn’t modified.

P. How do you reside with the life earlier than the accident, with the reminiscence?

R. I contact it little… (will get excited). The two most vital issues in my life have been my kids and the mountains, there I discovered my peace. Now the place do I discover it?

P. Have you returned to the mountains?

R. I’ve accomplished the tailored Sella descent. I do not need individuals to assume that I take too many dangers, there are those that assume I take them by strolling down the road, however I’ve the fitting to take action. I do the tailored model of the descent and there are individuals in every single place who provide help to.

I do not prefer it once they say… “of course, for climbing…” Climbing is secure, I fell in a very simple space. I used to be very ready, I had the very best materials, I spent a fortune on the anchors (security and anchor factors utilized in climbing), they have been the very best, in truth, the final one I put saved my life. People assume that when you observe these sports activities you’re unconscious, however the vital factor is to do issues effectively and I have to have a life.

P. And does God, who seems within the work, play a job?

R. No, I do not assume so. If it existed, the issues that occur wouldn’t occur, and I do not imply to me, I imply on the earth. But I perceive that there are individuals who assist. What I do consider, and I do not know why, is that there’s something in spite of everything this. That makes me not afraid of demise. When I used to be within the ICU and could not breathe I remembered that the euthanasia legislation had been accepted a number of months earlier than.

P. How does it really feel to be thought-about an instance, a heroine?

R. I’m a standard individual, somebody who’s looking for himself once more. I’ve been by way of monumental downturns. I’ve numerous ache. I take numerous drugs. The ache is all the time there, I examine it to the noise of a nightclub, when all of a sudden, while you exit and there’s no noise, you’ve that feeling of “ah, what a relief!” The day they discover one thing to remove my ache might be one thing like this. I do not ask to stroll, it is sufficient for me to remove the ache, my life could be completely different, however I do not need to be a complainer.

I do sports activities to seek out that peace that I beforehand discovered within the mountains. For feeling wholesome. And the theater to have an occupation, to be helpful.

P. On stage you additionally discuss intercourse, is that this matter taboo with quadriplegics?

R. I do know you’re curious, however nobody dares to ask. I communicate from the standpoint of girls. Emilio [del Valle] He wrote that it is sort of a volcano, that it makes noise, that it’s there, about to blow up. And it is like he describes it, like electrical energy, one thing lights up in you. I can get lonely considering, identical to earlier than. I discover these vibrations, it needs to be a lie. I’ve no sensitivity, however I do really feel. I feel you’re employed rather a lot with recollections. I’ve orgasms, they’re completely different, however they’re actual. I believed: “Oysters, how strong! “It’s very cool.”

P. And one thing, perhaps higher, or not… The humorousness.

R. Without humor there isn’t any life.

P. Have you ever laughed at your state of affairs?

R. Of moments attributable to my state. Moments that make me cry, however then, after I inform it, you find yourself laughing. I used to say that I had emotional incontinence, I cry rather a lot. Now I say that I’m incontinent in every single place, and other people do not dare to chortle.