https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3334-3806
Figures & data
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the male respondents (n = 15).
Figure 1. Garbage. People give me dirty looks, as if I am not worth anything. Have you been to a sewage drain? That is how people pull their noses when they see me. This filthy and foul-smelling place is how I think they see me. Photographed by: Devon.
Figure 2. Broken toilet pot. They look at me as if I stink like the toilet pot in the picture. See, most people are readable. It is in the way that they look down on me. It makes me feel small and withdrawn. Photographed by: Johan.
Figure 3. The disabling chair. The first thing that people see is the wheelchair, which is my disability, they cannot see beyond that. It is like they do not see me at all. Photographed by: Kurt.
Figure 4. Reject, patching rejects. People here do not see me as good enough for anything or any other work. I work in a factory, for years, I stitch and glue kneecaps and arm guards. I feel like I am a reject patching rejects because they say that is what I must do. I am only doing this because I need more money to survive. Photographed by: Michael.
Figure 5. Paraplegic, Deaf, and Voiceless? I will go with family and friends to shops, and often we will bump into people that we have not seen in a while, sometimes even complete strangers. They will speak about me, sometime to each other or to my parents or my sister, in front of me, but not to me. For example, they will ask: ‘How is he doing?’ I am right there in front of them, yet they cannot ask me, they cannot even look at me. But then I answer them, confidently, feeling so annoyed and emotional, ‘I am very well, thank you!’ Photographed by: Ridah.
Figure 6. Like a baby. This picture took me back to the time when the doctor said to me, ‘Mr, you are now like a baby’. ‘You’ll have to learn to walk again’. It is a terrible feeling of loss in who I thought I was as a man. Some days I do feel like a baby because I cannot do things. It is rather terrible that I am such a big and grown man, but I feel so small. Photographed by: Albert.
Figure 7. ‘The half-man?’ They will say, ‘look, here comes that half-man’, that is, personal. You cannot say I'm half, I mean how will you feel if someone tells you that you are half? I do not have half a body. I have legs. I am a full man. Photographed by: Oppies.
Figure 8. The same as other humans. I am the same as any human. I am healthy. I can think. There are many things that I can do, maybe even better than the person who can use his legs. I just happen to sit in a wheelchair. I ride in the wheelchair, and it is as if I am walking. So, it is very hurtful when people say that I am disabled. Photographed by: Johan.
Figure 9. No difference. It is not in my mind to think that I am disabled, because everything that I want to do, I do. So, if your mind is working and your hands is working, you can do many things. Legs are just for going. Photographed by: Michael.
Figure 10. Still human. I am still a human being. If you breathe, and then you are still a human. I am still alive. My brain and my mind are still there, I am complete, a whole human being who just cannot walk. I do a lot of things better than the person who can walk because I have a mind and intellectual ability. Photographed by: Oppies.
Figure 11. I am a sexual being. Sometimes just being close to her makes it feel like we are sexually connected. She will sit on my lap and kiss me all over my upper body, she will talk to me in that voice man, you know, that sexy voice. I will also respond to her affection, and in that way, in that moment, we are making love. Photographed by: Garth.
Figure 12. I am differently abled. It just means that you must do it in a different way to achieve it. Now that I am studying at university, my family and friends are proud, but I just feel ‘why are you proud? This is what normal people do. They finish high school, go to university, move out, and things like that’. I think what drives me the most, is that I can carry my own weight. Photographed by: Allen.
Figure 13 . All cracked clay pots. We all have our disability. Mine is just more visible than yours. I cannot hide mine. But everyone has a shortcoming. Nobody is perfect. So, it does not make me an exception. There is always something that we are not satisfied with. We are all cracked clay pots. Photographed by: Kenneth.
