Antonio Lezza: smile and courage
Seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty has always been the right choice for 35-year-old Antonio Lezza, who has been in Bulgaria for the past four years.
Those who know Antonio are impressed by the courage that has helped him survive intact, with a smile and optimism, through a life which he himself describes as "worthy of a soap opera".
Antonio has been in a wheelchair since he was 18, the result of "a road accident because I hitchhiked with the wrong person," he says.
A year later he found out that he was adopted, after his mother committed suicide, and that he was not her only child but had two brothers and two sisters.
In Italy he worked in tourism, commerce and marketing, and prior to moving to Bulgaria he spent a year living and working in Mexico. His coming to Bulgaria was far from planned.
"In a conversation about Bulgaria, I took a look at a map and decided to go there the next day, without even thinking that this trip will make me move to a country that I didn’t know at all, but in which I fell in love with immediately."
But if on one level Bulgarians’ culture and way of thinking helped him adjust quickly, the difficulty of moving around the streets in his wheelchair did not ease his everyday life.
Yet he reacted to these challenges with courage and optimism, and currently he is working with a national organisation aimed at integrating people with disabilities and removing all these infrastructural challenges, by using his experience from Italy.
"I have done a lot of things since I first sat in the wheelchair, but I wish to do so much more. After I skied on special skis in the Alps, I took part in a motor rally for drivers with disabilities, together with Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni. I flew with a delta plane and did a bungee jump. Now I have a bigger dream, to take part in the Bulgarian version of the popular reality show Big Brother," Antonio says.
"Life is a constant challenge and I want to test myself and be the first person in my condition to experience such excitement. Most of all, I want to give courage and strength to those who have lost them, whether because they have some disability or some other problems," he says.
Those who know Antonio are impressed by the courage that has helped him survive intact, with a smile and optimism, through a life which he himself describes as "worthy of a soap opera".
Antonio has been in a wheelchair since he was 18, the result of "a road accident because I hitchhiked with the wrong person," he says.
A year later he found out that he was adopted, after his mother committed suicide, and that he was not her only child but had two brothers and two sisters.
In Italy he worked in tourism, commerce and marketing, and prior to moving to Bulgaria he spent a year living and working in Mexico. His coming to Bulgaria was far from planned.
"In a conversation about Bulgaria, I took a look at a map and decided to go there the next day, without even thinking that this trip will make me move to a country that I didn’t know at all, but in which I fell in love with immediately."
But if on one level Bulgarians’ culture and way of thinking helped him adjust quickly, the difficulty of moving around the streets in his wheelchair did not ease his everyday life.
Yet he reacted to these challenges with courage and optimism, and currently he is working with a national organisation aimed at integrating people with disabilities and removing all these infrastructural challenges, by using his experience from Italy.
"I have done a lot of things since I first sat in the wheelchair, but I wish to do so much more. After I skied on special skis in the Alps, I took part in a motor rally for drivers with disabilities, together with Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni. I flew with a delta plane and did a bungee jump. Now I have a bigger dream, to take part in the Bulgarian version of the popular reality show Big Brother," Antonio says.
"Life is a constant challenge and I want to test myself and be the first person in my condition to experience such excitement. Most of all, I want to give courage and strength to those who have lost them, whether because they have some disability or some other problems," he says.