What Disability Means to Me

Holt International adoptee Kari Banta is one of many young wheelchair athletes that the U.S. Paralympics Committee invited to write an essay on what disabilities mean to them—for a chance to go to Beijing. One of 25 winners from hundreds of entries, Kari will travel with her older brother to the Paralympics, to be held in Beijing in early September, all expenses paid. This is a dream come true for Kari, who was adopted by Julie and Steve Banta at the age of 5 from Thailand. This is her winning essay.

I was born in Thailand and was adopted and moved to Texas when I was 5 years old. I was born with spina bifida, and when I was 3 months old, I had surgery to fix my spinal cord in Chang Mai in northern Thailand. After the surgery, I couldn’t move my legs. The orphanage got me a handmade wheelchair. It was a metal chair with tires that always went flat. I used my wheelchair a lot outside. I crawled inside. I crawled up and down the stairs. I crawled around in the orphanage.

When I came home, I got a new wheelchair with tires that didn’t go flat. I also got braces and a walker. I put them on and walked around the house, school and outside.

A couple of weeks after I came home, I started kindergarten. I didn’t know any English. I picked it up fast, though. It only took me about three months. I went to Glenhope Elementary School. I passed every grade in elementary school. Now, I’m at Cross Timbers Middle School. I joined Girl Scouts when I was in third grade and a Dallas basketball wheelchair team in 2005. I have taken piano lessons since first grade and sing in the school choir.

In the orphanage in Thailand, if I were still there, I wouldn’t be able to go to school, be in Girl Scouts, be on a wheelchair basketball team, play the piano, sing in a school choir or get good medical care. There wouldn’t be a good future for me with my disability.

In my family, I can do those things and have a good future and go after my dreams.
I can do anything people can do using their whole body. I can cook, get in and out of cars without being lifted, and go up and down the stairs. I can swim, change myself and wash cars. My upper body is so strong. Nobody lifts me up for anything, and I push myself without any help. If there are new things I haven’t done, I will be able to do them if I put my mind to figuring it out. I don’t let people who don’t think I can do things get in my way. I always know there is a way and keep trying. I don’t feel like I have a disability because nothing gets in my way.

At basketball practice, I have a lot of fun, but it’s hard work. Everybody calls me the shooter. When I first started I loved it and will never give up. I mostly practice on shooting, and I’ve gotten much better shooting from the free throw line. I have gone to a lot of different tournaments in other states. The Dallas women’s team asked me to practice with them.

I want to go to Beijing, China, because I want to meet people who have the same and different disabilities as me. Someday, I want to be in the Paralympics and play basketball. I want to do things I haven’t done before. This is a great opportunity for me to go and see other athletes.
—Kari Banta