Cape Town - Having had a tough start to his life, Jason Samuels is proving that living with a disability doesn’t mean you’re destined to just sit at home.
Despite being born with athetoid cerebral palsy, Samuels has refused to let his disability define his life.
Athetoid cerebral palsy is a type of cerebral palsy that results from damage to the cerebellum occurring during the brain’s development. Damage typically occurs before, during or shortly after an infant’s birth.
People with athetoid cerebral palsy experience fluctuations in muscle tone and do not have control over various parts of their body.
Samuels, 34, was born on December 31, 1985 at seven months, just 20 minutes before his identical twin brother, Johnathan.
At four months, his mother, Sophie Leukes, noticed something was wrong when his neck was not as strong as his brother’s. After numerous visits to the hospital Jason was diagnosed with athetoid cerebral palsy.
“I was a single mother that lived in a small bedroom in the home of the people I worked for as a domestic. It was extremely difficult to have to care for my babies. It was the toughest time in my life when I had to leave them in the room so that I could make food and clean for the people I worked for.
“Jason was four years old when he started walking. I had to be strong. I taught him how to use his hands because as a child, it was easier for him to use his feet to do the things that children his age would be doing with their hands. I had to carry him on my back from Durbanville, where I was working, to Bellville taxi rank where he would be transported to school,” said Leukes.
Growing up, Jason refused to be seen as different and he always strived to do the things that his twin brother could do.
Johnathan said: “Mentally, there is nothing wrong with Jason and he never backed down from anything, he would always try to do the things that I did.
“I remember joking with Jason, because he wanted to learn how to drive. Because his head would not work in conjunction with his hands, his head would be facing the side but he would be looking to the front so people would think that he was not looking where he's going and would cause many accidents because other drivers would be watching him.”
Jason has tried to work at places where other people with disabilities worked, but he never felt that he fit in.
“I wanted to be where I was not treated like I had a disability,” Jason said.
He went out on his own to find work and eventually he approached the owner of Perfect Image barber shop in Blue Downs and Jason has been working there for almost 17 years now.
Owner Henry Taaibosch said: “I depend on him, he runs things when I am not here and I trust him. Everyone knows him so when he's not here things are just not the same.”
Known by his nickname “Jackson” he is very well known in the community and although it takes a while to understand what he is saying, he is always cracking jokes and putting a smile on people’s faces.
“The two of us would be walking and people would always be shouting for him and greeting him. Jason is extremely loyal and he has a good heart, he is an inspiration to me and I am sure it's the same for many that know him and what he's been through,” said Johnathan.
As Jason gets older, walking becomes increasingly difficult and he walks to work and home every day. Some day, he will require the aid of a walker.
“I would love for him to get a walker because he does not have the ability to stop himself from falling even if he trips over a small rock, so at times I would carry him on my back to his work,” added Johnathan.
“I do not know why I am the way I am, but I know that God knows why and I am blessed to have the life I have and to have people around me that love me.”
Weekend Argus