Michelle Payne Quotes

Pity? You don't want to be pitied because you're a cripple in a wheelchair? Stay in your house!

Every person with a disability is an individual.

When I discovered Special Olympics and saw how it integrates these athletes into programs that change the whole way they see themselves and how they perform, it blew my mind. I wanted to be involved.

Every single day matters when it comes to building a world where every person can live their life to the fullest.

As leaders, I think we have to give people in many places a chance to have success, not continue to put those people down.

People with Down syndrome can do anything. They just do it at their own pace. Give them a chance, and you will be rewarded beyond your greatest expectations.

What I think is that we should be helping people so they can reach an even greater potential.

We don't want to be treated any differently, and we want to continue with our lives and our careers.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

Most of my younger Native American friends are not in any way looking for sympathy, and they're not looking to lay guilt on anybody. They have their dignity, and they do what they do.

Yooralla, like most disability service organisations, is full of good people who are passionate about the rights of people with disabilities.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

When you value people, you give them freedom.

I hope that when people with Down's see me, they will be inspired to do more than they think they can.

Do we not realize that self respect comes with self reliance?

We really have to be willing to find out who we are instead of rebelling for the equal rights that we've been denied, that we do deserve.

In coming to the shores of Africa, we indulged the pleasing hope that we should be permitted to exercise and improve those faculties which impart to man his dignity; to nourish in our hearts the flame of honourable ambition, to cherish and indulge those aspirations which a Beneficent Creator hath implanted in every human heart, and to evince to all who despise, ridicule and oppress our race that we possess with them a common nature, are with them susceptible of equal refinement, and capable of equal advancement in all that adorns and dignifies man.

We all have as much right to take up our space in the world as one another.

The adolescent must never be treated as a child, for that is a stage of life that he has surpassed. It is better to treat an adolescent as if he had greater value than he actually shows than as if he had less and let him feel that his merits and self-respect are disregarded.

Special Olympics is such an empowering organization for the thousands of athletes involved and those of us like myself who lend support to them.

My mom has always taught me to stand up for people who don't have a voice.

We all want equality, we all want to be loved, we all want to have the full potential and opportunity to grow and to participate fully in our societies.

We have to inspire people and give them a sense of hope. We need to bring people along, not ridicule and tear them down.

When I was growing up, my mother taught me and my sisters to celebrate each other - there was no room in our household for negativity. She taught us to embrace each other, and this was empowering for us. She also taught us the value of celebrating our differences.

People with disabilities are capable and deserve the same opportunities as everyone else.