Tony Judt Quotes

I feel bad for people in wheelchairs and people who have to use crutches.

It's terrible, a crutch, isn't it?

I am not the paraplegic seated permanently in his chair or the able-bodied person on her feet. Identity for a hemiplegic is a shifty thing.

The flesh and bone leg is just beautiful. It's elegant. You know, when it's working, it's incredible. But if it's not working, well, you know, your life is certainly far from over.

Anything you rely on can become a crutch. And disabled or not, when you rely on something, that is what will cripple you.

I was born with a different physical capacity to other people.

At the time I was asked if I would ever step back in a race car, but what was very important for me was to go into the bathroom and pee on my own, but I could not do that. I had to be helped. That was my number one priority.

Flying without feathers is not easy: my wings have no feathers.

By far, the most disabling thing in my life is the physical environment. It dictates what I can and can't do every day.

To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable.

Towards the end of 2003 it was hard to get through training - and the darkest point was when a doctor told me there was a possibility I could end up in a wheelchair.

There is just so very much I can't do. I don't drive, for one.

Sadly, I am not able to take part in the fieldwork myself so much anymore, as both of my legs were amputated following an airplane crash twelve years ago.

I can't disguise myself with a wig and dark glasses - the wheelchair gives me away.

It's factual to say I am a bilateral-below-the-knee amputee. I think it's subjective opinion as to whether or not I am disabled because of that. That's just me.

I don't think of myself as being disabled, or able-bodied.

I took my sight and mobility for granted.

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

He that has one eye is a prince among those that have none.

A handicap is like trying to race and you have a ten pound weight stuck to your waist. That is a handicap.

I really forget that I have no arms or legs sometimes.

If I had nine of my fingers missing I wouldn't type any slower.

My knee has always given me problems. But it got to the point where I actually had to start giving up things. And I hate that.

If we see someone in a wheelchair, we assume they cannot walk. It may be that they can walk three, four, five steps. That, to them, means they can walk.

I don't think there is any philosophy that suggests having polio is a good thing.