Article from India

Found the article online, here it is:

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Amazing Amanda

SHE is certainly of a different calibre, a mettle that is rare to find. Born in India and currently a legal advocate in the United States, Amanda Mays is surprised at the kind of attention she is getting in Kerala. And all for the single reason that she is physically challenged _ born without hands.

Not that we have not seen disabled people before, but Amanda radiates a rare vitality and she does more than most of us can with both hands!

Seeing our curiosity to know more, the pretty and petite Amanda asserts there’s nothing special about her. “What do you want to know about me?” she asks. As we sit down for a quick chat at the beach in Fort Kochi, Amanda puts across a message very clearly : “Don’t write about me with pity.

You won’t get a sob story out of me.” Amanda is not a person to whine and sulk. “I am like anyone else. It’s only that I use my body differently. I don’t get this kind of attention back in the US,” she says with a shrug.

At 30, Amanda does everything that a normal human being does _ with elan. “Maybe the only thing that I cannot do is handstands,” says the woman who loves cooking. “During weekends my neighbours and I have small get-togethers and at times I cook for everybody.”

Amanda was adopted from the Mother Teresa orphanage in Kolkata when she was 10 months old. “Seeing my disability my parents must have abandoned me. Luckily I was adopted by a loving family and was given good education.”

Amanda says she was not different as a child. “Of course, I was a little smaller than other children and I used to have a small desk at school.” But she went to a normal school and learnt everything on her own. “Nobody taught me to use my legs. I just started writing with them. It was not difficult and I was a quick learner,” she says.

When asked to pose for a photograph she asked us to wait for a second _ and placed her hair properly using her legs. She did it so naturally; making it seem like you and I could do it! She dials a mobile phone, eats with a fork and knife and even combs her hair and cooks without any help. “I have a job and I live on my own. This shows that anything is possible for a physically disabled person,” she says.

Amanda feels that Indian society should be a lot more sensitive to the needs of differently abled people. “If I was in India I would probably be in a special home or begging on the streets,” says Amanda who is blessed with a large family- four sisters and two brothers- back in the US.

In the US, she says, special children are put in normal schools with changes in the curriculum. All that Amanda wants to tell people here is, if you have a daughter or son with a physical disability, give him or her the best education possible. Be more open and generous to them. “Before you realise it, they will be on their own.”

During her India tour, she did voluntary work at the Mother Teresa Convent in Kolkata from where she was adopted. After touring India, she and her friend Amir will be heading to Thailand to visit a friend. “I have taken a two-month vacation. There is so much to see in India,” she says.

As we take leave, she asks, “Can you send me a copy of the paper? When I spoke to my mom about this interview, she said she would love to see the article.” Looking at this bold woman, we can only marvel at her energy levels!

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEX20080122002526

Back Stateside

Well, the nice people at US immigration decided to let me back in the country and so now I am home again.  I left about 3:30am Bangkok time after about 20 minutes of sleep for the previous 24 hours…really, who needs sleep.  My taxi driver was a man that many of Nina and Scott’s friends use and he was very sweet.  He asked me when I would be returning to Bangkok and I answered jokingly “When I have money again”, not sure if that answer didn’t satisfy him or his English was limited but he asked me the same question two more times.  Feeling too tired to be witty I stubbornly clung to my same answer which elicited big grins.

When I arrived at the airport he got out and gave me a big hug and told me that he loved me…hmmm…again not sure if this was a cultural difference or my aura is more powerful then I thought.  I pushed my bags in and dropped them three times while the airport staff and police officers looked on with big grins and thumbs up.  Each time I dropped my bags there were bigger grins and more emphatic thumbs up.  I got through ticketing and headed onto immigration which I found three lines of 50 plus people…yes, this is about 4am.  The Thai worker than directed me to go to the diplomat/official passport line of which there were about three people.  I trudged over and felt a bit embarrassed to have bypassed all of these other people waiting, I looked and saw the wheelchair guy sign and realized that this line was for people with disabilities.  I felt a little sheepish but not enough to go back to the other line…my experiece with the Thais this trip was much different than the last time, I found them all to be quite kind and helpful.  Who knows, maybe word of my celebrity spread from India across Asia or more realistically I was in a more positive and open mind frame 

I was escorted onto the plane first and settled in for another 24 hours of traveling.  The flights actually seemed to go by quickly, after a few 12 plus hour train rides in India, I learned how to be a bit more mellow when traveling.  I arrived in Portland and my friends picked me up and off we went to a coffee shop because thats what you do in Portland.  Vanity was a luxury I let go after about two days in India and I didn’t give much thought to my appearance.  As I stood there in my sweats, hair a mess, no makeup and smelling a little like I hadn’t showered in 24 hours I looked around the coffee shop and noticed that I actually didn’t look much different than the other folks in the coffee shop.  Gotta love a city where you can come right off a 24 hour international flight and blend in with everyone

There have been a few moments where its a little weird to be home, I find myself forgetting the routines that were so entrenched before I left.  I had a luxurious morning drinking amazing local coffee and perusing my usual news sites.  What a thrill to take a shower and feel clean and smelling nice.  And of course the highlight of being back is catching up with all of the people I love here.  I called my Mom when I arrived in Seattle to assure her that I had safely returned to American soil.

So, my trip abroad is not what I would call a typical travel experience for an American.  As I read some of my blog entries its so amazing to me that I was the person who experienced all of this.  I left India without seeing a single temple, most of my pictures are not of buildings and scenery but of people(partly because when I would try to take pictures, 30 plus folks would gather around and block my view) and I didn’t learn anything about my biological family.  I did however learn a whole lot about myself, the incredible love and generosity of the Indian and Thai people and added a few more people who will be my friends for life.  Could I ask for anything better?

This trip would not have been possible without the loving support that you all gave me.  It was so wonderful to come back after a physically and often emotionally exhausting day in India and hear encouraging words from all of you.  Thank you so much for coming along my journey with me, I hope that it was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write.  Now I need to be productive again and find a job…but who knows what or when my next adventure will be…stay posted!!