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My experience.

Communication and powerlessness.

I worked in Finland at a school for people with disabilities. A few years in a row I with L, a 20 year old student with spasticity. He was in a wheelchair, could only produce sounds (not talk) and of his limbs he could only use the big toe of one foot. With this toe he controlled the wheelchair and the computer (with which L. communicated). L. had access to a personal assistant 24 hours a day. L. asked if I would like to come and watch some floorball training (a summer variant of ice hockey and very popular in Finland). We arranged to meet at 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the school and together with L.'s assistant we went into the van. Both the driver and companion spoke only Finnish. After a 15 minute drive the guide was dropped off at home and we drove on to Helsinki where the training hall was. When we arrived there, another guide was ready and took L. with him for the training. Nice to see how someone with, in my eyes, such limitations, can participate fanatically in such a sport. A stick was placed on his wheelchair and he was able to ram it in, because it was quite heavy. The whole time I could not talk to anyone because only Finnish was spoken. Back in the bus (only with the driver and L.) I sat next to L. and he started writing on his computer. I tried to read it, but apart from the fact that I had forgotten my reading glasses, I could not decipher the Finnish. L. seemingly realized this because he switched to English texts and large enough for me to read. L. asked me questions through the computer and it turned out that I could just talk to him in English and he understood me just fine. During the drive back, L. and I talked pleasantly for another twenty minutes. At school L. was taken care of by a counselor and we said goodbye.
During the night I could not sleep because the incident occupied my mind. I felt very unhappy that afternoon because I could not communicate, at least not verbally. Of course I still had all kinds of possibilities to make something clear to another person if necessary (e.g. gestures) and yet I felt powerless.
Half a year later I was at the school to say goodbye (the day after I flew back to the Netherlands) and I met L.. He wanted to tell me something through the computer but the computer did not work. This was a painful moment for both of us, we sat across from each other and looked at each other with questioning eyes. How important! The next day I went back to school and looked up L. His computer was working again and he told me that he had won a floorball tournament this past weekend and had scored the winning goal. Tears welled up in my eyes, we hugged each other and I left again.

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