Vincent Laffaille
Vincent “Vixente” Laffaille, 29, of Agos-Vidalos in southwestern France, is president of his local Wheelchair Rugby Club. Action recently asked him about his life as a person with spinal cord injury in France. Here is his story:
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I am paraplegic at T-7-8 from an accident. I did my rehab at the rehab center of Bagnères de Bigorre in France.
I first became interested in quad rugby in 2001. It wasn’t actually quad rugby but wheelchair rugby, which is similar to the rugby that is played in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Since my accident, which happened in 1998 when I was 20 years old, I have been doing some handcycling, skiing, fishing, “pelote basque” (this is a sport that is played a lot in the Basque country, known in the US as ‘jai alai’) and I am the president of a wheelchair rugby club. Before my accident I did a lot of skiing, rugby, fishing, and basque “pelote.”
At the moment, we play a few games a year in France. But other clubs, better organized, play a lot all over Europe and even did a tour in Australia in 2003.
I liked the movie Murderball, but because I don’t speak English well enough I couldn’t understand everything. I loved the young tattooed guy with the goatee (Mark Zupan, captain of the U.S. Paralympic Quad Rugby Team); the one we can see work out in his garage.
My noninjured friends can play with us since wheelchair rugby is opened to everybody. (They have not seen Murderball.)
In France, accessibility to wheelchairs is very limited and difficult. Most of the public transportation systems are not equipped. Compared to the rest of Europe, we are not the worst, but there are countries where it is a lot better!
Disability rights laws are numerous in France, especially as far as working and independence are concerned. But they are still too weak. We should get more help for housing and for high expenses linked with our disability.
Unfortunately, I have never been to the States. I am waiting for an invitation!
I don’t belong to any associations for people with disabilities in general. I just have my club whose goal is the reintegration of people with disabilities through sports in general and wheelchair rugby in particular.
This interview was translated by Stéphane Sollogoub.
Know an interesting person with SCI/D from a country outside the US whom United Spinal members might want to read about? Please send his or her contact information to action@unitedspinal.org.
