Yes, lets speak like we are engineers. As though we are building something.
Step 1. What is the level of your passion to get involved?
The first step to rebuilding someone’s life after a physical injury is to announce the reason why you will take the effort to do so.
If your level of interest falls into the 2nd or 3rd category then nothing is more important to you than what you will read next, because what I am offering is a possibility to find a peace of mind and even an excitement of a life you thought was nearly dead.
If your interest is the first category, 'mild', then I congratulate you for inviting this Partially Abled Bodied stranger into your life. You don't know it yet, but the quality of your imagination will soon expand into a colorful richness that will thrill you. I promise.
Step 2. What doesn't work?
The second step is to acknowledge what does not work in a Partially Abled Bodied person.
Make a list. Start with everything that is broken. Are they missing a leg, arm, eyes, ears…just say so. Get it out of the way.
Step 3. What works?
The third step, and this is very important, is to begin to add up everything that works.
Start with the mind. Can the student think clear thoughts? Then move all the way through the parts of the body and name each thing that functions.
Develop a profoundly deep appreciation for what does work. This is necessary. It creates gratitude. Gratitude is the ability to know your wealth.
To help you achieve this gratitude, ask a question. If the parts of the body that still work, if those parts did not work, what would it cost to repair them? Just imagine that there are technologies and medical miracles that can repair the body to fullness. Pretend that it can be done. What would it cost? Perhaps through stem cell injections, and biomechanics and muscles transplants, bone replacements, what would it cost to get these parts working again? I am guessing that if we priced each item, we could average the cost to ten million dollars per eye, ear, jaw, tongue, nose, neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, fingers, ribs, lungs, heart, kidney, liver, spleen, stomach, intestines, hips, legs, knees, ankles, toes, and lets just add another 500 million for the brain. I don’t mean replacing these parts with barely adequate moving mechanical parts. I mean getting the living tissue back in place with full power. This means recreating a body that is as perfect as a newborn baby. The kind nearly everyone is born with.
Add up all the financial costs of all the parts that are still working in the PAB student's body.
To take the number crunching work out of this project, let us just assume that if you could recreate a fully functioning body from nothing it would cost at least 2 billion dollars. If such a thing were biomechanically and medically possible that would be a realistic cost. Now subtract from the fully functioning price what doesn't work. Add up what does work and that is the immense value of the existing Partially Abled Bodied students body.
That is a good start to recognizing one’s value.
For instance, I have two paralyzed legs. This means that over half of my body works very well. If my full body would cost 2 billion dollars to recreate, then I am currently in possession of over 1 billion dollars of immensely powerful hardware. Knowing this gives me a sense of deep gratitude. This sense of deep respect for my working parts leads me to step 4.
Step 4. How much can I learn?
The fourth step is to discover the extent of one's power.
Isolate these physical body parts and make notes about what exactly they can do. Notice that if the right arm moves, take note of how strong it is. Can the muscles get stronger? What is the range? Each thing listed will be valuable in the ability to develop good fighting skills.
And remember. Learning to protect yourself from an attacker is the most important quality your body can have. Because if you are not able to do this one thing then anyone with malicious intent can step up to you and steal or destroy anything they want. I am not being dramatic. I am being clear.
And if we stopped the narrative there, this is bad news. Depressing even.
But remember, this is a book about how to develop powerful fighting skills with a body that works partially. So, actually, by realizing that we are in potential danger is a fire that can flame a passion that will lead us to learn how to protect ourselves from harm.
I must repeat this. Only because it is immensely, mind-staggeringly important.
This book is a manual for learning how a Partially Abled Bodied Martial Artist can become very capable to defend themselves from people who wish to take advantage of someone who looks defenseless.