Have you ever heard of wheelchair basketball, amputee football or heard of a differently abled breakdancer? These sports have their own rules and competitions, and for the people who play them, they’re given a chance to prove what they’re really made of.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 I'm playing for 20 years now.
00:06 I play in Nigeria.
00:09 I play in Cote d'Ivoire.
00:11 I play in Senegal.
00:13 I'm a lion, you know.
00:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:20 I have gained confidence and self-esteem.
00:23 Before, I was too shy to perform in front of people.
00:25 But because of dance, I'm no longer afraid.
00:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:34 If you are a disabled, that does not
00:36 mean that you can't do anything.
00:38 Whether it's wheelchair basketballers of Benin,
00:40 the breakdancers of Rwanda, or Ghana's amputee football team,
00:44 these athletes have three things in common.
00:46 They live for their sport.
00:48 They all face stereotypes.
00:49 And they are not letting their disability stop them.
00:52 Participating in local or international competitions,
00:55 they've mastered their craft and are using their bodies
00:57 in ways which society and they themselves never imagined.
01:01 Master MC contracted polio at the age of two,
01:04 leaving him with partial paralysis of his leg.
01:07 For him and his team, gaining a place on the court
01:09 was an uphill battle.
01:11 Before, we have not the right to play here.
01:15 But as we improve, as we show them
01:19 that this wheelchair, this basketball in wheelchairs
01:24 is not just something to relax, they
01:28 see that, oh, we are some tight players.
01:31 So slowly, they give us place.
01:36 Wheelchair basketball has its own rules.
01:39 Players can wheel their chairs up to two times
01:42 before dribbling.
01:43 A third push is considered traveling.
01:45 An inclusive sport, wheelchair basketball
01:48 can actually be played by anybody,
01:50 as long as they're sitting in a wheelchair
01:52 and have arms to dribble and move.
01:54 In amputee football, it's a whole different game.
01:57 Only players who are missing a leg
01:59 qualify, with the exception of the goalie, who
02:02 is missing an arm instead.
02:05 We play with our legs.
02:07 But if intentionally, the ball touches the crutches
02:11 or use the crutches to kick the ball, it's foul.
02:15 And intentionally, if you use your amputated leg
02:18 to kick the ball, it's foul.
02:21 For the b-boys and b-girls of Kigali,
02:24 those rules don't matter.
02:26 Breakdancing is a free form where everybody
02:28 plays to their strength.
02:30 Former French Congolese breakdance world champion Junior
02:33 Busile Abana, for instance, made it to the top
02:36 despite his polio.
02:38 The extra arm strength from walking on crutches
02:40 can be advantageous.
02:42 Whether it's for community, building strength,
02:44 or just for the love of the sport,
02:46 what all these athletes have learned
02:48 is that they won't let society dictate
02:51 what they can and cannot do.
02:53 I would like to be like a kind of model, you understand,
02:58 in the society so that those in disability
03:02 can say, oh, I would like to be like master.
03:05 I would like to be fashion like he's doing fashion.
03:08 I would like to sing like he's singing more than him.
03:12 I would like to play basketball.