Latest news with #overcoming
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Health
- South China Morning Post
China cobbler with no legs learns English through radio, dreams of making Harvard speech
A street cobbler in China with no legs has impressed the mainland public with his fluent English and his dream of one day delivering a speech at Harvard University. Advertisement The Huang Huaquan, 44, had his legs amputated after he was knocked down by a lorry at a rural market when he was six years old, the Beijing News reported. Huang, from a village in Heyuan, Guangdong province in the southern part of China, halted his education as a result of his condition after graduating from primary school. Seriously disabled Huang Huaquan has to use his hands to move around. Photo: bjnews He has been interested in English since childhood, and borrowed old textbooks from friends, teaching himself with the help of cassettes and radio. Huang is a former disabled weightlifting athlete and has won a gold medal, among others, at the Guangdong provincial disabled people's sports event in the past. For the past nine years, he has been earning a living repairing shoes and umbrellas on the street. He has managed to buy a car and a flat as a result. Advertisement 'What does not kill me makes me stronger. This is the perfect illustration of my life,' Huang was quoted as saying.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Cape Breton man writes book about life without one hand
A Cape Breton man has done it all with one hand…now he's sharing his story. Teddy Morrison of Glace Bay, N.S., has accomplished a lot in his life despite having only one hand. Now, he can add one more thing to the list- writing a book. 'It's called The Adventures Of A Man With One Hand,' Morrison said. Morrison has lived the majority of his life without his right hand after losing it in an accident at the age of five, while trying to help his mother wash clothes using an old wringer washer. 'I reached in, and my hand got caught in my father's shirt cuff and got dragged through the ringers,' Morrison said. 'So, it got crushed.' Morrison's book tells stories about decades of learning how to do things as an amputee, like playing baseball and golf, volunteering for years in the kitchen at the Glace Bay Food Bank, working in his garage and building things from scratch. However, he said it's an everyday task that has proven to be one of the most challenging. 'Tying my laces,' Morrison said. 'You try tying your shoelaces with one hand. It is extremely interesting.' When asked why he wanted to write a book, Morrison's answer was simple. 'I wanted people to understand that if you have a disability and you're willing to try to get things done, you can,' he said. As for how he feels about becoming a first-time author at the age of 78? 'I'm really, really.. I guess the word is, proud of myself to take the time to do that,' Morrison said. Morrison said his book should be available, in bookstores and online, within a few weeks. Teddy Morrison Teddy Morrison, author of The Adventures Of A Man With One Hand. (CTV/Ryan MacDonald) For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
Top Gear
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Top Gear
Opinion: dreams can come true... my Porsche now spits flames
Opinion There is light in the darkness... well, there is if you follow Jethro's Porsche at night Skip 6 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Dream big, they say, when you're a kid grinding through another day of school. Even if that school is buried in a rough part of town and break times are punctuated with violence and fear. So I did, I guess. I didn't talk about the dream. How could I? Got to save face. Not show any weakness. Bullying wasn't a dirty word. Just another day. A code to live by. And thinking beyond how to get wasted at the weekend or make a few quid helping the local brickies wasn't really something you talked about. Advertisement - Page continues below On the longest days – not the cruel taunt of summer, but during the cold, bleak winter months – it was an escape. A blinding flash of light and warmth that was recessed deep in my mind. It would hit like artillery, cutting through the mundanity, making me feel powerful. At once in control of something extraordinary, but also in its thrall. Just once, I wanted that dream to thump me in the chest and explode into the real world. To be honest, I didn't think it could happen. Not without some cheap technological trickery. A kind of pre-programmed, synthetic version that would inevitably be unfulfilling. Years went by and the possibility would contract bit by bit, until it seemed like a pin prick of light in a universe of darkness. Society was changing, governments and legislators gaining ever more control and greater powers of surveillance. Dream big, but only within the confines of a million rules enforced with suffocating rigour. You might like And then, it happened. On one of those long winter nights. The rain was hitting in great sheets, balled up and then thrown with furious force by battering winds. I was hungry, tired and just grinding out another day. Messages pinged on my phone demanding words and action that I wasn't minded to deliver upon. Not again. Sometimes the very idea of creating, well, anything, can feel like an endless, inky black fever dream. Yet, something was cutting through. My ears pricked up, my senses tingled before my brain truly understood the gravity of the moment. Suddenly I was alive to incredible possibilities. The rapid crack-crack-crack I'd imagined for so long ripping into the forbidding night. Oranges, yellows and even pure, brilliant blue illuminating the space around me and firing synapses in ways I didn't know existed. Days, weeks, months and years of hoping against hope, of willing this dream into reality... and now, I was living it. Over and over again. Advertisement - Page continues below Yep. My Porsche finally spits flames. I own a car that spits flames . This hasn't happened via some stupid 'pops and bangs' map bought over the internet. It's real. And intense. I guess my life is now complete. Flames, people! How cool is that? Dream big, guys. Enlightenment is out there. Especially if you follow my Porsche at night. Ka-boom! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
