Paris (AFP) – Ezra Frech’s dream is to become the most successful Paralympian in history, and with two golds at the age of 19, he is well on his way. However, his goal extends beyond personal accolades; he aims to use his high profile to “de-stigmatise” disability. Frech was born with missing bones in his left leg and just one finger on his left hand. At the age of two, he had to undergo amputation of his left leg, and one of the toes from that foot was transplanted onto his hand.
“When I was younger, I used to be really upset about why I was born like this and I would get really down on myself,” the Californian told CBS KCAL9 in 2020. “Then I realised as I got older that I was born this way and there was no need to sulk in the sadness.” Instead, he resolved to “make the most of my life, be the best athlete and student I can,” the T63 high jump world record holder added. He easily won that event at the Paralympics in Paris on Tuesday, having claimed a surprise gold in the men’s T63 100m the night before.
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His parents — father Clayton and Iranian-born mother Bahar Soomekh — readily embraced his positivity, but his mother emphasized that he was named Ezra for a reason. “It was hard, I have to admit. My first baby and I had never heard of a child being born missing limbs,” Soomekh told the same media outlet. “It was a complete and total shock for me, but there was this belief that there was a purpose and reason for this child to be here; hence why we named him Ezra. Ezra means to help, to teach.”
Her son has certainly lived up to his name. Along with his parents, they created Angel City Sports, a not-for-profit organization that holds approximately 250 adaptive sports clinics a year for disabled athletes. Frech is mindful of “how many barriers there are to engaging in disabled sport,” highlighting challenges such as the $15,000 cost of prosthetic blades and expensive racing wheelchairs. After all, children with a disability “cannot just roll up to a YMCA and play basketball.”
“I am most proud of me and my family organising Angel City Sports because sports can last only so long, but the impact it makes on children and veterans’ lives lasts forever,” Frech told CBS.
Frech, who has two younger brothers, has experienced firsthand how sport can provide a safe haven for those with disabilities. “Roughly 15% of Americans have some form of disability,” he said, “but everywhere you go, you felt like an outsider.” He noted, “I was the only kid at school with one leg and I was stared at. I had fingers pointed at me and was underestimated everywhere I went. Sports was almost like an escape from all that, and it is somewhere I did not feel different anymore.”
This desire to change perceptions is what drives Frech to use sports as a vehicle for changing long-held clichés about disabled people. “I think what serves as my north star, my real motivation, is the disabled community at large,” Frech stated in May. “Life with a physical disability is really difficult, yes, but my overarching goals are to normalise disability, change the way society views it, de-stigmatise it, and take away this taboo that shouldn’t be there. I believe that through proper representation, promotion, and awareness of the Paralympic Games, children around the world won’t have to be abandoned by their parents just because they were born different.”
While his proud father worries he “might be putting too much on his shoulders,” Frech’s enthusiasm mirrors that of Soomekh, who was a successful actress and starred in the 2005 Academy Award Best Picture “Crash.” “I want to build these families up,” she said in 2019. “When they see just darkness, we can bring light and show them that there’s an amazing world out there for them.”
Frech, who recalls that watching the 2016 Rio Paralympics as a child drove him to become a Paralympian, believes that differences can be turned into advantages. “Whether we think different, look different, or act different, we all have some sort of challenge,” he said. “We should embrace the challenge and obstacle, using it to our advantage to be a better student, athlete, or person.”
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