Doing a favour for people with disabilities is not my motivation.
My motivation is world peace.
This is not something just “politically correct” nor a dream.
There are clear reasons and I’ll explain them below.
For these 3 years, I have seen many changes around people with disabilities
when they are on COGY.
Perception x Respect
Imagine a young boy with cerebral palsy. He sits in a wheelchair, passive. He may be drooling, unable to manage his saliva. He has no control, sitting in the wheelchair. His mother, or a carer pushes the chair. Random people around him try not to look at him. Maybe they feel it is rude to look at him, maybe it makes them uncomfortable to see him so helpless, maybe they feel sorry for the boy.
Imagine the same boy, but now using COGY. He is no longer passive, but actively engaged, as he moves down the street. People who see him react in a completely different way. They actively look at him. “Well done”, “You are doing great”, “How are you?”, “You are enjoying it, aren't you?”. People treat him just as they treat their neighbours. People see humanity in the boy. People see him as a person with dignity.
Even more, seeing this boy can affect how these people see and feel about themselves, either for a moment, or longer. Someone experiencing depression/anxiety, feeling there is nothing they can do well in this society. ‘I am rubbish’ they think, ‘I don’t deserve a good life. What is a good life anyway?’ Seeing this boy’s determination, intention, stops that person for a moment. Seeing him having a lot of fun really lifts them up, makes them smile.
We see the same effect time and time again, when we go out and about with COGY. One day, 2 people were talking, in a serious mood, sitting on the chair in the park. As we pedalled past them, they stopped talking, they looked at the way this boy pedalled.
I saw their faces lightened up.
Maybe some other person was having a bad day and almost losing hope in life. I am not surprised if this person felt the courage to live another day, after seeing this boy enjoying his life in his best way.
Let’s guess, there is this person who abuses drugs and alcohol, and thinking of robbery to get some money. I am not surprised, if this person thinks twice and “well, shall I do something a bit better..”, after seeing this boy doing his best to enjoy his life.
Sympathy x Empathy
With COGY in our society, the riders will benefit. The carers will benefit. The government will benefit because of less medical bills. These are just something we can see on the surface.
COGY is a tool to change sympathy to empathy, which brings harmony among us, and calmness in each of us. I believe, achieving this through the COGY project is the way I can contribute towards world peace. Everyone has their strength. My strength is to make the most of such a thing as COGY.