Victory in the face of disability

Steven Attard suffered a terrible motor vehicle accident 24 years ago, when he was 21 years old, in which he sustained serious head injuries. He was left unable to walk, with impaired communication and a loss of memory. However, with the invaluable support of his family and with their faith in God, Steve managed a remarkable recovery over a period of time. With strong determination he managed to change the wheelchair into a walking stick and his loss of memory, due to his serious head injuries, also improved dramatically but not entirely.

Steve was an active person prior to his accident and loved water sport.

Hence, with his love for the sea he set himself a dream: that of a swimming from Gozo to Malta. Since he became an active member and committee member of LAND (Living Ability Not Disability) five years ago he decided on a swimming challenge to raise funds for LAND, also with the aim to challenge non-disabled people's misconception that people with a disability "can also do things which normal people think they cannot". In fact, Steve successfully completed three swimming crossings: from St Paul's Islands to Ta' l-Għasselin in 2006; from Comino to Marfa last year and reached his climax last July 20 when he swam from Gozo to Malta, notwithstanding his physical impairment, hence accomplishing his dream and also conveying the message that, with determination and with the right support, anything can be achieved.

His dream wouldn't have been possible without the invaluable support of his family, his trainer, professional swimmer Nikky Farrugia, Stephen Rizzo, who accompanied him in a boat during the crossing and Ronnie Cremona and Neville Xuereb for voluntarily providing their boats to escort Steve during the crossing of the swimming challenge.

LAND was established in 2002 and it caters for persons with physical disabilities. Its aim is to promote independence and inclusion through socialisation into mainstream society. In order to organise social activities, tail-lift equipped vehicles have to be rented from a private company because most of our disabled members are wheelchair users. The rental of such vehicles amounts up to €10,000 annually. Since LAND is not assisted by any government funds, our non profit NGO is charity-driven.

At the Gozo to Malta swimming challenge of 2008, €2,619.09 were raised in aid of LAND. We are grateful to the public, Bank of Valletta, the Central Bank and J. Stubbs for their kind contributions.