KENSINGTON B – Let us dissect Superman, shall we?
This comic book superhero amazes the world through his superpowers, powers that helped give him the title of strongest man in the world. People not only look up to him as he flies through the city with his unmissable red cape, but they also look to him to help save them from danger.
Dream as some of us may, our world is not a comic book novel, and Superman’s red cape won’t be seen making its way through the clouds. So, we look for those in our community that are willing to be superheroes in their own right.
It’s for this reason that Kensington B can be happy to know that in their myths lives their own man of steel, and his name is Andrew Marshall. However, instead of flying, he impacts his way through the community in his wheelchair. When he was only 16 years old, Marshall was diagnosed with a rare and incurable neuromuscular disease known as Friedreich’s ataxia. People who have this disability have difficulty walking, lose sensation in their arms and legs and develop impaired speech.
With all these progressive challenges that forced his life to change in the last decade, one would have understood if he saw fit to give up. But, like any superhero, when faced with adversity he found the will within him to help change the world.
In his book, Dissecting Wobbles, which is geared at raising awareness about the degenerative disease, Marshall puts to paper all that has made him happy, all that sort to destroy him and on the courage it took to look past his disability and see that he was, as he put it, ‘blessed’. When asked how he got the title of the book, he explained it was a nickname he inherited from school, “My classmates would call me wobbles because of how I walked,” he said.
“I have had some memorable experiences, and I feel incredibly blessed.”
His biggest hope with his book is for readers to realise when they meet someone in a wheelchair they are meeting an individual who, just like them, has aspirations and goals. Even with his disability, Marshall has travelled the world, been white water rafting, zip lining, skydiving, and swum with dolphins. Showing nothing is impossible so long as you have the utmost faith in yourself.
Marshall looks to one day start a non-profit organisation that will help people of varying disabilities.
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