Born without Arms and Legs 'I Won't Allow Myself to Be Stopped'
Janis McDavid was born in Hamburg in 1991. His biological parents put him in the care of a foster family, so he grew up in Bochum. He says he still has a good relationship with all four of his parents.
In kindergarten, he often used his voice to get what he wanted, McDavid says. "My playmates quickly learned that I may not have been able to defend myself physically. But words can have a similarly harsh effect."
McDavid was just 19 months old when he got his first electric wheelchair. "My wheelchair was my shoes," he writes in his autobiography.
His Bochum parents helped him by often declining to help him. McDavid learned to write without hands and to drink without a straw.
He went to a Waldorf school and, with the help of his parents, always found a way to participate in school life.
At school, he played the French horn. It was mounted on a stand and the mouthpiece was bent so that McDavid could reach the valve levers with his short left arm.
McDavid took his first big trip to Namibia with his older brother at the age of 14. He spent three months in the country, including six weeks going to the Waldorf school in Windhoek.
Since then, McDavid has traveled to more than 25 countries. This image shows him on a sand dune in Vietnam.
Here, McDavid is visiting Iguaçu Falls in Brazil.
This photo was taken last year in Brazil. Traveling is difficult for McDavid because he usually can't take along his electric wheelchair and is even more dependent on help than usual. "Traveling takes a lot of courage for me," he says, "but it enriches me immensely."
At home, he gets around with his wheelchair. In his favorite city of Berlin, he gets around using the public transportation system.
McDavid also has a specially modified car. He drives it using buttons and a joystick.
