All in the same struggle

Into the consequences of the violence that Venezuela experiences on a daily basis, through a labyrinth of disagreements, blame and perpetrators who become victims.

It is an investigation into the depth of the consequences of the violence that Venezuela experiences on a daily basis, through a labyrinth of disagreements, blame and perpetrators who become victims: spinal cord injuries, who are mostly survivors of traumatic situations or gunshot wounds that forced them to live with disabilities. They struggle not only with the decline of the economy, the precariousness of public health, the lack of job opportunities, urban spaces that do not consider them, an inadequate transportation system and the mortality rate resulting from their vulnerability; but also with the general ignorance and lack of empathy of society, which is presented as a cruel prolongation of the violence that this sector of society faces daily.

The project started in 2019, following up with this group of people in wheelchairs, who began to organize informal sessions of adapted basketball on the courts of their own communities, which opened the doors to many others different cities of the country, managing to inspire its inhabitants with exhibitions, since street basketball has an important place in local popular culture. With discipline, they managed to revive adapted basketball competitions at the national level (almost extinct as a result of the generalized crisis, the migration of athletes and the lack of support), from which the national team was derived, which, as of 2021, once again represented Venezuela in international competitions.

Sport has been the means for these individuals to recognize themselves as a collective and has allowed them to gain spaces. For some of them, it has been the way to reintegrate into society after being actors of the violence of which they were victims, and now, a second chance, makes them reflect and become an active part of the search for social change.

As an author, with this research I seek to reinterpret the understanding of “disability” and I question whether, on the contrary, it is society that does not have the capacity to empathize, with the aim of opening perspectives on the current history of Venezuela.