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Divia Lewis, 35, of Ciudad de Panamá, Panama, became an athlete five years ago, competing in basketball; she already has received gold and silver medals. Lewis cites her involvement at the National Congress of Special Olympics Panama and the First International Congress about Inclusion of People with Disabilities as important experiences in her life. She also gave a speech at the Universidad Latina about her Special Olympics experiences. |
Softspoken Special Olympics Panama athlete Divia Lewis is not easily impressed, but the one person she really idolizes is Special Olympics athlete and global spokesperson Loretta Claiborne. When Lewis got the chance to meet Claiborne at the 2005 Special Olympics Global Athlete Congress, it was like meeting a rock star. “Her [Claiborne’s] life is an inspiration. She’s had more influence on me than anyone,” said Lewis.
Lewis was chosen to be a representative of the Special Olympics Latin America region at the second Congress, held 6-8 June 2005 in Panama City, which provided a forum for the movement's leaders — the athletes — to discuss pressing issues and make recommendations to change Special Olympics policies.
“Sometimes people laugh at me because of my disability. I wish people would accept me for who I am, not what they want me to be.” Lewis joined Special Olympics four years ago. “I wanted something to identify with,” she said. “I asked my aunt to take me to a Special Olympics competition so I could see what it was like.” Basketball was one of the sports she saw; Lewis said it was love at first sight.
“Before Special Olympics, I was quiet and shy and didn’t speak to people I didn’t know,” she explained. “But Special Olympics helped me speak out in public, and now I talk to university students about Special Olympics and educate them about people with intellectual disabilities,” added Lewis. The Athlete Congress has given Lewis a lot of credibility. “People think because I am a slow learner, I have no opinions and that I can’t make up my own mind. But they are wrong, I have my own opinions and I know what is right.”
Besides basketball, Lewis likes to play drums and thinks she’s got a gift for it. But her real ambition in life is to be an engineer. “I'm good at fixing things,” she said. “I practice on the electrical appliances at home, like phones and lamps.”
This profile originally appeared in Spirit magazine
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