She suffered an ETA attack when she was only twelve years old. She lost both legs, but decided to continue living and fight "to get ahead". Irene Villa González was a victim, along with her mother, of ETA's cruelty in 1991 in Madrid. On Friday, she went to Lanzarote to give her support to people with disabilities and to state that with effort "there is life after accidents or attacks".
This young woman gave a conference entitled "Knowing that you can" at the Club for Debate in the Gran Hotel de Arrecife, where she said that she has forgiven the terrorists who tried to take her life. "The barriers are set by the disabled. Nothing prevents us from continuing to lead a normal life", Villa said, after showing several photographs of the serious injuries caused by the brutal attack by the armed gang.
Before a room packed with public and, mostly, people with disabilities, Villa gave an overview of her life, her personal overcoming and the adapted sport that, in her opinion, is what helped her "to be born again". "My life has always been an adventure, a permanent struggle full of obstacles but also of rewards. I always look for new challenges, because I have never lost hope. This is how I have managed to get where I set out to be, showing the infinity of sports that I practice, because I can do almost everything", said the ETA victim with optimism.
"This vital young woman has broken many barriers on the perception that many citizens have of the physically disabled", said the Canarian journalist Severino Betancort, who was in charge of presenting this young woman during the conferences. In addition to practicing sports, Irene Villa has a degree in journalism, humanities and psychology.
The member of the Spanish Paragliding Team, Teresa Silva, also participated in these talks, who suffered an accident in 1989 during preparatory training for the World Championship in Kössen, Austria. This accident caused her paraplegia, which forces her to use a wheelchair for her travels. Since 2000, this woman has been helping about 3,000 disabled people to practice some adapted sports discipline, both nautical and snow sports.
Also, Estrella Nicolás Abad, a former television cameraman who suffered an accident that left her in a wheelchair, as well as the journalist José Ramón Sánchez, who gave a talk on the media treatment of disability, gave their point of view on disability.
