A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I'm still doing it.
King Arthur was one of my heroes - I played with a trash can lid for a knightly shield and my uncle's cane for the sword Excalibur.
For me, the wheelchair symbolizes disability in a way a cane does not.
Mostly, I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.
My forebears refused to cut the sugar cane for plantation owners, and I am recognisably a product of that background.
I got into medical school at the University of California in San Francisco and did well. A lot of smart kids in medical school, and believe me, I wasn't not nearly the smartest one, but I was the most focused and the happiest kid in medical school. In 1979, I graduated as the valedictorian and was honored with the Gold Cane Award.
My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
I have been sustained by cane field, the cane plantation I have.
My cane is now of me. I want it by my side. And I always will, even if one strange day I no longer need its support.