“Don’t think I’m stupid. I can’t talk, but that doesn’t make me retarded,” is written on the wheelchair of Lars Hof from New Amsterdam. He is the face of the Lars Foundation, which is committed to helping people with disabilities participate in sports. He also tries to make other people think about their prejudices about someone with a disability,
Lars has cerebral palsy, a brain damage. Due to his disability he cannot move or talk properly, so he communicates via a speech computer. “It sometimes happens that people ask me questions,” says supervisor Carmen. “Then I think: he’s here, ask him.”
Lars’s greatest passion is sports. Both watching sports and exercising yourself. It has brought him a lot. More than ten years ago, he was still a modest boy, he explains through Carmen. Exercising gave him more self-confidence. With his LARS Foundation, which stands for Lifestyle, Activities, Recreation and Sport, he wants to share that passion and get more people with disabilities to exercise.
The LARS Foundation is currently raising money for an Innowalk pro, a motorized aid that stimulates movement. Such a device costs 50,000 euros. Lars hopes to have that amount together by the end of 2024. He wants the device to be placed at a gym so that more people can use it.