Dormant of Body, Author Shows He is Vibrant of Mind

In the body of Ouabo Esaie Legrand, author, musician and activist, there are two competing forces – life and near lifelessness.

His legs, limp and atrophied, are prisoners of painful braces, victims of a wretched yet preventable disease that claimed him as a child and, tragically, still claims children today.

And yet the rest of him fairly buzzes.
Disabled activist: Author Ouabo Esaie Legrand in Chinatown in downtown Washington, D.C.
His eyes widen like full moons, his smile, lined by rows of perfect teeth, beams from ear-to-ear, and as he speaks his gesturing fingers stretch, curl and bounce, 10 tiny dancers in a symphony both choreographed and chaotic.

"I'm used to my disability. Unless a miracle happens, I know I will live and die with my disability," he says, his voice heavily inflected with the accent of his homeland, the west African nation of Cameroon.

"I cannot get mad about my disability. I'm not sure if I was able-bodied I'd be able to do what I do now. God gave me a special gift, I have a special talent. I don't know if I would have had those talents if I was able-bodied. I have a natural inspiration. It's helped me to do a lot. More than if I was a regular person."

Legrand's disability is polio – full name "poliomyelitis" – a scourge of the early part of the last century and yet prevalent in many developing countries today.

Particularly aggressive with children under three years of age, polio is an infectious disease that invades the nervous system resulting in paralysis, or near-paralysis, to the limbs and joints.

A worldwide immunization program has helped to greatly limit the condition, but it still affects several remote countries across Africa and Asia, says Oliver Rosenbauer, a communications officer with the World Health Organization's polio eradication unit.

According to the WHO, there have already been 1008 documented cases of polio this year, compared with 376 at this time last year.

Their 2008 statistics show 552 cases in Nigeria, 355 in India and at least a dozen each in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Niger and Angola.

"Originally the target had been set at completely eradicating the disease by the year 2000 and unfortunately that's passed," Rosenbauer says from the WHO's headquarters in Geneva.

"We've learned that to set timelines to try to eradicate a virus is difficult. We know what levels of immunization we need to eradicate the disease and we want to attain that as soon as possible."

Legrand, 43, says he is joyful the condition has been virtually wiped out in Cameroon, where children, who now receive free immunizations, can enjoy the kind of physical freedom he was denied.

Growing up in the town of Bangoua, in the African nation's western edges, Legrand, one of five otherwise healthy children, was struck down with the condition just before his first birthday.

It paralyzed and deformed both his legs, leaving his left leg three inches shorter than the right, and condemning him to a lifetime of movement by crutches or wheelchair, excruciating physical therapy, daily painkillers, social discrimination and referred health complications.

But rather than wallow in his misfortune, he has developed a passion for educating and inspiring others with disabilities.

His latest project is the release of his first book, "Beyond Stairs," a 10-part narrative in which Legrand – writing under the pseudonym of Professor Ouele, an amalgam of the first letters of each of his names – recounts the prejudice and discrimination that the disabled suffer every day.

Legrand says he hopes to turn the book into a film and says he has been approached by five independent producers, none of whom he will name because of confidentiality.

One person who says he is particularly looking forward to the possibility of the book being turned into a film is Paul K. Longmore, one of the last documented Americans to be diagnosed with polio.

Longmore, now a lecturer in history at San Francisco State University and one of the foremost advocates for the disabled in the United States, says while there have been "thousands" of films made about the disabled, they've been "the wrong kind."

"They're almost all stereotyped," says Longmore, who pointed to Hollywood's trend of casting disabled villains such as Freddy Krueger, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Phantom of the Opera and a succession of arch-rivals to James Bond.

"There are some positive films about people with a disability but they're too inspirational and sappy.

"There needs to be a realistic film done about people with a disability and the way they're treated by society," he said.

In "Beyond Stairs," Longmore might one day find such a film.

Set in an unidentified African village, the book recounts young mother Sosata's guilt at not having her son Pouneaboh immunized and how the family deals with the torment of his polio and the scorn of other villagers who consider the child evil.

But while "Beyond Stairs" points the finger at society's treatment of the disabled, Legrand says he also wanted to point the finger at the disabled themselves.

"The book is a part of my story, about what people with disabilities face every day of their life," he says. "It is to show that people with disabilities have a lot of problems that need to be solved, first of all by the people with the disability.

"The person with a disability can change his life by the way he acts. A person with a disability can go to school. A person with a disability can go to work. A person with a disability should take the responsibility to change his behavior.

"With positive behavior, they can do a lot," he said.

For Legrand, the book is a written form of the motivational and advocacy work he has undertaken for decades.

Before immigrating in 2004 to Washington, D.C., with his wife Angeline, 33, and their three daughters, Grace, 7, Peniel, 5, and Danielle, 3, (they have since had a son, Joshua, who is 11-months), Legrand, a high school teacher by profession, was well-known in his hometown of Douala as the founder and president of the Association Sports et Loisirs pour Handicapes (Sports and Leisure Association for the Disabled).

The organization acted as an advocate for the disabled, teaching them sports, dancing and singing along with professional skills and interviewing techniques so they could find a job.

He has continued that community work here in the district, playing a volunteer's role with a disability services group at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in the Chinatown district of D.C.

Venetia Demson, the chief of adaptive services at the D.C. Public Library, says Legrand is one of about 18 volunteers who work with more than 1300 blind and disabled members, reading stories and recording audio for the blind and updating technology that allows the disabled to use the library's computers.

"He really is an interesting and inspirational person," she says. "What we're trying to do here is promote literacy and make information as accessible for everyone in the disabled community as it is for everyone else.

"Our volunteers, like Ouabo, really are the heart and soul of the program."

Legrand, who says he lives his life by the Latin creed "mens sana in corpore sano" - "healthy mind in healthy body" - is also a member of the NRH Cagers, one of three D.C. teams that play in the Continental Conference of the National Wheelchair Basketball League.

His former coach with the Cagers, Larry Toler, 50, describes Legrand as a developing player and a selfless teammate.

"He was very enthusiastic and always willing to do whatever was asked of him," says Toler, who also has polio and who coached the side between 2005 and 2007 before moving back this year to his hometown of Baltimore to play for the rival Maryland Ravens.

"He loved to play. I would say he was a leader as far as his personality is concerned.

"He wasn't one of my physically exceptional players but he was always a team player and would get in there and do his best to help his team."

With the publication of "Beyond Stairs" behind him, Legrand is already moving on to his next project.

A self-described skilful musician and vocalist, he plans to release a CD in February, a compilation of instrumental and motivational music that he says "comes from my heart," a normally trite or sarcastic observation but somehow so much more sincere and endearing here.

"I know I'm as good, if not better than, anyone else," he says.

"I don't let my disability get in my way. I let my inspiration drive me, to be the best that I can be."