HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-06-10, Page 3Valerie Gillies/Lucknow Sentinel
LazyLegz gets students at Maitland River Elementary School to
do the warm up with him before he breakdances and talks to
them about living with a disability as part of National Access
Awareness Week. June 2, 2015.
LazyLegz invited students of Maitland River Elementary School to
join him for some dance lessons during the assembly for National
Access Awareness Week on June 2, 2015. From left: Elizabeth
Losch, Emma Crawford, Rylee Bell, Brooklin Fleet, C.J. Beukema,
Cayden Beukema, Winston Atton, Luca "LazyLegz" Patuelli.
LazyLegz performs in Wingham schools
National
Accessibility
Awareness Week
The first week in June is
National Access Awareness
Week. In honour of Maitland
River Elementary School
being a recipient of the
Award of Merit for Barrier -
Free Design in 2014 by the
Huron County Accessibility
Committee, the school was
asked if they would host the
award ceremony in 2015
and, as a bonus, would have
the guest speaker come to
their assembly.
Luca "LazyLegs" Patuelli
was born with a crippling
condition, but has overcome
this challenge to become a
breakdancer. He tours differ-
ent schools to spread his
message of "No excuses, No
limit': LazyLegs performed
two shows at Maitland River
Elementary and a third show
at F.E. Madill Secondary on
June 2.
Patuelli was born on July
28, 1984 in Montreal Quebec
with arthrogryposis, a rare
disorder that results in lim-
ited joint movement and
poor muscle growth. With
Patuelli it affected mainly his
legs, but also causes restric-
tion of range of motion in his
shoulders. He explains that
his parents were told that he
would never walk. They were
told they should buy him a
wheelchair. Instead they
bought a tricycle, strapped
his feet to the pedals and
pulled it along with a rope.
This was enough to help train
Patuelli's brain to know that
his feet could move in little
circles, which eventually
helped with his goal to walk.
Patuelli has undergone 16
LazyLegz has 4 Maitland River Elementary School students volunteer to help with a stunt to show
his upper body strength and using his braces as extensions of his arms to do his breakdancing and
to emphasize his personal motto "No excuses, No limit." Students from left: Zayd Fish-Eddijli, Naomi
Campbell, Rylee Bell, Emma Crawford. June 2, 2015.
surgeries throughout his life
beginning at seven months
old until he was 17 years old.
Growing up in Bethesda, Mar-
yland, he did not let his disa-
bility keep him from being
active. He learned to adapt to
participate in such sports as
swimming, diving, skiing,
horseback riding and sailing,
performing many of these
activities on his knees and
using his upper body strength.
By far his favourite sport was
skateboarding, which he did
on his knees using one hand
to push himself forward. He
developed many of his own
unique stunts and was disap-
pointed when he finally had
to give it up after some of his
surgeries.
In 1999, at the age of 15,
Patuelli found a new activity
to replace the creativity he
had experienced with skate-
boarding, breakdancing. He
discovered he could not do
any of the moves with his leg
braces, as they were not
designed for quickly chang-
ing from locked to unlocked
position and back. Deter-
mined to try, Patuelli took off
his braces and crawled into
the centre of the circle of
performing breakdancers to
show his one move. At first
the others commented
about the dog in the circle.
Undeterred by this taunting,
using his superior upper
body strength Patuelli
pressed his entire body up
into a plank handstand,
gaining him immediate
acceptance by the other
dancers. That acceptance is
what had him hooked. He
loved the challenge of break -
dancing and modified and
created many of his own
unique moves incorporating
both his extreme upper body
strength and his crutches.
This was the beginning for
"LazyLegs:
Patuelli moved back to
Montreal in 2002 and began
representing Canada in top-
level international break -
dancing events. LazyLegs
joined the Canadian break -
dance crew Illmatic Styles in
2004. He travels the world as
a motivational entertainer
and teaches at dance schools
for children with disabilities.
With all of these amazing
things happening in his life,
Patuelli still had one goal he
had not yet achieved, walk-
ing without the aid of his
crutches. He finally was able
to reach that goal just two
years ago. To celebrate this
feat, he walked in the "I Can"
Challenge, a 2.5 km walk, on
July 26, 2014. A video of the
walk is on Youtube at www.
youtube.com.
This amazing young man
certainly connected with
and made an impact on the
students and staff at Mait-
land River Elementary
School.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015 • Lucknow Sentinel 3
Luca"LazyLegz"
Patuelli shows
Maitland River
Elementary School
students the type
of leg braces he
has had to use to
walk for most of his
life. However, they
would not work for
breakdancing as
they either locked
straight or released,
which is not
something he could
do fast enough in
a performance.
This forced Patuelli
to adapt moves to
be able to be done
relying mainly on
his upper body
strength and using
his arms more
than most dancers.
June 2, 2015.
Students and staff at Maitland River Elementary School were
captivated by the energetic dance moves performed by LazyLegz
both with and without his crutches during the assembly for
National Access Awareness Week. June 2, 2015.
Rev. Coan
Snyder, M.Div.
ordained
June 6, 2015
Congratulations and
love from Heather,
Crystal, Peter, Cathy,
Mom and Dad