BHUTA Ayaz

Classification
2.5 (IWRF, 01 Feb 2020)

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (gbwr.org.uk, 2015)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (gbwr.org.uk, 2015)

Impairment Details
He was born with Roberts syndrome, a condition that affects the growth of bones in the arms and legs. (gbwr.org.uk, 2015)

General
EXPERIENCING DISCRIMINATION
He is a practising Muslim and says that having experienced religious prejudice and racism, he was initially self-conscious about his religion and race when he first joined the Great Britain team. "You'll get the odd person bringing it up or using those cultural appropriations like, 'Does your dad have a corner shop' or something. I get a lot of questions about how I live and what I believe in, and you can see what angle it's coming from but sometimes I take the opportunity to educate those people and hopefully try to break down some of that prejudice. I've been called a few names [about] my colour at club tournaments and things like that. But at the time I just laughed it off and just swore at them or whatever. But now I think about it, it was pretty racist. When I first got into the GB team, I used to hide the fact that I was a Muslim because I was always brought up with people taking the mickey out of your religion. I had this perception of non-brown people hating brown people, so I was afraid to be who I was really. But then over the years I got more comfortable in the team and got accepted into the GB team, and they've done a lot for me." (Imparative YouTube channel, 01 Apr 2021)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
Alongside wheelchair basketball he is a motivational speaker, primarily visiting schools to give talks about his life and experiences. "We have a bit of fun with them, doing some exercise drills, show them a few skills in the rugby chair which they love, I'll take some funny questions off them. [They ask] stuff like, 'Do you take your wheelchair into bed?' 'Do you shower with your wheelchair?' 'Do you push your wheelchair up the stairs?' All the intriguing questions. I get really personal questions as well like, 'Are you married?' And, 'Do you have children?' They're sweet. It's good going into schools because when you first approach the children, they're quite scared of you and you can tell they're talking about you. You hear a few comments like, 'Why is he so small?' But that doesn't bother me anymore, they're kids. But when you tell them your story, show them a few tricks, by the end of the day they love you, they want your autograph, they want a picture, some of them even want hugs. It's rewarding." (Imparative YouTube channel, 01 Apr 2021)