WHAT do you next do upon learning, at 18 months, that you had spastic diplegia (a form of cerebral palsy which is neurological and permanently affects muscles and coordination) and the prognosis hinted that you may never be able to walk?
As it were, you’d been born two months premature, necessitating for you to be confined in intensive care for five weeks. What more, you had a squint which required surgery.
You rebel against the rulebook. That’s what Nicolas Hamilton – the half-brother to seven-times Formula 1 World Champion, Lewis – resolved to do amidst myriads of physical and assimilation challenges strewn across his path to find his own place in life!
A racing driver, advocate for the disabled community and a motivational speaker, Hamilton, brought out this read titled, Now That I Have Your Attention, to illuminate the triumphs and challenges which have shaped his life and provide a lens into the intricacies of personal growth and the ways in which he navigates the world.
Notwithstanding his condition, it helped that his parents decided to send him to mainstream nursery and schools throughout his childhood so that he didn’t feel left out – yet his experiences in those aspects of societal integration translated into hard lessons for him as he was treated like a dweeb whom no one wanted to befriend or speak to. “He’s never going anywhere”, “he won’t amount to anything”, he heard teachers and children pronouncing at school where his being a disabled mixed-race kid rendered him to be shunned.
Much later, he went from being treated like a freak whose voice was drowned out to becoming a prolific public speaker who built a career around his voice which tens of thousands of people now listen to!
Insofar as his physical condition, Hamilton built himself up physically to an extent that he now walks unaided and broke down so many barriers that he is the first ever disabled racing driver to compete – against able-bodied drivers – in the pinnacle of British motorsport, viz, the British Touring Car Championship.
Declaring that one of his biggest goals is to provide a voice to those people who feel left out by the rest of society, Hamilton unpacks his brand of inspiration and motivation through chapters titled, 7 Lessons In Leading a Life Bigger Than They Expect, with each containing sub-chapters rounded off by takeaways. Précis in the order of their narration follow thus:
Lesson One: Rebel Against the Rulebook – in this chapter Hamilton mentions how at the age of 18, having decided to participate in motorsport, his application at the Motorsport Association for a license was initially declined because of his disability and the steps he took to overturn the governing body’s decision. He immediately reapplied, culminating in the MSA eventually granting him one.
In a subchapter titled, Pushing Back Against Exclusion: Behind The Wheel – Hamilton’s defiance in his determination to get what he wanted was based on the rationale that the MSA overlooked the needs of the individual driver, arguing that instead of having rejected him based on his disability – it ought to have handled his case pragmatically by having its motorsport physiotherapist assess and familiarize its self with his limitations and thereafter come up with solutions to help get his application accepted. The outcome of his breakthrough resulted in the provision of a more equal process for any driver aspiring to come through the pipeline.
Lesson Two: Always Walk The Hardest Path – inter alia herein, Hamilton relates the rigours of living with cerebral palsy picking up from the moment his parents resolved to enable him to being independent from them from the get-go through a hard knocks process whereby, for instance, they intentionally didn’t pick him up when he fell, with his dad, Anthony urging, “keep going, keep going, you have to learn to do this for yourself.” His parents didn’t mollycoddle him since they were of the belief that overprotecting him would limit what he’d be able to achieve one day.
Their outlook was on how – beyond his toddler and teenage period – he’d be able to live as an adult!
Lesson Three: Your Bullies Are Your Best Motivators – ensconced in this take is Hamilton’s impressions on the impact of bullying, be it in person or in the form of online trolling. He writes how as an 11-year-old he requested to address his school group at assembly about his condition after constantly being stared at, ending by saying, “please don’t stare at me so much – if you have a question, just ask me and I’ll answer it in the way I can.” It was, he says, a moment when he was able to find strength in his vulnerability.
Lesson Four: Find What Works For You – Hamilton asserts that it’s knowing that no one else is going to ‘fix it’ for you – you’re going to have to reach out for help on your own. He poses: how often do you put your needs first? Could you centre yourself in problems you encounter and come up with a better way of doing things tailored just to you? When did you last stop to consider new creative solutions that could tangibly improve the quality of your life, et cetera?
Lesson Five: Surrender To Your Fear To Set Yourself Free – in a subchapter titled, A Fear Of Speed Need Not Apply, Hamilton writes how he overcame an initial element of fear in his motor racing approach by pushing harder and gaining confidence which ultimately shook it off!
Lesson Six: I’ve Seen Rock Bottom And I’m Not Going Back – within here Hamilton recalls how, after two historic seasons, he found himself sans a sponsor for another racing season, resulting in his experiencing a painful comedown he didn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with.
Lesson Seven: Try Till You Die – Perseverance Is A True Superpower – this epilogue contains subchapters titled: life sucks, perseverance is the best defence; re-evaluating your goals is not the same as quitting; how to persevere when the rug is pulled; perseverance is a mentality, not a fixed-end goal; how to keep going when the honeymoon period is over; perseverance vs. desperation; you never actually go back to square one and perseverance outside of work.
32 years of age Hamilton, in the afterword writes that the words in his tome’s pages help people to start on the journey of self-discovery and self-worth.
Now That I Have Your Attention, a trade paperback is published by Octopus and distributed across South Africa through Jonathan Ball Publishers.
It is available at leading bookstores and retails for R435.
