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Accident
After high school I joined the army , finished the pilot ’ s course and became a fighter helicopter pilot . I served in Palmachim AFB . On March 16th , 1987 , I went for a training exercise in the Golan Heights . We flew from Palmachim to the Dead Sea and from there made a turn North . A little before Beit Shean , the helicopter began shaking wildly and suddenly we crashed in the fields . We fell from 400 meters and it was a miracle I am alive . The head of the flight squadron died on the spot and I became paralyzed from the neck down . I needed to be in a wheelchair which is where I am at presently .
After the accident , I spent 1 year in rehab where I had to learn everything again . Everything . I was in a wheelchair and had to learn what this meant for me , I had to learn to eat , get dressed , to learn everything from zero .
Towards the end of the rehab I was asked if I wanted to come back to the army and contribute . I learned coding and went in that direction and became a commander in the coding department for the air force . I held many positions , serving for another 31 years , and finished as a Lieutenant Colonel .
Access Israel
My dad was a wheelchair user . After my accident , I began to understand accessibilityand I understood Israel had little accessibility for wheelchair users . No sidewalks or ramps , etc . Stairs instead of ramps to get into stores . No accessible beaches , or stadiums , or restaurants . Basically , zero accessibility . I felt I was under house arrest .
Later , I got married and started my family , raising children . I couldn ’ t do anything with my children because nothing was accessible and I began wondering . . . why has nothing been done about accessibility ?
In 1999 , Ezer Weitzman was the President and I wrote him a letter about accessibility in Israel chastising Israel for not doing anything about it . A day later I got a call back from the President ' s Office . They said the President read the letter and wants to speak to me . We began speaking about my army service - he was also a pilot . He asked me about accessibility which he did not understand as there was really no word for it in Israel at the time .
After talking , he said , I put on you the responsibility of starting an organization that will make Israel accessible in every way possible . And he said that in another year and a half you will come to the President ’ s House and make it accessible . So I went back to the army ,