My name is Liz and all my life I’ve been a very independent, strong character and a risk taker. Although I have a disability that impairs me from using one of my arms I’ve still managed to get by and life a normal life.  However, all of that changed completely on October of last year.  It was an early morning and it was still dark outside.  I was in an empty parking lot getting ready to enter the building where I work.  Every morning I get to work, park and head to work.  The only difference about this morning was that there was a man waiting for me in the empty dark parking lot.  I never thought someone would be watching me and recording my daily routine.

This particular morning this same individual approached me as I started walking towards the building. I could tell he was extremely upset about the fact that I was parked in a handicap space at work even though I have a legal handicap tag.   Not only did this man keep following me, he kept getting closer to me and his demeanor changed.  At that very moment, I felt so weak and defenseless.  I even felt worst after learning that this man was a criminal and didn’t had anything to loose and that he could come back and attack me at any moment.  For an entire week I was unable to sleep at night, I constantly had nightmares of getting shot and attacked and I was extremely depressed.  For the first time in my life I felt that I was someone else, I was not happy and I was not smiling.  All I did was cry and I couldn’t take it anymore.   So I decided to take Krav Maga classes.  The first night that I went to class I learned that your body size doesn’t matter.  Even if you have a disability, you can still take someone down. I will never forget those words that my instructor Jeff said to me that night.

After attending that first class, I noticed my self-esteem went up and my fear started going away.   After seeing these positive results, I knew this class was for me.  I recently passed my yellow belt testing and there aren’t enough words that can express how good and confident I feel  knowing that I’m ready to defend myself if I ever encounter a threatening situation.