Carina Kühne - That´s How She Rolls

What makes other people actually happy in life? If you ever wondered, you have come to the right place. In regular intervals REHACARE.de asks a varity of people always the same questions. What results from that? Read for yourself!

19/01/2010

 
Carina Kühne; © Andreas Klehm/
Volunta gGmbH

Name: Carina Kühne
Age: 25
City: Seeheim-Jugenheim in Germany
Occupation: Waitress in a café
Handicap: Down’s syndrome

REHACARE.de talked to Carina Kühne from Germany who has Down's syndrome about happiness, her desires and fine needlework.

REHACARE.de: What makes you get up in the morning?
Carina Kühne: I am happy and thankful that I can get up at all. Besides I am curious what the new day will bring.

REHACARE.de: What is your favourite place and why?
Carina Kühne: Berlin! Because I am born there and also because it is a great city with many places of interest. It is a very active town.

REHACARE.de: Who or what impresses you?
Carina Kühne: People who despite illness and disability manage their daily routine and who take pleasure in life.

REHACARE.de: What is your most valuable possession?
Carina Kühne: My family and friends who help me and love me. And of course my dog Arco.

REHACARE.de: What are you fed up with?
Carina Kühne: I am fed up with being shouted at and being patronised, with writing unsuccessful job applications and being refused. I am also fed up with people who do not think that I am capable of learning a job and to be really clever at it. Discrimination of people with disabilities and violence.

REHACARE.de: What makes you relax the most?
Carina Kühne: Diving, making music or listening to music and also in the bathtub and while reading.

REHACARE.de: What makes you happy?
Carina Kühne: When I get appreciation for my performance and achievements. When my concerts are well-attended, when people are delighted and I can be pleased with my work as well. Successes and awards for writing competitions.

REHACARE.de: Is there something you should throw away, but won’t?
Carina Kühne: Old sales checks and old worn out clothes ...

 
When Carina was a little baby she only drank while her brother was playing the piano; © panthermedia.net/Aiko Telgen

REHACARE.de: Name three things that make for a fulfilled life!
Carina Kühne: Health, work where you are paid enough to live on, friends and recreation.

REHACARE.de: When was the last time you felt blown away by something?
Carina Kühne: I wrote a story about my life called „Living with Handicap“ and I obtained the third prize for it. At the prize giving ceremony in cologne I got so much applause like I never got before in my life. My prize was a visit of the musical “Lion King” in Hamburg. I went there with my cousin.

I also played the piano and gave a lecture at an inclusion event. There I got a wonderful gift from a woman, I did not know. In affectionate needlework, she made a blanket that can also be converted into a pillow.

REHACARE.de: What questions would you like to know the answer to?
Carina Kühne: How long will it take until handicapped people have the same rights as those without disabilities? When will discrimination of disabled people end?

REHACARE.de: When was the last time you felt like hiding from something?
Carina Kühne: When my boss unfairly hit me with a plastic bottle at work.

REHACARE.de: What makes a person rich?
Carina Kühne: A lot of money, health, fortune and contentment.

REHACARE.de: What is your philosophy of life?
Carina Kühne: Be brave, bear up, never give up, keep fighting!

REHACARE.de: Who else should we be asking these questions of?
Carina Kühne: The Federal Government Commissioner for the Disabled Hubert Hüppe