Not all disabled people have anxiety disorder

I OBJECT to the fact that Oscar Pistorius's defence claims that because Pistorius is a person with a disability, he has an anxiety disorder. I think this could be an isolated case and not that all persons with disabilities suffer from such an disorder.

In October 2007, my wife and I were fast asleep at 9.30pm on our farm outside Port Elizabeth when there was a very loud bang. When we woke up, there were three suspects in our bedroom with knives.

They had picked up a large pot plant and rammed it through our sliding door. When I saw they were not wearing balaclavas and did not order us not to look into their faces, I realised they intended to kill us.

I immediately became very calm and pleaded with them not to hurt us, although one was beating me in my face. Like Pistorius, my firearm is within arm's reach from me under my bed, every night.

When I heard they were talking about looking for firearms, I told them I had a safe full of firearms and if they could bring my crutches from the corner of our bedroom, I would open the safe for them. At the same time I pulled the duvet off my body, so they could see my right leg was amputated and my left leg had had polio.

When the guy who was assaulting me, sitting on my chest, got off and walked towards my crutches, I went for my firearm and they started to run for the hole they had made in our sliding door. I managed to fire two shots.

There was plenty of blood on our veranda floor, meaning I did wound one of them.

When I have my prosthesis on, I can only walk slowly with crutches and when my prosthesis is off, I have to use a wheelchair, meaning that I am less mobile than Pistorius and could be regarded as more vulnerable than him.

Should I have been suffering from an anxiety disorder, I would not have controlled myself the way I did and waited for the right opportunity to go for my firearm. The person I wounded is today awaiting trial for robbing and murdering an elderly couple, so I think it is fair to say that their intentions was to murder us that night.

By stating that persons with disabilities are all inclined to be suffering from an anxiety disorder is totally untrue and could jeopardise persons with disabilities from being approved to get firearm licences.

Willie Bosch, Port Elizabeth