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T hey met at a wheelchair tennis tournament in 1993. Sonia Nadel’s friend had brought her along to watch competitive tennis matches and was later introduced to one of the players, Marc Nadel. She started to take lessons from him and, after 3 years, they married each other. Before such a fortunate event could occur, however, both of the Nadels had to overcome obstacles of their own. Sonia Nadel was injured at 13 years old. It started when she accepted a ride home one evening with her friends. Unfortunately, the driver had been drinking that evening. “We were in a car on the way home one evening and the car flipped and we were thrown from the car,” she said. Of the four people in the car at the time, three were thrown out and one remained in the vehicle. Unfortunately, the driver was killed while the other two passengers came out of the accident without any permanent injuries. Nadel, however, sustained a spinal cord injury which resulted in her paralysis. On the other hand, Marc Nadel was a junior in college at Georgia Southern when he was injured. He was with his then current girlfriend and about six other people when it occurred. “[Her] ex-boyfriend flipped out one day at nineteen and came into the room – started shooting,” he said. The assailant shot at Nadel and his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself. Although his girlfriend recovered, the bullet tumbled and perforated Marc Nadel’s spine, causing permanent damage to the spinal cord. Despite the life-changing nature of these events, the Nadels learned how to step up and overcome them. “The years following – I would say anywhere from two to five years – are an adjustment period to an accident like that,” said Sonia Nadel. “And then, at some point, people choose to either get on with their lives or to stay stuck in a situation that maybe is not as productive for them.” Marc Nadel held a similar viewpoint on the subject. “But that first year is like going through an identity crisis; trying to figure out who you are as you kind of see who you were and then, when you come to the grips that you can’t change your physical condition, you either move on or you get stuck in a rut,” he said. “You either learn to hit the curveball or take a seat on the bench.” Although both came to terms with their conditions after they occurred, there were other obstacles that they had to face together such as the arrival of their twin children Sam and Emily Nadel. “There was definitely apprehension on my part before they were born, thinking about the logistics of ‘oh how am I going to do this’, but
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when they got here, it just made sense what to do,” said Sonia Nadel. From that point on, she began to find ways around issues such as picking up the children from the floor through basic problem solving and changing the way she approached things. “I think they’ve adjusted to us just as much as we’ve adjusted to them,” said Marc Nadel. And the Nadels are as well-adjusted as they come. “I just take it as something that’s normal. It doesn’t seem different to me,” said Emily Nadel in regards to her parents’ disabilities. Both Sonia and Mark Nadel cite the community of Johns Creek as one of the reasons that their children adapted so quickly. They were drawn to the area as it was more progressive and had other families with goals similar to theirs. Yet, despite the how community has accepted them in Georgia, other areas are not as tolerant. “When we go home to Sonia’s hometown, it’s a small town, it’s not progressive enough. The first thing they say when they see me with her is, ‘you guys in a race?’” said Marc Nadel. Despite issues such as these, the Nadels still find hope in the way that society has started to approach people with disabilities. Marc Nadel recalled how this attitude appeared around his workplace.