"Ariel was born as a very sick boy – tells Ingrid, Ariel’s mother -. He underwent heart and kidney surgery. We were in the hospital all the time but he never gave up”.

Now Ariel passes that determination to others while asking everyone to believe in people with disabilities. He always says, "Don't look at us as disabled people. Look at us as people who can achieve anything."

  Ariel graduated from high school, he speaks several languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. He completed an internship at the Costa Rican telecommunications company "Repretel" where he started the “El Corazón de Ary” project. It lasted until the pandemic. "During the pandemic, we stopped because we couldn't give interviews. Now we’ll continue with the project".

INSPIRATIONAL Ariel completed the leadership program at the Tecnologico de Costa Rica University. Since 2010, he has been working at IBM. And, besides that, he also conducts motivational lectures - about his path from birth to who he is now.

 The boy's mother says that Ariel always liked to be a leader and communicate with other people. Special Olympics became a sort of second family for Ariel. "We communicate a lot and we have fun all together." 

EMPOWERMENT In Berlin, Ariel feels motivated. Special Olympics provides the ground for growth and development. "I motivate people, and people motivate me. For me, the Special Olympics is an important platform to be heard and to tell other people to never give up."

Ariel has been a Special Olympics Global Messenger for about four years. When he asked me why I have decided to become a journalist I replied that this job makes me happy. My answer resulted in Ariel inviting me to Costa Rica.