Welcome to Spotlight.
I'm Patrick Woodward.
And I'm Megan Nolet.
Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Philippe Croissant swims in very cold water.
The sea is dark.
The waves are high.
He is in the far north.
He is crossing the Bering Strait.
Finally, he reaches dry land.
It has been the most difficult swim in his life.
But he has finished.
He has crossed the seas separating Asia and North America.
It is a major success for anyone.
But it is an even greater success for Philippe Croizon.
Croizon has no arms and no legs.
Today's Spotlight is on Philippe Croizon.
His successes show that we can all achieve great things, no matter who we are.
Philippe Coisson was 26 years old when he had an accident.
He was working to fix a television wire.
He climbed to the top of his house on a metal ladder.
But he accidentally touched a power line.
The electric shock went through the ladder.
It set his arms and legs on fire.
A neighbour found him 20 minutes later.
His arms and legs were burned so badly that they stuck to the metal.
The doctors tried to save Croison's arms and legs, but they could not.
The doctors had to remove both of his arms and both of his legs.
They left parts of both arms and legs, but not enough to walk or use his arms.
Croizon had been a healthy young man, but now he was disabled.
Talking about this much later, Croizon told the BBC, When they cut off my last leg, I wanted to die.
I was so depressed.
My spirit was as low as you can get.
But you have to choose, and I chose to live.
While he was recovering in the hospital, Croison saw a television program.
It was about a woman who had been swimming across the English Channel.
This is the sea that separates France from England.
After watching the program, Croison wondered if he could do the same thing.
Croizon decided to make crossing the Channel his new goal.
It took two years to prepare, and a lot of hard work.
He exercised every day to make himself strong.
And he spent a lot of time in the water.
He used special equipment to replace his hands and his feet.
The equipment attached to his stumps, what remained of his arms and legs.
This helped him to push against the water and swim.
He would swim for about five hours every day.
Finally, in 2010, Kwazon was ready.
He entered the cold grey sea of the English Channel.
He was now 42 years old.
It took him from early morning until night to swim the distance.
His body ached.
But he continued.
He became the first person without arms and legs to swim between France and England.
Croissant had achieved his dream.
But he did not stop there.
He searched for a new goal.
Early in 2012, he announced a new project.
It was called the Intercontinental Straits Swimming Challenge.
He planned to swim across the seas that joined five major continents.
His friend Arnaud Chassery would join him.
Chassery was experienced in swimming long distances.
The two men trained hard together.
They worked as a team.
Croizon told the BBC, When it comes to training, Arnaud has to put my special equipment on me.
On land, I am just a big baby.
But a big part of this project is the unity between Arnaud and me.
What I do, Arno does.
What he does, I do.
We remove what makes us different.
In the water, we are the same.
We are both human.
Together, the two men swam many kilometres.
They swam between the four continents of Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe.
And finally, they swam in the cold waters of the Bering Strait between America and Russia.
They had completed the challenge.
Croizon hopes his success will change attitudes.
He wants people to have better attitudes towards those who are disabled.
He told Ability News, I want to show that disability is not the end.
That a person who has a disability can accept this and be happy.
But Croissant was not finished showing what he could do.
In 2017, he announced that he would race in the Dakar Rally.
This famous car race is one of the most difficult in the world.
The 2017 route went between Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina.
It went through deserts and mountains.
But the route did not use roads or highways.
The entire race was off-road.
It took Croizon 12 days to complete the Dakar Rally.
He drove a car designed just for him.
But the race cost him greatly.
Most days he was driving more than 14 hours.
He found it difficult to keep his body cool.
Temperatures inside the car could get up to 66 degrees Celsius.
The car broke down several times.
Extreme weather, like thunderstorms, caused mudslides.
These left him stranded.
Often, it felt like he would never finish.
But on the 14th of January, he reached his goal.
He was the first man without arms and legs to complete the Dakar Rally.
Croissant continues to amaze with his achievements.
He plans to take part in the Dakar Rally again.
He wants to race in a car powered by green energy.
No one else has done this.
And he has decided that his next big goal will be becoming the first disabled man in space.
Those who support disabled people hope Croizon's successes will have an effect all around the world.
Elizabeth McNairn leads Handicap International.
This organization helps disabled people.
This organization supported Croizon's swimming project.
McNairn wrote about Philippe Croizon in the Huffington Post.
This gives him a chance to show the world the many things that disabled people can do.
They can take risks.
Philippe is changing the way people think about being disabled.
I hope that someone living with a disability will see news and think, why not me?
Philippe Croissant worked hard to show that disabled people can do amazing things.
He wanted to show that everyone is equal.
But he also shows something important about humans.
All of us go through difficult and sometimes tragic things.
We all fail.
But we can also pick ourselves back up again.
And with enough time and effort, we can do almost anything.
Do you have a disability?
Do you know anyone with a disability?
What do you think you could accomplish, despite your limitations?
You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com or on YouTube.
You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
The writers of this program were Alan Harris and Dan Christman.
The producer was Michio Ozaki.
The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States.
All quotes were adapted for this programme and voiced by Spotlight.
This programme is called Doing Anything with Philippe Croizant.
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program.
Goodbye.
