Cristian González (38) arrives every day to Enel in his car, where a guard helps him climb into his wheelchair. It has been 10 years since he has been working for the company, in the Monitoring Room area. “We are a backup staff, supporting plant maintenance, improving their operation, providing greater efficiency to the thermal power plants”, he says.
19 years ago, Cristian suffered a car accident. “The car was torn to pieces and the four of us in the car could have died there, but things happen for a reason, I am still here for some purpose. I was in lying down in bed for a month, without being able to move from that bed”, he remembers.
He says that after the accident his life changed, but he did not lose his spirits and immediately began his rehabilitation in the Teletón, which opened up its doors for him. “I was lucky enough to be able to enter the Teletón and the rehabilitation process happened very fast. Truthfully, I did a lot on my part, and when both those things happen in which you have all of the conditions and will to rehabilitate yourself, you overcome everything quickly”, explains Cristian, always smiling.
Today, his wish is to pay the Teletón back and to contribute so that many more, as in his case, may be rehabilitated there. So it happens that, in these days, he became team leader and coordinates the ambassadors from the different Enel companies, in order to support organizing the fundraising activities for the contributions of the employees of the company to the event. Cristian is happy, because this year Enel will be the official sponsor of the Teletón, taking place next November 30th.
He combines this scheduling of activities and fundraising with his everyday chores, where the fact that he sits in a wheelchair is not an issue. He moves freely and comfortably from one location to another. “My colleagues forget I am in a wheelchair, because we do many things together. And, sometimes they forget they have to take place in the first floor or that there must be an elevator available”, he points out.
This same labor integration, Cristian takes it to all fields in his life, and that is what he shows facing a ping pong table. Table tennis is his passion and he has been climbing up, step by step in different Paralympic competitions. “I started with a bronze medal in the 2014 Santiago Odesur games, then, I became Pan American champion in Costa Rica in 2017 and currently, I am number 29 at the worldwide level”, he points out proudly.