Alexander was bornin the Caucasus, Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia with severe lesions of the musculoskeletal system, his hands and legs are missing.
He grew up in an orphanage until 6 years old
and then was adopted by a 30-year-old strong, hardworking woman.
“Everything that I achieved in this life is the merit of my mother.
She always showed me that I am not worse than other people,
and this really helped me to feel that my disability is a God’s gift,
it is motivation to be better and stronger.
We all have the opportunity to become the best version of ourselves
and develop our natural talents,
no matter what obstacles we have to face.
Besides me, my mother has three more adopted sons. She has never been married.
Worked three jobs, ran a household, and was engaged in construction.
In the 90s, it was almost impossible to get prosthetics in the Caucasus.
Therefore, my mother decided that we needed to move closer to Moscow.
I got my first prosthetics in St. Petersburg.
But they rather hampered my movements. I was always an active child, and running on my knees was much more familiar to me,
I could even climb onto the roof, or jump over the fence.
Then my mother decided that I needed to follow her path and placed me in a Russian Orthodox school near Podolsk.
I successfully passed all exams and easily integrated into the new environment.
This is an elite school located in the forest.
Our whole family moved to Sergiev Posad. I lived in the school during the week and returned home on weekends.
The ordinary children studied there, and in order to be just like everyone else, I got up in the morning a few hours earlier than others and learned to make my bed.
At 9 years old I ended up in the hospital very sick with flu and there, for the first time I held a pencil between the stumps of my hands and tried to draw.
Once I had a dream and saw the Mother of God, I was sitting in a wheelchair, although we didn’t have one yet (My family carried me on a potato cart).
There was a river, hills, air, and freedom. This dream connected me with art.
Later at the gymnasium, I attended an icon painting class.
One of the icons I painted was consecrated and exhibited in The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour,
the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world.
At the age of 14, I had my first personal exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.
All paintings can still be seen in the Oleg Budankov Theater, where I also painted the walls and ceilings.
My works have been exhibited in India, Germany, France, and Switzerland.
After finishing school, I entered the Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled in the painting department.
In 2009, the Artist charity fund held the campaign “I Want to Walk”, the goal of which was to raise funds and send children to the United States for prosthetic surgery.
I was one of the lucky ones. At the beginning of 2010, I traveled to the US, where I successfully underwent surgery for prosthetic legs.
Between painting and sports.
At the gymnasium, I spent four hours a day in the gym and the rest of the time in creative clubs.
Since childhood, I have been involved in pioneer ball, volleyball, basketball, swimming, swinging, and bench-pressing up to 95 kg.
As an adult, I became interested in all-around events, shooting, sailing, and triathlon.
I did it on a professional level, with serious immersion.
I completed the running stage of the triathlon in Sochi in 2016 (5 km) and in 2017 (10 km) using cheetah prostheses, and took 3rd place at the Russian Championship.
I’m preparing for a new marathon, I really want to run in New York, but for this, I will need new prosthetics adapted for long distances.
I always loved to study and continue receiving various education throughout my life.
I was in the Russian Academy of Arts, and three years later transferred to the Surikov Institute.
I learned to be a goldsmith, a young cook (as a result I can cook), and woodcarving.
I became a handyman, fixed everything myself, and assembled furniture.
Such diverse hobbies helped me become adjusted to life.
I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro several times. (the largest free-standing mountain rise in the world).
When I did this for the first time, I thought that I wouldn’t make it, since 16 kilometers took almost 24 hours.
My prosthetics broke, and I crawled on my knees, without a guide.
At the intermediate camp, the climbers were persuaded to leave the race, but I still reached the end.
Do you know what I understood? I am not a disabled person. I, like everyone else, have an unlimited number of possibilities.
Boundaries are only in our heads.
I teach others based on my own life experiences, this enabled me to get on my feet and run.
I always wanted to create a physical therapy school, where people in any condition could recover and learn how to succeed at self-work.
I was so proud when my first patient improved.
The 14-year-old girl after injury had severe depression and could not walk on a prosthesis.
Now she feels very confident and can even do exercises.
It was not even she who had the fears, but her parents were worried and overprotective,
so I kept insisting because if she didn’t take her recovery seriously, she could simply forget how to walk.
Often, healthy people do not perceive disability quite correctly.
It happens that someone helps a person with disabilities. The one who helped seemed to tick a box for himself – “Look, I did a good deed”.
But I believe that you should not only help, but teach, so this person can live independently.
I believe that all people, physically healthy and disabled, need inclusion in the life processes of society.
After all, it is not only people with special needs who feel alienated from the urban environment, unable to express themselves.
For this reason, “Inclusive Theater” was created, there in 2016 I met my future wife Svetlana.
Her family didn’t take it seriously but nothing could stop us from creating a happy family.
As long as we love each other, we will be together, but if love ever disappears from our relationship,
we will let each other go – such perception is also a manifestation of love”.
Alexander achieved all this by the age of 36.
He participated in many television shows, published an autobiography book, conquered Kilimanjaro three times, сreated huge sculptures from chocolate,
gave motivational lectures, and helped people recover from different health and mental issues.
Artist, actor, teacher, athlete… He believes that Disability is given from above, and by taking something away, God gives a hundred-fold return.
You shouldn’t dwell on your shortcomings, including physical ones, you need to concentrate on your strengths and develop them, putting in as much effort as possible. Disability is an opportunity to become a better version of yourself, you just need to understand it and be able to use it wisely”.