Words and Media
Every person matters. Strong through diversity. Different? Unique!
Heike Wolff
Country: Germany
Website: autorin-heikewolff
Disease: CMT
The Leipzig-based author Heike Wolff lives out two literary passions: with her stories, she transports readers to distant worlds and other times.
After numerous publications in anthologies and magazines, her debut novel “The Fall of Phaistos” was published in December 2022 by AKRES Publishing. In 2024, her high-fantasy novel “Arowan and the Tower of Winds” followed at Legionarion.
In addition, she writes short texts that engage with the here and now. She can be found on Leipzig’s reading stages and runs the Open Reading Stage Delitzsch together with two friends who are passionate about literature. Her stories come to life alongside her work as a business economist in the energy industry. She earned her academic degrees through part-time studies, publishing two empirical studies with Igel Verlag and Diplomica Verlag. Heike Wolff has CMT, a neuromuscular disease. As a child, she experienced in her stories the adventures that real life denied her. Today, she writes to inspire and entertain people.
Every year, she travels to Greece with her husband. Crete and the Minoan culture particularly fascinate her and inspired her first novel.
It’s not about emphasizing one’s own limits, but about seeing the possibilities and seizing opportunities – regardless of physical limitations. Integration means being a natural part of the community, without disability, origin, or other differences taking center stage. Every person brings their own abilities and can find their path, sometimes by taking detours or with support. What matters is focusing on what is possible and having a fundamental trust that ways can be found.
Photography by Katrin Lantzsch
Vanessa Schirge
Country: Germany
Disease: Centronuclear Myopathy
Vanessa writes poems in which she reflects on her feelings, life with a muscle disease, and her faith in God. Her words touch the heart and bring hope. A few years ago, she published her life story in her book "A Travel Report – Step by Step with God." Her texts also appear in various anthologies.
Zohre Shahi
Country: Germany
Website: zohreshahi
Disease: CMT
Born in Iran and living in Germany since 1987, good food means much more to Zohre Shahi than just enjoyment – it is a piece of home, an expression of culture, and a way to bring people together. Her love for cooking began in her grandmother’s kitchen, where she was deeply influenced by her dedication, the warm aromas, and the rich variety of Persian spices. From this inspiration grew her joy in creating new taste experiences through flavors and fresh ingredients. In this way, Zohre Shahi has not only preserved the tradition of Persian cuisine but also reinterpreted it – making its preparation simpler and more accessible.
Simon Hellenthal
Country: Germany
Disease: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Simon Hellenthal lives in Freilingen in the Eifel region. Even as a child, he showed great imagination and wrote short stories – the beginning of a passion that still accompanies him today. In 2010, he wrote the play “Murder in the Village,” with which the theater group of the Freilingen village association won 3rd place in the Nordeifel Criminale competition. That same year, he published his debut novel “Land of the Mighty and the Unyielding.”
Since 2010, he has worked tirelessly for the platform Wir-in-Freilingen and was honored in 2021 by Markus Ramers, District Administrator of Euskirchen County, with the “Volunteer of the Month September” award for his long-standing commitment. In the 2023 NRW state competition “Our Village Has a Future,” Freilingen also received a special inclusion award for Simon’s dedicated involvement with Wir-in-Freilingen.
In 2020, the song “24 Inches” by Lukas Hellenthal and Dominic Sanz was released, telling Simon’s life story, friendship, and courage. The song became a success and entered the charts – Simon himself appeared in the accompanying music video. In addition, he is involved with the German Duchenne Foundation, where he collected donations together with his grandmothers, and he appeared in the 2021 short film “Live the Moment” by RollitFilms, commissioned by the foundation, which portrayed three young men with Duchenne.
Since 2024/2025, Simon has also been active as an inclusive model, talent scout, and media manager for the inclusive Berlin modeling agency Kiezmodels, where he advocates for visibility, diversity, and authentic representation.
He is currently working on his new autobiographical book project “No Muscles, Lots to Tell,” in which he shares his life story and connects topics such as care, participation, and inclusion with personal experiences. On Instagram (@great.life_onwheels), he advocates for awareness and visibility of people with disabilities – showing with creativity and empathy that inclusion is not a special issue but an attitude shaped by encounter, openness, and respect.
He does not see his illness as an obstacle, but as a perspective: it has taught him to observe carefully, to find words where others fall silent – and to build bridges with his stories.
