LENA MARIA VENDELIUS
… is my name!
I grew up in a city in the south part of Sweden called Jönköping. Only 20 years old I became known to the Swedish TV-viewers through a documentary called “Goal in Sight“.
I was born in 1968 without arms and with only one healthy leg, the other one half developed. I walk with an artificial leg. The cause of my disability is unknown.
I learned how to swim when I was only three years old. At the age of 18, I entered the National Swimming Team and at the World Championship the same year I took two gold medals and set two world records. The highlight of my swimming career was the Paralympic Games, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea.
In 1991 I took my exam at The Royal College of Music in Stockholm after four years of studying and since then I’ve been touring all over the world. I’ve visited Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand the most. Through my around 80 tours in Asia with concerts, TV, radio and media and around 50 CDs and movies I’ve received a lot of attention. Not least through my song at the Opening Ceremony at the Paralympic Games in Nagano 1998.
I’ve been an artist in the Mouth and Foot Painting Artist Association since 1990. I paint with my foot as well as with my mouth. I’m also often engaged as a speaker at different events to talk about human dignity, identity and life quality.
In 1996 I wrote a book about my life called ‘Foot-Notes’. The book was translated and published in 14 different languages. I’ve also written a book called ‘Happy Days’, published in Asia, and a third book called ‘Dare to Dream’ published in Sweden 2010, also translated into other languages.
In 1999 I had the great joy of becoming a manga character in Japan. The book was published by Shogakukan and all their books about famous people like Mother Theresa, Mozart, Princess Diana (and me) are well known and popular among young people.
In January 2008 I received the H.M. The King’s Medal from H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf with the words:
“For prominent accomplishment
as an artist and athlete
and as a model for
people with disabilities
in Sweden and abroad.”
In -97 and -98 I hosted two seasons of a music show on the Swedish television.
During spring 2005 I received an Honorary Citizenship of Taipei.
In 2009 I had the great honor to be one the speakers at TED.com alongside such big names as Bill Gates and Al Gore.
Since 2010 have most of my performances taken place in Sweden after being the main guest in the big 90 min show ‘This is your life’. After the show I was frequently hired as lecturer and singer and appeared in several TV-shows.
In 2020, basically all of my performances and international concert tours were canceled due to Covid-19. I took the opportunity to study and then developed an online singing course that was launched in Swedish, English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. I then studied furthermore and is now a certified counselling therapist since 2023.
10 juni 2017 gifte jag mig med Patrik Vendelius.
Vi bor strax utanför Jönköping, på landet.
YouTube
Please take a look at my films at my very own YouTube channel!
And if you
'Like' och 'Subscribe'
I'd be superduper happy!
Another movie tip...
In the spring of 2009 I was one of the speakers at TED in Los Angeles. It was a huge experience and honor to be part of this great event.
Al Gore, Bill Gates, Hans Rosling were some of the speakers. In the program, my speech was right after Meg Ryan who was supposed to give a 5-minute speech and read a poem she had written about the joy of becoming a mother, but for various reasons it was canceled. Right after my speech, Herbie Hancock and his amazing musicians played. And backstage I had a little chat with Jamie Cullum. Guess if I was starstruck, the whole time!
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment & Design and each speaker gets 18 minutes at their disposal. These TED talks can be watched online for free.
My speech was never published due to technical problems with the recording. I gave another TED talk in Stockholm, but the recording failed then as well. But later that year I was invited to a similar conference in Mexico: "La Cuidad de las Ideas" where I gave the same speech and that recording you can see!
555 92 Jönköping
Sweden