Kevin Laue, a one-handed former college basketball player, spoke as the Passion Week speaker on Thursday, March 9.

Laue has been to 49 states, speaking not only of his journey as a one-handed college basketball player, but also of his success as a businessman traveling the world and inspiring audiences.

“Disabilities don’t actually exist,” Laue said. “It’s not a disability unless you make it one, and it’s easy to sit there and say you can’t do that and use excuses because you have a physical or mental handicap.”

According to Laue, he doesn’t consider his missing left arm a physical disability. He thinks that, at 6’11,” being a “legal giant” is more of a disability.

“It’s very difficult to go to high school; these problems you have are very artificial,” Laue said. “This isn’t how life is. If you get depressed, realize that. If you are anxious, with college and other pressures on you, realize that. You’re good enough, you matter, you are going to find happiness. You just have to look.”

Laue encourages everyone to step up and be better leaders. He believes if you can show leadership in high school, you can do it anywhere else, because high school is a very difficult place.

“Never get discouraged if you try to be a better leader or if try to step outside of the box and you don’t see any real change,” Laue said. “So just live a life out of love, a selfless one, and you will do incredible things in this planet. You will find happiness.”

Laue’s message to high schoolers is that despite pressure to be the same and “normal,” everybody in college wants to be different.

“My arm, whatever your ‘disability’ is, it’s a blessing in disguise,” Laue said. “The world is a big place. Find your niche. Find your passion. If you want to be happy it starts with purpose and love, so ask yourself ‘what do I stand for?’ And stand for something.”