On the street, they offer him money to buy shoes, snapping at the sly and whispering as he passes. Joseph Dirufu Jr., a 59-year-old American, is used to everything. Barefoot for 20 years, he found in the discomfort of feeling the whole world on the soles of his feet a fuller way of life. There are many who try to guess why he stopped wearing shoes two decades ago, but few get it right.
“I have inoperable bunions and I’m allergic to metal, they can’t put them on me. It was the best solution. None of the shoes were comfortable. I have feet that are so crooked that if I put flip-flops on, they curl to the side,” he explains, via video call. “[Também] I am a neurotic, and the oldest one on the autism spectrum. I have sensory sensitivity and feeling grounded helps me calm down.”
For the former photographer, now a Pilates instructor, walking barefoot is an everyday adaptation and Joseph knows that doing so as a man in a higher-income country makes this adaptation an odd ice-breaker at dinner parties. However, he recognizes that strategy, being less popular, leads to judgment. “A lot of people think we wake up one morning and think, ‘I’ll never wear shoes again,'” he says.
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Despite the benefits he says he feels, starting to walk without shoes wasn’t easy. Joseph likens the process to starting with your non-dominant hand. “If we are left-handed and lose our right hand, we will have to learn to use our left. Likewise, if we spend our lives wearing shoes, [ao começar a andar descalço] We have to learn to walk again. It’s not something that just happens…
Walking is no longer an automatic task. In order not to get hurt in some types of terrain, you must always be aware of what is a few feet in front of you. This state of constant alert helps him: “If we wear shoes, we have the luxury of being able to distract ourselves, without thinking about what is going on around us. Lee, [estar alerta] It helps me focus and not lose control.”
Now, he finds a snag in the simple change of seasons. And while temperatures are changing more abruptly than ever, it’s getting worse: “The weather we’ve had here, where it’s been hot for a week or two and then cold and damp, is damn. My feet are like, ‘What’s going on here?'” As in other animals, he begins to notice that his body adapts to changes in temperature.He mentions that the nails “are different in summer and winter.”
“thick skin”
In the span of 20 years, Joseph DiFruo has become accustomed to dealing with a range of reactions. “Usually they don’t say it to my face. Sometimes I’m out on the town with my youngest daughter, who usually wears high heels, and I walk hand in hand barefoot. My wife stays behind and watches. As soon as we pass, they take out their cell phones to take pictures or talk to friends.” .It’s funny.”
The least pleasant comments come from social networks, as when New York times He published an article about his story and was accused of “needing attention”. “crazy, perverted, I wake upliberalism” are the most common accusations. “People have a spectacle at their feet,” he said in the article. “I have thick skin [da expressão inglesa thick skin, ter uma “carapaça”]. Thicker than my feet,” he jokes. However, he admits that he loves “giving people space for each other.”
Even without shoes, Joseph is usually not denied entry to institutions. “Normally, I don’t ask permission. I just go in and do what I have to do. And most of the time, they don’t stop what they’re doing to get close to me.” But he realizes that he has already been asked to leave.
“From time to time, they tap my shoulder and tell me to leave. I explain that it’s a health issue and that there are constitutional rights for people with disabilities. Sometimes they let me stay, other times they say, ‘It’s against our store policy.'” I say it can’t be, But they got me out anyway.”
In the United States, there are no laws requiring people to wear shoes in public, with a few exceptions, such as some hallways and restaurants on the East Coast and some government buildings. including Americans with Disabilities Act – Created in 1990 to ensure that American citizens with disabilities have full access to public facilities, equal employment opportunity, and access to government services – states that “reasonable modifications in policies, practices, and procedures may be required, unless the entity can demonstrate that they are of the same concern Amendments can fundamentally change the nature of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, benefits, or amenities in question.”
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Joseph DeRuffo compares: “In this country, you can walk around with an AR15 slung over your shoulder, but if I go barefoot, it looks like I’m carrying a handgun.”
The moments when friends invite him to go with his wife to a restaurant are one of the few situations in which he wears shoes: “I put on some kind of gloves for my feet. They have soles a millimeter or two thick, very thin. I go in with them and take them off as soon as we sit down. When I go out, I go barefoot already.” “.
However, he maintains that it is very rare for him to visit restaurants, except as a guest. “The environment is not pleasant. It is very stressful for me and on top of that I have to put something on my feet.”
Find comfort in the upset
Going barefoot wasn’t the only change Joseph made to his daily life, to lead a better life. “We don’t have cushioned furniture in the house. I like the surfaces to be hard, I like to feel things around me. We don’t have air conditioning. For my senses, it’s relaxing,” he explains. He highlights family support as essential and asserts that “nobody ever complained.”
When walking the most diverse types of terrain, the lack of constant rest has also brought benefits on a psychological level. Now, he considers it to be in a “good moment” and in its fullness: “There is peace in being in this organic state. Organic in the sense of being the most comforting expression of my being. And being in a place where I can be who I am and not apologize, and not feel less than someone else.” It’s a great place to live life,” he concludes with a smile.
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