(JNS.org) Cpl. Ori Cohen, 20, an Israeli soldier from Rehovot who was born with cerebral palsy, was among the 120 soldiers honored for excellence at Israel’s annual Independence Day ceremony on Thursday, April 23. “This honor belongs above all to my friends in the army and to my commanders, who accept me as an equal,” Cohen said, Israel Hayom reported. “They don’t make any assumptions, they simply listen and help me.”

Cohen serves as a network administrator at the computer support center in the Israel Defense Forces GOC’s C41 Corps. His job is to solve network problems. His parents, Sigal and Yitzhak, take him to and from his base, where he gets around using a walker or a wheelchair. “My parents’ and my family’s devotion pushed me forward, and this is the right opportunity to thank them,” Cohen said.