“I was walking down the sidewalk when I suddenly felt like my body was struck by lightning. My legs grew heavier with each step. All I could think was, ‘Something is very wrong.’ Nothing like this had ever happened before. The scariest part is fearing every day that I’ve passed it onto my daughter.”
‘Momma, when are you gonna get better? I miss how you used to be.’ I could no longer lift her up. I didn’t have the guts to tell her there’s no cure.’
‘One boy said, ‘Why is she even in here? She’s f—king crippled!’ I ignored it, but it would get worse. My mom and I got into a huge argument. She stopped, and looked at me in shock.’
“One day someone came to talk to me at lunch. I thought, ‘Finally someone wants to be my friend!’ Instead, they cut me off by saying, ‘If I was you I would kill myself because I couldn’t live like that.'”
‘I met him on a dating site. I was scared because you hear horror stories about creeps. Out of all the guys, Jimmy was the ONLY one who didn’t ask me. He changed my life completely.’
“28 years ago I was born with a spinal cord injury due to my doctor using forceps, and came out basically dead. Doctors told my parents I would be like a vegetable. But they were wrong. Then, I met Jimmy.”
‘Are you prepared to take care of someone with an EXTREME disability?,’ she asked while practically rolling her eyes. It wasn’t a question. It was more of an accusation.’
“His head was shaped differently, his ears were low set and he had an extra thumb on his hand. ‘Did anybody see this?,’ I asked. My midwife nodded.”
‘I began pushing my wife away as harshly as I could, yet she stuck around. Why? Why won’t she just leave? We are all miserable and it’s because of me. Doesn’t she see that?’
“My wife and son would come home and tip toe around me as my anger would rear its ugly head. Unbeknownst to me, my wife was scared to be out of the house for too long as that caused my anger to rise as well. ‘What the f*ck were you doing? You know I am f*cked up and can’t ‘babysit’ our son!,’ I would shout.”
‘The hospital had never seen anyone like him. They said he wouldn’t walk, he may even have fetal alcohol syndrome, but he needed a home, TODAY.’
“Child waiting in hospital for 2.5 months, can’t find placement. Has no femur bones and is medically fragile. We made our decision, but what would our friends and family think of us?”
‘One thing that’s become apparent throughout my chronic illness is, as a society, we’ve become so conditioned to view disabled people to be ‘an inspiration.”
“For many people, this stage of uncertainty is where they have remained for years. They’ve been diagnosed and discharged, sometimes decades ago, and haven’t been able to leave their homes, or even their beds, ever since.”
‘I’m the Veteran, not the Veteran’s wife’: Master Chief Petty Officer retires as senior enlisted woman in the Navy, wants others to know ‘we already are equal’
“Women don’t ask to be equal, we already are equal. Women simply want others to acknowledge that equality.”
A 9-Year-Old’s Letter To Her Disabled Brother
“Just as I start to have fun with you, you push me away and it makes me cry. Why do you do that? I wish you could talk to me and tell me. I would understand. I love you.”
‘Autism is sad. But I am not.’
“That urge to peek at the last page of my story has gone away. My heart feels secure. I am ok not with autism, but certainly with Sadie.”