“I imagined Cinderella trading out her glass slippers for a glass arm. What a sight she would have been at the ball, turning something that others saw as a negative feature into a beautiful work of art.”
‘As my daughter studied Cinderella, I wondered why there were still no princesses who looked like I did.’: Limb difference advocate embraces unique beauty cosplaying princesses
‘She was BORN like that!’ My superpowers were activated by his words. He freed me from questioning myself.’: Mom with limb difference urges ‘you’ll help others just by being you’
“‘She has 1 hand and a nub, sometimes wears a robot hand and is a superhero!’”
‘We can’t see any arms.’ I was chasing shadows and clinging to hope there was a mistake.’: Mom gives birth to son with TAR Syndrome, ‘No arms? No problem!’
“Why does EVERYTHING have sleeves? The feeling of being inadequate hit me like a freight train. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. ‘How are we supposed to raise a child with no arms?’”
‘This moment will stick with me forever. She became REAL to me.’: Father to daughter born with limb difference creates fictional world ‘aiming to accurately represent disability’
“I wanted to fulfill the promise I made to my daughter. I wanted HER to be the hero.”
‘You should put her up for adoption.’ They thought my ‘deformities’ would ‘severely handicap’ me.’: Woman born with amniotic band syndrome is ‘not limited in ANY way’
“‘We just don’t know what to do.’ They thought I’d never be able to walk, run, or have normal brain function. I HAD to believe in myself.”
‘STOP using ‘bad’ to describe a person’s body part.’: Limb difference advocate urges ‘teach people to love their bodies’
“You’re teaching them if their body doesn’t look or function like most do, then it’s BAD.”
‘I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. I was there for everyone else but not for myself.’: Limb difference advocate urges ‘stop comparing yourself to others’
“I was a people pleaser. ‘If I put their needs before mine, maybe they’ll like me more.’ Deep down, I wasn’t happy with myself.”
‘I was called freak, alien, monster. ‘When will this end? Did I make a mistake by not amputating my leg?’: Limb difference advocate says ‘I’m proud to stand out’
“I had a giant cage-looking contraption on my leg 75% of the time. The names and whispers echoed through the hallways. The pain took its toll on me.”
‘If you don’t like me because of my hands, your loss.’ Our differences make us unique. We’re enough just the way we are.’: Best friends advocate for limb differences, ‘You’re perfectly made’
“Never seeing anyone else like you can feel isolating. Most of my life, I’d carry a jacket over my arm, even in hot summer months. I didn’t want to acknowledge I was different. Now, I’m proud.”
‘He saw my hand. ‘I was born like this.’ He left and stopped talking to me. I knew then I didn’t want to hide it anymore.’: Woman shares limb difference acceptance journey, ‘I have the right to a normal life’
“People loved me, loved the photo of a girl smiling with all her heart, even though she’s missing a limb. They saw my strength.”
