My name is Crystal and I am from Canada. I was born with the disability Arthrogryposis that essentially means, my joints are all there but it's like someone didn't know how to assemble me. Unlike some disabilities, mine does not get worse nor is it painful for the most part. As a small child, I had many surgeries to try to correct my disability but at around 12 years, my mother stopped allowing them ‘to fix’ me. Although surgeries have helped in certain aspects, after a point she realized that the surgeries were more invasive and said to the doctors, “That is enough, She will figure it out.”. Looking back it was one of the best decisions my parents made because with their confidence in me allowed me to cultivate my own confidence. What makes my parents even more special is the fact that I am a child of adoption. The first two years of my life, I lived in a hospital for the disabled. After that I have lived with my family ever since. I have two older brothers and a sister and I am the youngest of four children. My adoption was neither advertised nor a secret and with that gave me the confidence to know who I am eventually.
Some may view my disability as a liability but it is simply a part of who I am. What is unique about being disabled is that you must overcome many things right from the start of life. For example when I was born, I was in emergency surgery that very first day. Down ‘the road’, I would have friends who were disabled, and are no longer with us because their disability was degenerative. Day to day it is trying to navigate a disability through a nondisabled world but mostly it is overcoming your own perspective on ‘who’ you are, such as self-confidence and body image. I do not get angry or sad when people feel sorry for me because to me, it shows that they care on a certain level. My life has been one of many extremes, both physical and mental but without all of these moments I would not be who I am today without them. My friends are exceptionally supportive and my family are the core of who I am, so I did not get through all of this on my own and for that, I am grateful.
What does all of this mean for you? My goal is to listen to what is troubling you and then share my thoughts you. Think of me standing behind you with my hands on your shoulders gently turning you towards a new view and asking, “What do you think of that?”. It is up to you to take what I am offering and apply it to your own life. I do not have all the answers nor do I pretend to. All of my life experiences and continuing search for answers for even me; I look forward to an open dialogue with you.
