Aspects of living with a disability part 23 - Dancing throughout life without legs

 Dancing through life without legs, no one can dance without legs, not even me. So much so that I have a ladder in my room that I used to pull up on, but since I got my new chair, I haven't done any yet, so when I do, I'll clue the view. Before I swapped my chairs, I developed my own form of pole dancing, which was different from the traditional sense but still dancing all the same. It has been a sporadic hobby for me, which I started when I was younger and then stopped for a while until picking it back up last year, where I performed it mostly without fear. Throughout my initial startup sessions last year, I would close my door and curtain so I could be free to be me with my knees against my bed; I would do ab work like no one else ever could, as it was unique to my chair and the positioning was in front of a busy stage where kids played at the fair.

As a young kid in primary school, I took part in ballet classes with my friend Sophie and a bunch of my other friends. I currently don't do any dancing, but Sophie, on the other hand, still does continue to perfect her craft. It wasn't that long ago that I met up with Sophie again, and I will continue to keep in contact with her in the coming years as she has been my friend since before kindergarten, and we have been lifelong friends ever since. Naturally, being in a wheelchair, I can't participate in that many sports, so it does make it very hard to work on your physical state, one might say, and I'm no exception because I have struggled with this for a few years now. Yes, I'm terribly overweight, but hey, at least I can be open about it, and it's these things that people sometimes find it very difficult to talk about because we always think that we need to fit into the perfect image and most of the time this is not the case. I usually get a lot of pressure from my parents about my weight. Still, hey parents always love their children and want what's best for them, so in saying this, I do pay respect to my parents. Still, I also know that I am my own individual being, and I'm trying my hardest to advocate for my own needs; at this point, that is mostly about my mental health, but I will take that up in another blog.

Thank you,

Stephanie.