It all started with a car accident that my mother was in while she was pregnant with me. My mom and dad were rear-ended that caused the seatbelt to tighten up on my mom’s stomach which inevitably tore her placenta. She was rushed to the hospital where I was born about a month before my due date. I was born a healthy baby, just smaller than the others in the nursery.
Fast forward about seven or eight years my mom noticed that I started to walk a little differently that normal. It was nothing too serious, it started off with me just walking on my tippy toes. Then I started to fall, like a lot. Finally, it progressed into me walking hunched over and with a limp. My mom, a nurse, put her medical knowledge to use to try to figure what could possibly be going on with me but it was no use. She couldn’t figure out what the problem was so we did what any sane person would do and went to the doctor. My primary care physician looked at me, and he was just as lost as we were.
Continue reading Living with a Disability Shaped Me – by Jasmyne White