The Deal About the Girl on Wheels

            How many blogs are out there written by females ages 18-25?  I’m guessing hundreds, if not thousands.  So why is this blog any different?  This is the true, sometimes gut wrenchingly honest account of a 21 one year old, who seems pretty normal other than the fact she’s been in a wheelchair her entire life.  See I was born with a genetic neurological condition that keeps the nerve impulses sent from my brain to reaching the muscles in my legs.  In layman’s terms that means the messages that my brain sends to my legs don’t actually there, so in turn my leg muscles don’t do anything.  I thank the Lord everyday that I was born this way, that I wasn’t made disabled after having lived a normal life.  I’d much rather not know what it’s like to run and jump than to know and have it taken away from me.  To me this handicap is just part of who I am.

            I grew up the youngest in my all too “Leave It to Beaver” type family.  My parents are God-fearing Christians who after 30 plus years of marriage are still going strong.  My brother (six years older than me) is too talented for his own good sometimes.  To this day he still pushes my wheelchair like he’s driving in the Indy 500, complete with sound effects.  My sister (happens to be four years older than me) is strong, thoughtful, and one of the hardest working women I know.  Both my siblings are married to people that fit right in our tight knit family, and my sister recently had her first child, bringing even more joy into our lives. 

            It sounds all too perfect doesn’t it?  Like any family we’ve had our hardships.  My father has been through more job transitions in the last six years than he has his entire life.  My mother has gone back to work full time for the first time in 18 years (trust me, it’s more of an adjustment than any of us were prepared for).  Sibling rivalry fueled many a fights between my brother, sister, and I.  I remember my mother telling me when I was younger that she didn’t get close to her sister until they were both out of the house – it’s true.  Once my brother and sister got married and moved out our relationships changed.  My brother became this man of God who put his wife’s needs over his own, and did whatever he needed to do to provide for her.  My sister became the person that I’d call in the middle of the night when I’m homesick while I’m away at college.  My disability was never the first thought when they thought of me, as I get older I learn not to take that for granted. 

            I was the only person in a wheelchair in my small, rural school district till my junior year of high school.  At the time, I hated my school because it was so small.  Now I realize how much of a blessing it was that I was with the same kids k – 12, for they knew me for me, not my chair.  Even though my school was not the most accessible by any means, the administration tried – kind of.  There were a lot of plans B, C, D, etc. that I had to think of when I was there.  For example: my sophomore year I took an architectural drawing class that met in the bottom floor of our high school, however there was no elevator that would take me there.  So I had to go outside and completely around the building to a side entrance, in winter, in Central New York!  I’m not sure if was the class, or the experience of wheeling in the snow to get to said class but I decided after that I did not want to be an architect.

            After high school I decided I was going to veer off the path my siblings too and go out of state for college, way out of state, approximately 800 miles away from home to be exact.  My mother thought “my baby is leaving me!”  The fact that I spend my days on four wheels didn’t even really register.  So here I am, 21 years old and entering my senior year of college.  I’ll graduate with an elementary education degree – what I’ll do with that remains a mystery, I figure I can always teach. 

I love to write though, but the idea of sitting down and writing a whole book scares the heck out of me.  However, I feel like I can tackle a blog.  A friend who has almost too many ideas about business convinced me to reach an untapped audience – those like myself.  I’ve always considered myself a bit of an anomaly because yes, I’m physically challenged but I’m pretty normal too.  I looked for blogs about young, handicapped people, who are “normal” and found none.  So, why don’t I start one?  Maybe you’re reading this because it’s 3:00 am your time and you stumbled upon this when you were looking for something to do while you can’t sleep.  Perhaps you’re like me and wonder if there’s anyone out there in the big expansive world even slightly like you.  Or maybe, you’re just being kind because you know me, and well… that’s what friends and family do – they support each other (even if they think you’re crazy).  Let me know what you think about this little blog, I’m always open for suggestions.