A few days ago I received a facebook friend request from a childhood friend. Not a girl from my hometown. This girl lived in my cousin's town. Whenever we went to visit my grandparents and cousins she and I always played together. This is the main reason I LOVE facebook... reconnecting!
Anyway this friend works with my cousin's daughter. When she made the connection she asked my 2nd cousin about me. My 2nd cousin was asking about our childhood friendship and what all we did. The most profound question was concerning my ability to keep up , assumming our play would have been "slowed down" due to my abilities. My friend's response was " Marty had no problem keeping up, I did not see her disability."
As I thought about this and my 2nd cousins questions and intrigue I realized that my cousin's daughter really doesn't remember me when I was totally mobile. Seven years ago when I was in MS helping plan the funeral for my aunt I sprained my right ankle & the Dr wouldn't let me put any weight on it. Since I can't use crutches I ended up in a wheelchair. From that point on I've had mobility issues because I sprained that ankle again when it was almost healed. Within months of my ankle finally healing I had a wreck that broke my "good" foot. It took one and a half years after breaking my foot to become mobile with a cane. I've been fighting and struggling to gain the best mobility I can and it's constantly improving.
I'm sharing this because I know at this point in my life my disability is extremely obvious. Yes, this bothers me...I let my pride get in the way. This is something I work on daily. My point is everyone has a disability of some kind. If we ourselves don't see them ...then others won't.
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