Abraham Maslow once said, “In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step backward into safety.” My whole life I have had many medical issues typically preventing one from doing a lot of the “normal” things a child can do. But I truly believe that life is not about the circumstances you were given, but much rather how you choose to react to them. So growing up I have always managed to find a way to not let my disabilities hinder me from living my life like everyone else and defy the odds I was handed. When i was born, my spine was not fully formed at the bottom, leaving an opening that would be the cause difficulties my entire life. I was diagnosed with Spina Bifida Occulta. Spina Bifida is an incurable birth defect where the vertebrae is defective causing the spinal cord to fail a proper development. In most cases of Spina Bifida the person is wheelchair bound their entire life along with other major health problems. Despite this, step by step I began walking on my own just under one year old. I was also born deaf and in most cases of deafness, the person is also mute, …show more content…
I was required to do a lot of physical therapy sessions to try and loosen my ligaments enough to qualify for the team because of the tightness caused from my spine. I was able to do cross country for a while before I ran into more issues. My pelvis began to dislocate off and on during practices and meets followed up by bulging one of the disks in my back but still kept running for the following two years along with a year of track. Having so many medical issues can make life harder than usual. These things among many other experiences in my life, have been difficult to overcome. Inevitably, you have to find a way to claim what you have and the way you were born to be able to push through it. Your struggles in life should never be treated like limits but much rather seen as goals and
Some family have stereotypical ideas about disabled, but for Amy Purdy and her family that motivate them to live their lives beyond their limits. Although, she lost some parts of her body. For example, she lost both her legs below the knees, the spleen, kidneys. Unfortunately, she became unable to hear in her left ear. Another person who born with disability, Maysoon Zayid which is cerebral palsy. However, she did not give up for this so she worked hard and persevere to get a scholarship which was from Arizona State University. From Amy Purdy and Maysoon Zayid, we learn that facing problems forces us to get creative, and we should be optimistic when we want to change a critical situation.
This is another of the many illustrations made to change the narrative on disabilities, demonstrating just because you have a physical or mental impairment, does not mean you must overcome that challenge to be a normal person. Instead, you should thrive as an individual embracing any shortcoming you may have on one end, as others can have an even more detrimental illness or flaw that others cannot even notice. The wording crippled to describe other illnesses, such as OCD, paints a clear picture of how it may feel to have a disability aside from a mobility disorder, they may not be crippled literally, but their disability cripples them. For example, Matthew’s OCD keeps him in the bathroom washing his hands during most of prom. This is why the author is trying to change the narrative and language used no matter if it is to learning to deal with an illness and make the best out of any given situation, or something everyone will face, growing
Spina bifida is a neural tube birth defect that affects about 3,000 babies in the U.S. every year. Spina bifida comes from Latin terms that mean split spine. The disease occurs early in pregnancy while the baby is in the womb when the neural tube does not develop correctly (Lutkenhoff, 1999). Because the neural tube eventually becomes the nervous system and the spine, spina bifida affects the nervous system. It also indirectly affects many systems of the body because your nerves control everything your body does (Spina Bifida: The Facts, 2014).
From ages 6 to 12, I suffered from epilepsy, contributing to my phobia of public places and anxiety. At 14, I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and needed corrective surgery, which still affects my back to this day. From age 13 to now, I have experienced (in order) gastritis, gallstones, pancreatitis, gallbladder removal and have been diagnosed with a genetic mutation in my liver that causes stones to form. Needless to say, this has affected my diet and requires me to take medication. I have been hospitalized many times for treatment of my illnesses, the longest and most excruciating being three weeks for pancreatitis. Everyday, I wonder what it would’ve been like to have grown up healthy and lived without the constant stresses my conditions put on my body, my mind, and my family. As I got older, I only developed more problems as my personal life took a bad turn. The transition from one school to another in the eighth grade was incredibly difficult and my memories of the isolation and pain I felt are still deeply upsetting. It took me years to get accustomed to my new school and finally find myself in a place where I have made many good friends and feel comfortable with who and where I
As a congenital malformation commonly affecting children born with Spina Bifida, the Arnold-Chiari malformation, or Chiari Malformation Type II, involves the irregular extension of both the cerebellar tonsils and the brain stem tissue into the opening to the spinal canal – the foramen magnum (NINDS, 2013). Typically, the brain stem and the cerebellum sit above the opening to the spinal canal, where the brain stem houses most of the cranial nerves that supply the body. Providing the control centres for vital bodily functions such as breathing, regulation of the body’s internal environment through maintenance of heart rate and blood pressure, as well as providing sensory and motor control to a significant portion of the body (Joynt, 2014), the Arnold-Chiari malformation causes substantial problems for patients. Likewise, the congestion of these structures in the spinal canal limits the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the brain to the spinal cord (Medway, 2006), causing other medical issues that become regularly associated with Spina Bifida as a result, such as hydrocephalus (Columbia Neurosurgery, n.d.). Issues associated with the Arnold-Chiari malformation can only be relieved, rather than treated, through surgical processes that aim to eliminate or reduce these symptoms (WebMD, 2014).
Spina Bifida is a birth defect where the spinal cord does not develop correctly, or is not closed all the way while still in the mother. Back many years ago people who were diagnosed with spina bifida were not expected to live very long. Their lifespan was only about 6-12 months and then they would die. From having the spinal cord not developed it can cause massive defects on the child. It can be as simple as just a limp in the walk, but it can get as bad as not being able to use their legs at all. These children still have the right to work out and become stronger individuals. The children may also want to be involved in a sport. Many people may think this is impossible, but with slight modifications the child can participate
Working in the physical education field can be both rewarding and challenging and it is important for the success of all students that physical education teachers rise to the challenges that they are presented with. One of the challenges a physical education teacher may face are different disabilities that may impact their students in the physical education setting. Two examples of disabilities that teachers may see are Spina Bifida and Cerebral Palsy.
Spina Bifida means that you have a split in your spine. Scientist say that there are about 8 babies that are born with spina bifida a day. Doctors detect spina bifida by using MSAFP short for Maternal Serum Alpha-Fetoprotein. Other ways that spina bifida can be diagnosed is prenatal screening, Ultrasound and Amniocentesis. Causes of spina bifida is obesity, exposure to high temperatures, exposure to certain chemicals. 2,000 babies of the 4 million babies are born with spina bifida. Children with spina bifida have more problems walking, can have kidney problems and can also have some levels of sexual dysfunction. Spina Bifida usually don't have treatments but certain types of spina bifida can be treated with surgery, prenatal surgery, ongoing
Most Deaf people are born within an existing cultural group where traditions are past down for generation to generation. Majority of deaf children are born to hearing
The most significant challenged I ever faced is being diagnosed with severe Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome my junior year of college. Receiving my diagnosis I was upset and negative about the situation. I knew financially I could not get the surgery, and I knew I needed to push on through college. Nevertheless, I never let my diagnosis get the best of me. My diagnosis did not get the best of me because I started to see it as a positive challenge. Additionally, I realized my diagnosis taught me important life lessons. One of the life lessons taught to me, by my diagnosis, was to not add constant stress to the situation out of my control. If a situation is out of my control, like being diagnosed with WPW, the worst response is constant
In addition to having Spina Bifida, complications usually follow. Hydrocephalus was the complication that I was born with. Hydrocephalus is when the fluid in your brain stays in your head. Hydrocephalus could result in expanding the size of your head while causing brain damage. Spina Bifida is Latin for “open spine”. Paralysis was the result of the nerve damage in my spine. After I was born, I was rushed into surgery to move my spine to the proper position & to implant a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, which is a tube. To save my life, the surgeons implant the ventriculoperitoneal shunt from my brain to my abdomen. Later in my life, being cut shorter to my chest & then to where it’s currently, shortened to, my neck. This tube will later be needed to revised when I was five years old. A couple of weeks before my 10th birthday, my family & I moved to Great Neck, New York; where I currently live. My parents immigrated to Jackson
Spina Bifida literally means “split spine”. It is the most common permanent disabling birth defect in the United States. It happens when the brain, spinal cord do not completely develop. It is the most common neural tube defect in the United States- affecting 1500 to 2000 of more than four million babies in each year. An estimate shows 166,000 individual lives with Spina Bifida in the United States. I choose this disorder because many people do not about the effects, causes, symptoms and treatments about the disorder and I wanted to know more about spina bifida.
A hardship that my family and I faced was my mother being placed on disability. When I was four years old, she stepped off a ladder wrong and slipped a disk in her back. To repair the disk, it required multiple surgeries. As a result, she is still on disability. During this time, my father was the main breadwinner in our house, so money was sometimes a tough thing to come by. On top of my mother’s medical issues, I have my own medical issues. I have always had some minor issues, but in the last couple of years they have started to become more serious. During my senior year, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. This syndrome is chronic and so are some of the other issues that comes with it. Now that I am currently enrolled in college,
It is frequently thought that Deaf People are not able to speak. Generally, the inability to speak is thought to be associated with the lack of hearing capability.
Physical disabilities can be crippling. Some disabilities can be overcome, but no matter what effect they leave physically, they have lasting effects on character. Sundiata