To give a little insight on my condition and how my life has evolved over the years, I will start with the basics: my childhood.

When I was born, the doctors were pretty much horrified. It didn’t look so awfully bad, they had seen worse, but what scared them was that they never had to deal with Arthrogryposis before. They said they only saw a few cases in books.

As stated by Wikipedia, Arthrogryposis, also known as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC), is a rare congenital disorder that is characterized by multiple joint contractures and can include muscle weakness and fibrosis. It is a non-progressive disease. The disease derives its name from Greek, literally meaning ‘curved or hooked joints. The definiton is pretty much self-explanatory. I’m unable to bend my kness fully, and all the other joints in my legs have very limited mobility. My muscles are weak, including those in my back (which gave me an ugly scoliosis), and a very little tiny bit weakness in my arms also (but I can use my arms and hands 100% normally).

Well, confusion led to some random “maybe this is going to help” surgeries and the inability to walk at all until the age of maybe 4 year old. However, I was never able to walk by myself, always needed and still need support. I would need someone to lead me by holding my hand (or by gripping walls/furniture/whatever I could get my hands on) up to the age of 7, when I finally discovered the magic of the wheel walker which gave me a whole lot more independence.

As a little baby, mentally/emotionally, I was just like all the other kids, despite this strange thing… I was TERRIFIED of any new toy… or person. My parents say it could have been because of spending so much time in hospital. Deep inside my kiddy brain, I thought that every new moving thing (even my poor toys) were plotting to hurt me and murder me. I only realised recently that could have meant a huge issue later in my life if I kept going like that… it could have turned into social anxiety.

Luckily, my mom is a kindergarten teacher. She knows how important is for a kid to develop social skills from an early age, and I could never thank her enough for this. So, when I was around 5 year old, I started going to kindergarten (school starts at 7 year old here, so I had the right age). She didn’t even take me to her own class, she passed me to one of her best friends. She wanted me to be independent and not always need my “mommy”. My fear for new people and objects faded in no time, and I was simply a regular kid… even though I couldn’t run or play games which require a lot of movement. But I could join other kids in their games with toys, I could chat, laugh and make new friends. I don’t remember ever feeling like I didn’t belong to that place, I always felt like there was no difference between me and the others.

I see so many parents trying to protect their disabled children from “other kids laughing at them”, and it’s so natural to look after your child’s feelings, but you should all keep in mind that kids are much more responsive and open to “different”. Yes, they might throw a strange look and ask “what happened to you?” but then everything starts to seem normal and suddenly there’s no barrier. The thing I love about kids is that they are so pure and never judge. Yes, they are curious, but they easily adapt to new situations and people. And it goes the same for the disabled kid… if they learn to build friendships at an early age, their life will be a thousand times easier later in life. This will keep bullies away later in school and highschool and make building adult relationships easier.

Of course, if you haven’t had a very active childhood, it’s not impossible to build social skills even when you are older. The worst you can do is sit in a dark corner and think “they’ll think I’m a creep, I’ll better stay at home.” Some might stare and be uninterested, that’s true (yes, yes, I see it every single day). Well, we come in all colors, shapes and IQs and not everyone is accepting of people they consider “different”. But, there’s the huge chance that you might meet awesome people you can talk to for hours without even wanting to say goodbye. I made life-long friends in the most random places, and it all started from a “Hi! This place is great, don’t you think?”. A concert, a show, a convention, anything which you might get any interest in.

But yeah, getting back to the main idea… I wasn’t the regular kid, but I never felt that way. I would do whatever my condition allowed me to do with my other friends and I would always find something else to do while they were running and chasing eachother. And I think it’s safe to say I had quite a happy childhood. Later in school, same story, just I’ve had some mild silly bullying because of my “nerdy” grades early in primary school hehe.

I wasn’t the “good kid”, no way. My neighbors can probably still remember me and my best friend who was also my neighbor (now she moved 😦 ), filling plastic bags with water and throw them in their direction on the street, listening to weird silly music at 12 a.m. and blocking the elevator aaaand oh I was certainly not a good girl. 🙂 But quite a happy worryless little girl, so can’t really complain.