Despite the fact that I usually hate it when complete strangers continuously hassle me on the bus, I guess I should be appreciative of the fact that I’m able to use this experience for a blog post!
Before I get into what happened on the bus, let me give you a little backstory. For a long time now, people have been really…curious about my fingers. You see, I wasn’t taught how to hold my writing utensils “properly”. By the time my fifth grade art teacher came along and tried to force me to do so by smacking my hands with a ruler (YEAH, I DIDN’T FORGET, HUMBERT!), it was too late. Her excruciatingly public displays of discipline frequently gained an audience. My peers would watch me like a hawk just to catch a glimpse of my unorthodox writing style. Well, turns out the way I hold my pencils wasn’t the only thing they caught wind of…
Behold, my superpower:
After a while, I learned to take the gawking and the teasing in stride. Hypermobility has in no way been an impediment on my life, so in that regard, I consider myself extremely lucky. I mean, sometimes when I’m writing my pinky temporarily gets jammed in the pictured position, but that’s more of a minor convenience than anything else.
Which brings me to my bus ride. I was just sitting there minding my own business (you know, as I do) until I hear the guy next to me literally gasp. Like, in the most ridiculous daytime soap opera way ever (not that I watch those or anything! 👀). Come to find out, he’s staring at my pinky…’cause it’s stuck again. He says to me, “I’m sorry, but…what’s wrong with your fingers? Does that hurt???” At this point, I’m laughing because this is entirely too dramatic, but I eventually decide to humor him and respond to his questions. “Nothing is ‘wrong’, that’s just the way they are and no, it doesn’t hurt.” Apparently, these answers were not satisfactory, because he keeps going on and on about this for the next 10 minutes or so (when he finally reaches his destination).
This ordeal got me thinking. I mean, I can understand why a child would react that way to something they aren’t accustomed to, but a fully grown adult? Are my hands really that jarring but nobody else is speaking up about it? I haven’t found any scientific evidence to back up hypermobility officially being considered a deformity, but I suppose the dictionary definition makes it so. Interestingly enough, dimples (which I also have) are considered to be a facial deformity. I’ve never heard them be referred to as such in reference to me or anybody else who has them, though. Is it because they’re semi-common, or is it because they’re widely considered to be an attractive trait? Like, why are facial craters cute, but wonky fingers aren’t? Honestly, who writes this stuff???
Unruly Bodies 
Oh man, I love this post. I never really thought about dimples as deformities until one of my HAPP major friends called them that. I took have dimples and I’ve honestly only ever gotten compliments about having them so it shocked me to hear someone call them that. As for your fingers though, I think that’s more interesting than deformed. I can understand wanting to know what it’s about but, to be honest, on the bus I don’t talk to anyone let alone call someone’s features “wrong.” …Let alone pester you for 10 minutes about it. I love your response though; it’s very mature to respond with humor!
Yeah, it’s kinda mindblowing when you hear it because the nature of the word “deformity” challenges the praise you get.
Well, my fingers don’t always look like that (which I’m guessing is what throws people off). It’s only really obvious if I’m using my hands to do something (e.g., typing). I was holding something in between my ring finger and my pinky at the time. The rest is history. He was a pest, but it’s whatever. I got a good laugh and content for a graded assignment out of it, so I’m the *real* MVP here.
I just love this sentence: “Like, why are facial craters cute, but wonky fingers aren’t?”
You’d think, if you hadn’t even noticed your finger was bent until this guy pointed it out, that would obviously mean it couldn’t hurt that much…
My fingers will get locked in that position every once in a while, and like you said, and it won’t cause me any discomfort until *somebody else* points it out. The only time it really bothers me is when I’m typing because that requires constant finger movement, but otherwise, it’s really not that deep. At all. Bus Guy™ refused to back down, though.
I know people who have hypermobility, and it might be surprising the first time someone interacts with it, but after that, it is a part of the human condition. People tend to gawk at people who are different in an attempt to make themselves feel better about whatever is going on with their bodies.