After hearing stories about people who got in a bad accident, were physically assaulted, or some event happened that caused them to never be the same again the mind automatically thinks “wow I gotta watch out for this to make sure it never happens to me”. Over the week I was on tumblr and there was a video of this lady who was paraplegic and she explained how she got that way. That made me realize that there is really no one in line asking the world to lose their limbs or to lose their bodily functions. it is the just the situation that they are in. Yeah there are things that we can do to continue to be safe and to keep ourselves out of harm’s way but there are women who have acid thrown in their face which sometimes renders them “disabled” and they were being as safe as possible. it was just things in life that affected them negatively

During one of those inconvenient YouTube ads that pops up right before your video begins I saw something, or should I say someone, that caught my eye. Gareth Malone an English choirmaster, who I have seen on BBC programs like, The Choir, The Choir: Boys Don’t Sing, and The Choir: Unsung Town. I loved how he could transform the way people thought about music and singing, and in some cases even challenging stereotypes and gender norms, his shows were quite interesting. Malone in his own word has made it his life’s work “to get unlikely people singing.” This time he formed a choir of people who have difficulty breathing.

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In class we watched the movie regarding the disabled rugby teams. In all honesty I had no idea whatsoever at how intense this sport is and how much work goes into this game. These men have a serious love for this sport and can actually end up getting even more injured because if the wheelchair flips they can break their necks. Regardless of the looming dangers these men go through with it. Continue reading →

There are so many types of illness one could have, but not all illnesses are visible to the naked eye. When you see someone in a wheelchair, you can see that they’re handicapped. When someone has anxiety, you won’t quite see it unless they have an attack.

I am one of those people with an “invisible” illness. Anxiety was never something that I knew I had when I was younger. I would have little attacks here and there, but my parents just brushed it off, thinking that I was only freaking out because I was literally afraid of everything.

It wasn’t until about a year ago when I had my first serious attack. I began to feel disconnected to my body, like my heart was moving faster than the movements my body was actually making. My mom, who has anxiety herself, began to realize that I may have a serious issue. She took me to my doctor the next day, and we found  out that I had a mild type of anxiety. She explained that if I could try to stay calm and control myself, I wouldn’t need any medication – which sounded great to me, because I did not want to be seen as “sick” to my friends.

I later began to regret not asking for medication, because after my first serious attack, I began to have more. I hated the type of discomfort that these attacks were making me feel, but I had to learn how to control myself. Having mild anxiety has allowed me to bond more with my mom, because she has been my anchor through it all – her anxiety is way more severe than mine is, but she has learned to control it, which made me feel more comfortable to confide in her.

Just because my illness isn’t that visible, doesn’t mean that I don’t have it. Whenever my friends see me starting to have an attack, they think that I am doing it for attention, until my mom steps in and explains to them what is really going on. I just want to bring awareness to the many “invisible” illnesses that exist, because you never know what someone could be going through.

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas… Tis’ the season that we as a society come together to celebrate wonderful holidays full of tradition… Continue reading →