I can't walk but I can dance!

"argue for your limitations and sure enough they are yours to keep"
Richard Bach

(this article was written by my friend Gracie)

A while back I became wheelchair bound. For a while I sat around sucking my thumb. I guess a lot of people do that. I really hate self pity so I got out of it pretty quick. I still had to learn how to do a lot of things differently. I even learned how to dance using a wheelchair! There are a lot of advantages to being two wheeled not two legged!

I know, it sounds crazy, but it's true. Here is a partial list, but there are many more than this.

1.Your dance partner can't step on your toes!

2. Going downhill is kinda like a carnival ride.

3. Going uphill gives you a really ripped upper body.

4. Since I started wheeling myself about I can beat a lot of people

at arm wrestling.

5. Stores put really interesting stuff on the bottom shelves

(at my eye level)

6. Little kids wave at me all the time because now I'm down where they

are.

7. I never stub my toe!

8. My shoes last forever because I don't wear them out.

9. Handicapped parking is close to the front door of stores.

10. I have learned to do wheelies so all the kids think I'm cool.

"what matters most about people is their ability not their disability"

So there it is, some of the things that are great about being in a wheelchair. I realize that people do expect me to be a little pitiful on first glance. When they find out I'm not even a little bit pitiful they have to

re-think their ideas about handicapped people. So I guess that is the eleventh good thing...I get to be a role model and who would have ever thought that could happen?

"I can't walk but I can dance"

Gracie