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Sitting and Singing Hi, my name is Marna Michele and I am wheelchair bound. Although some may look at that as a bad thing, I think it's pretty neat because I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for my disability. I was born with something called Arthrogryposis. It's a muscle and joint disorder. I have never allowed it to define me or get in my way of doing what it is I love. And that is SINGING. All my life the one thing that makes me the happiest and most confident is my voice. Being on stage in front of hundreds, sometimes even thousands is where I know I belong. I get nervous, but I never feel scared or out of place. It's funny to me because sometimes, when I'm simply at home looking in the mirror I feel so insecure of how I look and move and operate. But when I'm singing in front of a crowd I feel perfect, I feel beautiful and I feel strong. I also love to make people laugh, and to find the comedic humor in any situation. I have a YouTube channel, MarMarMovies, where I share my singing, my comedy, and my disability with the world. My main goal in life is to be happy and kind, to be brave, and outgoing. I do not and I will not allow my disability to stop from being the person I am meant to be.

Abigail's story Abigail was diagnosed with arthrogryposis at 32 weeks in utero. Arthrogryposis is a condition which affects the muscles and joints; low muscle mass and joint contractures. The doctors were not too hopeful of her prognosis, they provided little encouragement. She was born with bilateral club feet and joint contractures in her elbows, wrists, knees, ankles and one shoulder. When Abigail was 2 days old she received her first set of 5 series casts and also her first set of 3 hand splints. At 5 weeks she had her achilles tendons released via tentonomy. Currently she is in her 2nd set of Ponsetti braces to maintain appropriate foot posture. She has also graduated to hand braces which help create extension in her wrists along with wearing elbow braces at night to create flexion in her elbows. She went from a 90 degree inward flex in her wrists at birth and now she can extend outward past neutral. Her elbows can now reach a 90 degree bend where she was having trouble getting to 135 degrees at birth. Because of this she can now bring her fingers and toys to her mouth to chew. At birth, her shoulder would allow her arm to rise no further than eye level but now she can reach the top of her head and has recently discovered her hair! Let the pulling commence! With all that being said she is an extremely happy baby with an overwhelming spirit of determination. Although she may be limited in her ability to flex and bend where others easily can, she does not let it hinder her everyday activities. At 8 months old she is quickly learning to adapt and discover new ways to function and play. Although she may take a bit longer than most to achieve her goal or may accomplish her goal differently, she exudes determination in all that she does and when she succeeds, her face is beaming with joy! She loves to play with anything that makes music, jumping in her jumper, exploring the outdoors and also enjoys a good story read by Mommy or Daddy, Dr. Seuss mostly! With physical and occupational therapy once every week, along with at home exercises, Abigail is well on her way to leading a life with minimal physical hurdles. Each week we witness refined motor skills and growing muscle strength. She has progressed beyond all expectations and has impressed many of her doctors and therapists, not to mention her family. Everybody is extremely positive for her future and proud of all she had accomplished. She is a wonderful reminder that you can accomplish anything your heart desires regardless of disability or lack of ability, just as long as you put forth the effort to continue to try and never give up!

המילים "לא יכול" או "להיכנע" אינן באוצר המילים שלי שמי יהונתן כהן ואני בן 30. נולדתי לאחר לידה קשה בחודש השביעי להריון. בשל כמות החמצן הנמוכה שקיבלתי למוח במהלך הלידה, אני סובל משיתוק מוחין ועכשיו בכיסא גלגלים. אני מתעקש להשתמש במונח "יושב" ולא "מוגבל". אני לא מסוגל לקרוא בגלל בעיות ראייה, וקשה לי לכתוב בגלל המוגבלות הפיזית בידיים שלי, אבל המוטו שלי הוא להתגבר על מכשולים. התגייסתי לחיל החינוך והנוער, עברתי קורס קצינים, שובצתי ביחידת 8200 וסיימתי את השירות בדרגת סגן. שנה לאחר שחרורי חזרתי לשירות צבאי לשלוש שנים נוספות. לפני שנתיים התחתנתי עם אשתי היפה, יעל, ועכשיו אני בשנה השלישית ללימודים במכללת שלם בירושלים, שם אני לומד לתואר ראשון בחוג למדעי הרוח ובתכנית הבינתחומית בפילוסופיה ובהגות יהודית. The words "cannot" or "give up" are not in my vocabulary My name is Yehonatan Cohen and I am 30 years old. I was born after a difficult birth in the seventh month of pregnancy. Due to the low amount of oxygen received to my brain during birth, I suffer from cerebral palsy and I'm now in a wheelchair. I insist that the terminology used is "sit" and not "confined". I am unable to read because of vision problems, and writing is difficult because of the physical disabilities in my hands, but my motto is to overcome obstacles. I enlisted in the IDF Education and Youth Corps, then went to officers' course and was assigned to the unit 8200, and finished my service in the IDF Spokesman rank of captain. A year after my release, I returned to military service for three years. Two years ago I got married to my beautiful wife Yael, and now I'm in my third year of studies at Shalem College in Jerusalem where I am studying for a first degree in the Department of Humanities and Interdisciplinary Program in Philosophy and Jewish Thought. אמביציות ומניעים מתחילים בבית רוב חיי למדתי בבית ספר רגיל, שלא היה חלק ממערכת החינוך המיוחד. תמיד האמנתי בלשבור את תקרת הזכוכית. אני לא מאמין שיש דבר כזה 'בלתי אפשרי'. בשבילי 'בלתי אפשרי' מתייחס למי שלא באמת רוצה לעבוד קשה בשביל משהו. זה נכון שאני לא יכול לעלות 20 קומות ללא מעלית, אבל רוב ההיבטים בחיים שלי ניתנים להשגה. מסובך, לא פשוט, אבל לא בלתי אפשרי. אני חושב שתמיד האמנתי בזה, וקיבלתי חינוך טוב מאבי ומאמי. השאיפות והמניעים מתחילים בעיקר בבית. אני מסתכל על מצבים אחרים ורואה אנשים עם הרבה פוטנציאל, אבל ההורים שלהם מעולם לא דחפו אותם מספיק כך שהמקרים שלהם נראים כפי שהם נראים. אני רוצה לשתף את המסרים החיוביים האלה עם הציבור. Ambitions and motivations mostly start at home Most of my life I learned in a regular school, which was not part of the special education system. I have always believed in breaking the glass ceiling. I do not believe there is such thing as 'impossible'. For me 'impossible' is anyone who does not really want to work hard for something. It is true that I cannot walk up 20 floors without an elevator, but most aspects in my life can be accomplished. I mean sure it's complicated, it's not simple, but it's not impossible. I think I've always believed it, and I received a good education from my father and mother. Ambitions and motivations mostly start at home. I look at other situations and see people with a lot of potential, but their parents never pushed them enough so their cases seem as they look. I want to share these positive messages to the public. המוטו שלי בילדות היה לא להיכנע אין דבר כזה 'אני לא יכול', אלא 'המצב שלי מורכב יותר והוריי עזרו לי". אבי הוא ראש המוסד, סוכנות המודיעין הלאומית של ישראל. אמא שלי תמיד גרמה לי לשבת על השטיח עם ילדים אחרים, עודדה אותי לשחק איתם, לתת להם לגעת בי, ולפעמים אפילו להילחם איתי. אמונתה לא היתה לעטוף אותי בצמר גפן. המטרה הייתה להראות שאני בדיוק כמו שאר האחים שלי בבית. לשרת את מדינת ישראל, את צה"ל ואת האמונה בציונות, ביהדות ובעצמי הם הרעיונות המושרשים עמוק בתוכי. פורסם במקור ב http://www.maariv.co.il/news/israel/Article-563616 מראיינת: אילנה סטוטלנד צילום: הדס פארוש ואריאל זנדברג My motto in childhood was not giving up There is no such thing as' I cannot ', but' my situation is just more complex and my parents helped me. My father is the head of the Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. My mother always made me sit on the carpet with other kids, encouraging me to play with them, letting them touch me, and sometimes even fight with me. Her belief was not to wrap me in cotton wool. The aim was to show that I am exactly like my other siblings at home. Serving the State of Israel, the IDF and believing in Zionism, Judaism and myself are all ideas that are deeply rooted within me. Originally published in http://www.maariv.co.il/news/israel/Article-563616 Interviewer: Ilana Stotlnd Photo credit: Hadas Parosh and Ariel Zandberg

Joanna Hi my friends! My name is Joanna Vasquez I was born Dec. 31, 2013 with a condition called arthrogryposis! Did I forget to mention that I'm a twin I was the only one affected with my condition? But my mommy and daddy always remind me that I'm perfect! Im super excited to get my wheelchair and I'm going to able to catch up with my sisters and play! I've had two surgery's on my heels and ankles to loosen up the tendons, so my feet will straighten up. I wear my afos so they can keep my feet straight and prevent them to go back how they use to be! Now I scoot on my bottoms and Im getting my own wheelchair soon! Life is amazing!

Jaeden Jaeden was born in March 2009. He was a healthy baby boy with no initial issues, even scored an APGAR score of 7 when he was born. At three months of age, Jaeden started to present with irritability, lack of eating and lack of weight gain, inability to hold his head up (his head would always lean to one side-what I thought was torticollis) and poor central tone-hypotonia. As the months progressed, Jaeden’s developmental delays were becoming apparent, and we knew something wasn’t right. He struggled physically and verbally to do things that came naturally to other children like sitting up, crawling and playing with toys. We were referred to a myriad of doctors from GI to Neurology to Genetics. We did not have an answer as to why he had these developmental delays; none of the doctors had ever seen anyone like Jaeden. It was thought that Jaeden might have cerebral palsy with dystonia and spasticity. I believe a lot of boys are misdiagnosed with cerebral palsy as no other etiology is known or could be found. After Jaeden’s second MRI, it was found that he had delayed development of myelin. Jaeden was then admitted to the hospital for pneumonia and bronchiolitis. During his hospital stay, numerous blood tests were performed, including a thyroid test that came back a little abnormal, the first to test to come back abnormal. This will turn out to be the key in Jaedens’ diagnosis. With these results, Jaeden’s physical therapist and I were diligently “googling” things on the internet to find out what could be wrong. On April 23, 2010, Jaeden’s PT found a website about Allan-Herndon-Dudley Syndrome and it seemed to fit most of Jaeden’s symptoms. I was puzzled, as we did not have any family history of the deficiency, however, I called the genetics counselor to get Jaeden tested. A disanosis On June 7, 2010, the pediatrician informed us that Jaeden finally had a diagnosis, MCT8 or Allen Hernon Dudley Syndrome (as it was previously called). Upon finding his diagnosis, I tried searching for information on the internet and tried finding a doctor that would be able to help. After perusing the internet, I was disappointed to find minimal information on this condition; the only good resource was http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26373/. Upon looking at the MCT8 website, I found Dr. Refetoff, a specialist in this disorder at The University of Chicago, and he was only a couple of hours away. I immediately made an appointment with him for further guidance and help. He currently manages my son’s care in coordination with Jaeden’s endocrinologist. I have also found solace in being able to converse with other moms of sons that are afflicted with the same deficiency. We have developed a network of moms and dads on Facebook that are located all across the world--from the US to England, Ireland and Canada. Having other parents to talk to has been a vital tool, especially since this deficiency is so rare. Current estimates are that 200-250 boys worldwide are affected.

"Try again. Fail again. Fail better" I've always liked this quote from Samuel Beckett but I think I have only truly understood it after our son was diagnosed with Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome(MCT8). AHDS is a genetic disorder that brings severe motor and mental delay and has no cure. Receiving the news broke our hearts and shattered our lives into millions of pieces. We became two broken watches ticking time away in our own different worlds. The one who got us in sync again was none other than our son, Andreas-Rares. Andreas-Rares As it turns out, he’s the best teacher we’ve ever had…and the toughest :) He made us realize that limitations only exist if we create them, that the one who should decide what he can or cannot do is him and not the syndrome. That we should push limits, question the obvious, argue the impossible and learn to live again a life where anything is possible. Andreas-Rares is now three years old. He doesn’t speak, walk or sit unattended but that does not make his life or ours any less fulfilled. We celebrate every small step forward with the same enthusiasm as conquering Everest because those moments are so very rare and so incredibly precious. He works hard for each and every one of those moments. He has two therapies per day plus “homework” so it’s usually a full schedule but we never forget to laugh and play, even a bit every day. Follow our journey If you would like to follow Andreas-Rares’ progress please visit his site www.andreas-rares.eu or his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Andreas-Rares-968947029806421/

We roll far and wide We are the Globerollers. We roll far and wide in search of tasty foreign treats, sandy beaches, mesmerizing architecture, and glorious ramps. As for the rolling, we are forever on wheels. One of us by choice and the other by fate. Allow us to introduce ourselves. Roxy is a 24 year old woman of fierceness. She grew up in Amsterdam and moved to New York City when she was 18. When she was 16 months old, circumstances had led her to exploring the world by chair. Wheelchair, that is. Madeline is a 24 year old self-proclaimed nut job. She grew up in NYC and has remained there her entire life. When she was three years old, she decided that she and her rollerblades were soulmates and wore them devotionally ever since. This includes while sleeping, watching tv, walking the dog, and eating at fancy restaurants. Us females rolled into each other at 18 years of age, in our first class at NYU and we've been rolling together ever since. So here we are, five years later, traveling the world together. Our blog includes stories of us Globerollers turning inaccessible circumstances into accessibly hilarious ones. We capture these stories with words, pictures, and videos. So far we have conquered mountains, oceans, forests, the Amazon Jungle, Machu Picchu, Dracula's Castle, the Romanian Parliament, and the west coast of Ireland (just to name a few) all on wheels. We hope to encourage Globerollers alike to adventure fearlessly as we do. Follow our blog at http://www.globerollers.org/blog

Arthrogryposis Hi! My name is Juliet Lacy and I was born with a condition called arthrogryposis. I had 8 sets of serial casting for bilateral clubfoot, a bilateral tenotomy, boots, bar and AFO's but my feet started to relapse so I had surgery on November 16th to lengthen some tendons and place a pin in each foot to secure the bones in their correct positions. I just got my pins removed and I am now in short leg casts until my new AFO's are ready! My hands are also affected and I have to wear hand splints, but we have horrible luck and none of them fit the way they should! You wouldn't know anything is wrong because I am always smiling and asking "What's that"? For regular updates on my progress, you can like "Juliet's Journey" on Facebook.

Our twin boys We have identical twin boys with severe disabilities, Dov and Lev. They are nearly ten years old and aren’t able to talk verbally or walk independently. Their condition, Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome (or MCT8), only affects a couple of hundred boys in the world and means they have very low muscle tone and are affected in most areas, cognitively and physically. Despite their limitations, their sweet and funny personalities shine through, and every day they make us laugh and smile. Their favourite activities are exploring our neighbourhood in their walkers, swimming in the summer (with assistance) and going for rides in our new electric bike (they sit in front in their wheelchair). Lev loves petting our dogs, Nelson and Ketem, and going with them on evening walks in his wheelchair. He’s also a social butterfly and loves meeting new people, he wins everyone over! Dov is obsessed with classic rock music and strumming the guitar while I play the chords and sing. He has an amazing ear for music – even better than ‘regular’ kids his age. They both like going to the movies and the park together with their big sister, our daughter Jasmine. We are always looking for ways to use their strengths and interests to help them fulfill their unique potentials and have the best lives possible. We have a house full of equipment: walkers, standers, wheelchairs, bath seats, hoists, computerized communication systems and much more. And we do many therapies with them: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, hydrotherapy, speech therapy and even shiatsu. We have had countless challenges since they were born, many of which I described in my book, The Miracle of Love. And I know we will have many, many more as they get older. But Dov and Lev live fully in the moment and have taught us to enjoy each day as it comes and be grateful for everything we have, a wonderful family. We have discovered that despite our fears and the terrible prognosis, our lives are filled with joy, love, and laughter. Who could ask for more?!

Our Most Recent Blog Post Travel Blog Great Barrier Reef 11/12/2016 ​The Globerollers have taken on many land based challenges over the past year, but we've begun to get bored with those challenges. As Roxy says, "we eat hills for breakfast". So it was time to step it up. Monday morning we set out for a scubadiving adventure. After stuffing a dozen eggs in our faces and chowing down an assortment of baked goods, we were wet suit ready. We stumbled out of the breakfast buffet and saw our scubadiving shuttle pulling out of the hotel parking lot. Madeline rollerbladed full speed ahead, caught the front hood of the bus, and looked right into the driver's flabbergasted eyeballs. She gestured over to Julio and her Globerolling friend Roxy and he changed his expression to one of welcome. The driver got out of the shuttle, opened the door, and gestured to Madeline's rollerblades. "You can't rollerblade on the boat". "Can't I?" she asked as she lifted Roxy like a bride on to the bus. Next stop, Great Barrier Reef. When we got to the dock, the driver continued to warn us of the risks of wheels on board. He told us how unsteady we would be, to which we replied, "this isn't our first rodeo" as we rolled up to the boat. It's always embarrassing to talk a big talk about how Olympic we are on wheels and then stumble up a damp flight of stairs. When we finally got onto the boat, wet suits were introduced. As we fumbled, wiggled, giggled, and jerked our wet suits on all of the pretty boy scuba instructors remarked on how crazy those girls are. To which we replied, "we know we are but what are you?" We were then given a crash course on diving and then a pop quiz directly after. We don't respond well to testing because Pink Floyd told us not to conform. Jules guarded his paper as we snuck just enough peaks to pass the quiz. Then paperwork was distributed and we both got uncomfortably quiet. Madeline asked, "are you lying about your medical history?" And before she could finish her sentence Roxy admitted shamelessly, "oh yea". We then took turns reading questions allowed and snickering at our truth marked lies: Madeline: have you ever had a head injury? "No" Roxy: are you on any medication? "No" Madeline: can you hold your breath under water? "Yes". Roxy: do you have a spinal chord injury? "No" Muhahahaha! As they say, what they don't know might hurt us. Right? This fun went on until it was time to hand over the paperwork. A pretty boy scuba instructor came by to look over our answers. He took an extra long look at Roxy's (rude) and considered asking her further questions, but her challenging glare gave him all the answers he needed. Mermen decorated our bodies with vests and tanks and tubes and masks and then brought us to the water. No, our wheels didn't come with us. We thought about it, we fought about it, we taught about it, we took shots about it, but in the end we decided that wheels would rust and we were not about it. We were given one on ones in the water with our scuba instructor. He was a soft spoken British man with no patience for the weak. We were meant to practice breathing with the respirator, practice getting the respirator back in our mouths if it were to fall out, and practice clearing our eye masks by exhaling aggressively through our noses if water were to leak in. Roxy was up first and breezed through the one on one with the British stud. Then Jules went next and got an A+. Madeline went last and bellyflopped, literally, and then metaphorically. She had a rough dismount off the deck of the boat and a rougher time clearing the water from her mask. Fun fact: Madeline must hold her nose whenever she goes under water, including when bobbing for apples. During the one on one she kept coming up gasping for breath as the British mermaid stud grew more and more impatient. He wasn't sure if she should go down for the dive with them and warned Madeline that if she comes up once, that's the end of her dive. Madeline assured him, "I work well under pressure". Unfortunately this wasn't the same for Roxy. Jules and Madeline made their way down under in the down under (get it? We're in Australia...) while Roxy's ears succumbed to the pressure. Apparently it's harder to hold your nose and push air into your ears when the pressure gets intense if you don't have full control over your diaphragm. So Roxy opted to snorkel for the first dive after a hard fight with her imploding eardrums. On the next dive, all three of us made it down under (in the down under). We scaled the rope attached to the anchor that had parked our boat in the middle of the sea. When we got to the bottom, we swam with our British Mermaid. We could never have prepared ourselves for what we saw. There it was, An entire empire under water and out of sight, too luscious for our landlocked eyes. It's a scary thought to not be able to breathe without this strange device we had attached to our backs. Not to mention if anything goes wrong, we are over a minute's swim away from the surface of the ocean. All of the fear and panic and ear popping dilemmas washed away when we entered the magical kingdom of sea life. We all linked arms so as not to lose each other. The hardest thing to get used to was not being able to speak to each other with words. When we saw something worth speaking about, which was every second of the journey, we had to bring that moment inward and allow ourselves to bask in the isolated experience on our own. Quickly we surrendered to the way of scuba. Physically stay with the pack but spiritually wander. Look around you, under you, behind you. Stare at a piece of coral reef, notice how much life is in every crack of the structure. Take pictures with your mind's lens and bow down to the breathtaking hidden treasure of the universe (without letting them take your breath away). 40 minutes later we scaled back up the anchor's slimy rope and the ocean's cool air smothered us with kisses. We climbed aboard with a newfound wonder. What else is down there? How soon can we book our next scuba dive? And most importantly, how the funk did the creators of Finding Nemo get it so right?! On board we reunited with our wheels and told them how much they were missed. They gave us the cold shoulder and we sure as Hell deserved it. Next time, they're coming with us.

I am perfectly me just the way I am When I was 10 months, I contracted a form of meningitis called Meningococcemia. In order for me to make a full recovery, nine of My fingers and both of my feet were amputated. I am now 17 and a junior in high school. I've played pretty much every sport and I have been surfing since I was 5. I am currently on the varsity volleyball and soccer team and made the 2016 SCISA All-Star team. And I am planning on running varsity track this fall! I was recently featured in the November issue of 17 magazine #perfectlyme campaign. Always keep trying no matter what; I have to train 10x more than anyone else just to be equal and even more to be better.

Logan's Limb Difference "Lucky Fin" My son, Logan was born on December 2, 2015, missing his left arm below the elbow. Over the past eleven months, Logan has continued to grow and thrive – never letting his limb difference slow him down even for a second. He is (almost) always smiling and is truly one of the happiest babies I have ever known. Everyone he meets comments on what a happy boy he is, which is one of the reasons I think he would be the perfect Gerber Baby. I would be grateful and honored if you could help me make Logan the first Gerber Baby with a limb difference by voting for him! Everyone can vote once a day for the entire month of November by going to https://gerber.promo.eprize.com/photosearch2016/ and entering Logan’s entry ID, which is 226382. Thank you! =)