The "W" Word

You are chugging along, enjoying your pregnancy, and then bam, you find out your kiddo will be born with spina bifida.  They give you a ton of information about what your child will be like (though really, it's more like a worse-case-scenario that doesn't end up describing your kiddo as much as they say it will), and then you hear the w-word... wheelchair.  For some reason, that word can be the hardest to hear, when really, it shouldn't be at all!  I think when people hear their child will be in a wheelchair, they start to think about all the things they think they won't do.  You start to envision your child sitting on the sidelines, watching all the other kids run and play.  The truth is, though, that a wheelchair should not put anyone on the sidelines.  Sports, marriage, children, driving, college, independent living; it's all possible, wheelchair or not. 

Many times new parents are told their children won't walk, but sometimes doctors are wrong.  No one can predict what your child will or will not do.  Here are a few pictures of children and adults who were never supposed to walk...

Lots of amazing adults and children use wheelchairs.  A wheelchair is nothing more than a mode of transportation.  It doesn't mean the end of a life, it doesn't mean sitting out during life, and it doesn't change anything about who a person is or what a person is capable of.  Yes, it may mean doing things differently, but a wheelchair doesn't have to slow anyone down.





Here are a few people rocking their chairs...

Then, of course, there will be those like Madi who do a little bit of both...

... and that's ok. 

If you are a new parent and you have been told your child will be in a wheelchair, I am here to say, it's ok.  A wheelchair gives a person freedom.  You child will not be any less perfect or amazing.  It does mean, though, that they will be pretty darn fast ;).

“Being disabled should not mean being disqualified from having access to every aspect of life.
-- Emma Thompson