This week is Osteogenesis Imperfecta Awareness Week, which is a huge mouthful to get out! And you know, I’m not a big fan of Awareness Days and Awareness Weeks, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to teach you a little bit about the disease I have, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or OI for short. […]
When I was in grade school and high school, I had an art teacher who emphasized the importance of learning the fundamentals of art while also developing your own style and artistic process. Robin didn’t necessarily spark a lot of creative desire in me, but she taught me many invaluable lessons that have allowed me […]
I love live music more than almost anything else in the world. Although it’s a lot about the music, it’s not JUST about the music for me. It’s the interaction you have with the performer no matter where your seats are. It’s being brought together with fourteen thousand of your closest friends by a few […]
Growing up with two parents who were veterinarians, I shared my home with a variety of animals. From the day I was born, I was taught to treat our pets, whether it was our Maltese named Teddy, our cockatiel named Charlie, or our tarantula named Celeste, with compassion and respect. I quickly realized that, like […]
It’s no secret that I get stared at A LOT in public, not because of my stunning beauty, but because of my short stature and 400 lb wheelchair. Most of the time it’s by kids, which doesn’t really bother me because they obviously haven’t been taught how to be around someone who is physically different. […]
In a way, art kind of won by default in my life. It was pretty clear that I was not going to be able to live out my life-long dream of becoming a killer whale trainer (I really loved Free Willy as a kid), so I went to plan B – art. I took a […]
For those of you that have been following my blog for a while, you might remember one I posted a couple years ago about how involved it is for me to get a new wheelchair. My chair has a lot of custom pieces to it, and it is very, very expensive (more than most cars, […]
Some of the best advice I’ve ever received is “You gotta use what you got, kid.” When you have a disability and your job requires you to effectively market yourself, it’s tricky to find the balance of just how much it should play a role in your marketing strategy. While it’s true that I have […]
One of the most common therapies for people with Osteogenesis Imperfecta is rodding, or surgical procedures where metal rods are inserted inside the long bones for strength. One of the major issues people with OI have is that their long bones (arms and legs) develop abnormally and are often bowed. When they don’t grow straight, […]
Any of you Facebookers know that there is a Facebook group for everything, and Osteogensis Imperfecta is no different. There are several out there, some for the different types, some with a focus on fitness, some with age restrictions, etc. I belong to several, and sometimes it’s nice to talk to people who go through […]
