Like grandmother, like mother, like daughter

I grew up with a mother who did everything and anything to try and lose weight. From a very very young age, I can remember my mom taking diet pills, eating differently, and constantly pointing out all her flaws. I also remember similar encounters when I would visit and stay at my grandmothers house. She wouldn't eat bread, she drank a special milk, and took diet pills just like my mother. The difference though, my grandmother was thin and my mother was fat.

But my mother wasn't always fat. As a young girl and teenager, my mother was tall and skinny. After having two kids, her body changed and her weight changed. Since then, for as long as I can remember, my mother has tried anything and everything (except surgery) to try and lose/maintain her weight. My mother's weight fluctuated from being fat to being not as fat, she never got back to being skinny. My grandmother would comment on her weight though, not always, but enough that I noticed.

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When I was younger, I was considered fat for my age. In 7th grade I moved in with my father and went to a new school and made new friends. I met a girl who was skinnier than me, and guess what, she took diet pills. I never took diet pills, but within a year or so, I started getting conscious about my weight. And so did my father and mother. I thought I was fine, but I would hear comments like "you're eating too much" or "you're not eating enough". No one was ever happy with my weight and someone would always comment about it. I remember one summer in high school, I went the entire summer barely eating a thing. I lost a lot of weight and got sick. My mother would congratulate me when I ate, even if it was just a little bit. I had to slowly consume more while eating because my stomach and appetite shrank from not eating anything. Eventually I got my appetite back and maintained a healthy weight. Years later, I had a beautiful baby boy and my body completely changed. I suffered for months with being uncomfortable with my new "mom bod". I didn't learn to love my body until just a year ago.

There's such a negative shame behind being fat. And for what? Because the advertisement in a magazine told you so, because a commercial showed you some crazy weight-loss results and showed you how happy the people seemed after the weight-loss, because you've heard someone say "don't eat that you'll get fat". But why is FAT the concern when it comes to bodies? Why not the health attached to that body? Just because someone is skinny doesn't mean they are healthy and just because someone is fat does not mean they are unhealthy. You CAN be FAT and HAPPY and HEALTHY.
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I like to move it, you like to move it, we like to move it

Do you want to know what we take for granted on a day to day basis without even realizing it? Movement. We all move different but for the same reason. When you hear someone say "let's go for a walk" what do you think? You automatically think of someone "walking"- on two legs. But what about those who can't use their legs? Or what about those with more than two legs? Could you go for a walk without "walking"? The answer to all of these is that everyone walks and everyone walks in their own way.

When we're out and about just walking along everywhere, we don't think about it. We don't think about how effortlessly we walk and we don't think about how much we need to walk. But how can we walk around if we don't have the access to? If we don't have the ability to? Disabled people face a struggle on a day to day basis of simply just being able to move around.

What really made me think about this was the video we watched in class about Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor "going for a walk". Taylor, being unable to use her legs, "walks" using her wheelchair while Butler strolls along beside her. The video also panned to pedestrians who were "walking" using a skateboard, riding a bike, and someone who was "walking" their dog. It stood out to me that the video kept panning out to other pedestrians "walking" and panning out to show the way that Taylor was navigating during their walk.

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Building Access
Access to buildings is essential for anyone who may need to go shopping, buy groceries, when looking for a workplace, or when going to class. If a building only has access by stairs or only has stairs on the inside to reach other floors, how are those who are disabled supposed to be able to access the building and interact within it? Having limited access makes it seem like those who are disabled aren't welcome in that space. I understand that some buildings may be older or some may not be able to get an elevator or have room to add a ramp, but we can at least try. As for the buildings that can make these accommodations possible, they should.

Public Areas
Sidewalks are nice thing to have, giving people access to get places if they don't have a vehicle and without interacting with traffic. But if we're going to have sidewalks, we need better sidewalk maintenance. If sidewalks aren't taken care of it becomes difficult for them to be used. Have you ever ridden a bike on a bumpy sidewalk? It's not pleasant. Now imagine being in a wheelchair and having to navigate through cracks and crevasses or not even being able to use those sidewalks due to them being so rough.

Stigma
A big problem with not validating the movement of those with disabilities is the stigma behind what it means to be disabled. When people think about disability they tend to think that that person "can't" or "shouldn't" do something because of their disability. Those with disabilities deserve the same type of encouragement to do something as an able-bodied person. Have you seen the video of the mom who helped her son with cerebral palsy to skateboard? This boy, Joao, was almost a year and a half old when doctors discovered he had cerebral palsy and was unable to walk independently. Jaoa grew up to be a happy child but longed to skateboard an no matter how much his mother tried to change his hobby, he was determined. So with some help, Jaoa's mother build her son a skateboard that kept him upright and secure while she would run and push him- even up and over ramps! How incredible is this? If every parent tried their hardest to help their children do things that they are told they "can't" or "shouldn't" do it could open so many doors. Of course there will be cases where their ability is limited and someone with a certain disability may not be able to do something no matter how hard they try but that's okay. Trying and failing is better than not having the opportunity at all.

The thing about movement is that as we all get older, our movement changes just like everything else does. Typically as we age our movement becomes less, becomes more fragile and slow, and some of us even end up in a wheelchair or using a cane/walker to get around. Movement changes and the fact of the matter is that there is no one way to "walk".