"Are you the Girl Who Dances?"One day at work, a friend asked me, completely seriously,"Are you the Girl Who Dances?"At first, I was confused.Me? Dance? I can barely keep rhythm with a microwave timer.But then I realized—he wasn’t talking about actual dancing.He was referring to the way I walk because of my cerebral palsy.And once…
Bart Simpson has been in my life for more than 30 years! Unfortunately, I was not very nice to him for a very long time. When I was nearly 4 years, I asked mum and dad for a baby doll for Christmas, I pictured playing "mummy and daddy and babies", carrying my doll in my…
At the age of 10, just before starting secondary school, my parents and I met with the headmaster so that he could fully understand my difficulties. From the very beginning, he made me feel welcome with his friendly attitude. He reassured both me and my parents that I would receive all the support I needed.…
We all have problems—some might seem more complicated than others, but at the end of the day, we live our lives as if we are the center of the world. Our problems feel like the biggest, the most difficult to bear. And maybe that’s how it has to be. Because if we don’t try to…
Everyone knows that people judge others based on the way they look. As horible as that is it's true, the best we can hope for is that they look people in the eyes and search for a honest smile. The other day I was approach in the supermerkart car park by a guy who asked…
After three years of being unable to see family from England due to covid-19, my grandad was finally able to come over to Portugal for Christmas, it was wonderful, we spoke, ate, drunk and had so much fun. Although somebody very special was and will always be missing, nana. She was a wonderful woman who…
Nasci em Cambridge, Inglaterra, e quando tinha apenas duas semanas os meus pais trouxeram a minha irmã mais velha e eu para Portugal. O meu pai continuou a construir a nossa casa na aldeia tradicional de Figueira, no barlavento algarvio. Com a idade de três anos, eu e as minhas irmãs começámos a aprender português…
“A lot of disabilities are invisible. Your reactions are not.”That quote says it all. People often don’t know how to react when they meet someone with a visible or invisible disability. It’s not always their fault—but let’s be honest, it doesn’t always go well. Sometimes, someone ends up hurt or super embarrassed. And when it…
For many years I hated having a disability, I will never love it and if I ever said I did, that would be a lie. In recent years I’ve been realizing that it could be much worse and I have decided that it maybe a good idea to write and talk about it (one of…
-Frida Khalo