Sophie Morgan Instagram – It’s the start of #SpinalCordInjury ‘Awareness’ month, so, as someone who has lived with one for over two decades, here’s what I want to make you aware of..
SCI impacts tens of thousands of people, with someone injured every 4 hours in the U.K. alone. And it’s fucking brutal. If you’re lucky, after an SCI, you might recover some of your sensory or motor function, but typically, once your spine is injured, your body is never the same.
SCI takes away your ability to communicate with your body, and with that comes a loss of agency and, often, independence and freedom (as we know it).
Your basic bodily functions, such as your ability to walk, piss, shit, fuck, feel, and run….will be impacted and, in most instances, taken away from you entirely. And for most people with SCI, life will be navigated with some mobility aid, such as a cane or wheelchair, forever.
In general, these devices carry with them a toxic and often immutable amount of stigma, and you end up having to battle that on top of all your physical battles. So, life as you know it will also never EVER be the same.
And the worst part is, it can happen to anyone at any time.
BUT – and yes, there is a BUT – there is life on the other side of a spinal injury. It takes a while to figure it out, but with the proper support, it’s out there. I promise. The growth, the community, the perspective, the gratitude, the connection, and the purpose that comes post-trauma are profound, and while we still have to work on the world around us, being less cunty towards how we react to the situation and what we make of it, is entirely up to us. I won’t say it’s easy; it’s not, but it’s not necessarily the tragedy you might imagine.
I’ve spent twenty years working out how to live WITH the paralysis in my body and have learned just how much life it has given me.
So, if you are newly injured, just keep going; it will get easier.
And if you are reading this and think you are impervious, just be careful – remember, disability happens to everyone at some point in their lives, so don’t take your body for granted. And don’t make assumptions about our lives either.
HAPPY SCI MONTH, my fellow paras and quads.👊🏻 | Posted on 02/Sep/2024 13:30:00
