Disabilities

A 4-post collection

Challenge #02246-F056: Before You Can Fly

Hope may be the wings,

but courage is the belief

you were born to fly.

~Tyler Knott Gregson -- Anon Guest

Is there any greater motivation to the heart, mind, and soul than the words, you can't? The tinkerer known as Steelfoot didn't think so. She lost her feet to the cruelest winter that had ever cursed the northlands, and her legs below the knee with them. She was told she would never walk, she would never run.

She studied the metalworkers in the forges and made her first feet, then studied mathematics and natural philosophy and made herself springs that made her run faster than any horse. She worked for years on clever connections that meant she could swap out her legs in only minutes.

When her eyes began to fail at looking further, she made clever sets of lenses on hinged frames. Levers and latches that could keep them in place. Some children called her 'the insect' and many said she would never marry. You can't marry a freak like that. It's unthinkable. As unthinkable as a woman going adventuring. You can't do that. What about the men who are incapable of looking after themselves and the children you're expected to bear?

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Challenge #01487-D026: On the Other Side of the Fence

“I have at least 14 bad angles” - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

Carl made a career out of being abnormal. As one of the rare few who could not be cured, he told the jokes than nobody else dared make. Like, "Hey did you hear about the dyslexic biker? He joined Hell's Angles." or, "Public transportation is a real pain. You just try catching the sub every day."

And it worked. People laughed. He earned a living. He kept a home and

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Challenge #01470-D009: Survivor's Tale

I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I’m still surviving it, but bring it on. Better me than you. I don’t want to be a victim. — Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence

On the cusp of sleep, I hear voices. Stranger's voices, almost always. Sometimes, they're spouting nonsense. I know they're the firings of my unconscious brain gearing up for a dream. Other times... well...

They're the voices of people I know,

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Challenge #01469-D008: Judge Alike

“I heard someone say once that many of us only seem able to find heaven by backing away from hell. And while the place that I’ve arrived at in my life may not precisely be everyone’s idea of heavenly, I could swear sometimes—if I am quiet enough—I can hear the angels sing.” —Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking (2008) -- RecklessPrudence

Hell, like Heaven, is relative. One being's paradise is another's torture. And for Til, life was that torture. Another

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