letouxftw

No. Yolo.

The most annoying thing for me is when people treat me like a baby because they assume that my physical impairment means I am also mentally impaired. I would imagine the case is similar for your student and probably even more so given her severe symptoms. My advice would be to always treat her like the intelligent young lady that she is and challenge mentally as often as possible.

That being said, everyone is different, so your mileage may vary.

Here is a sampling...

• Play outside linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles (Eli Manning, I'm coming for you)
• Circumnavigate the globe in only my wheelchair
• Get onto Ellen

For a long time I was terrified of my future. But over the past few years I've realized that being afraid of what's happening doesn't do anything to improve my situation. I can sit in my bedroom and cry to my lonely self that I might die younger than most people, or I can go outside and have an awesome time laughing with my friends. Neither option will make me live any longer than I'm going to. But having fun and not focusing on my fears is a MUCH better use of my time, so I choose to do that! Thanks for asking!

There are two proteins in the body that are responsible for muscle production and maintenance. My body is lacking one of them, so when I was young I didn't grow very much muscle, and now the muscle that I do have is slowly wasting away. Physically, you can think of me as a big baby in a wheelchair.

Being extremely weak and in a wheelchair made growing up very different than most other people's lives. I write about many of those differences on my blog.

Additionally, as my lungs grow weaker, every illness becomes a life-or-death situation, since my body has a very difficult time removing mucus from my lungs. Most people with SMA eventually die because they catch a normal cold, and it turns into a severe lung illness that they are unable to fight off.

Mentally, emotionally, and socially, I am no different than anyone else! And it is very important to me that people understand that. Thank you for the question.