> Woman doesn't let multiple disabilities get her down
>
> By Daniel J. Vance
> Special to the Press-Gazette
>
> Though having more disabilities than Australia has kangaroos, Australian
> Ricky Buchanan says upfront she doesn't want your pity. This little woman
> has more spunk and fight than anyone I know.
>
> So what are your disabilities, Ricky?
>
> "You want the entire list?" she asked in an e-mail. "Ehlers-Danlos
> syndrome,
> osteoarthritis, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, myalgic encephalomyelitis,
> osteoporosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, myoclonic epilepsy ..."
>
> I could complete her list of another ten or so disabilities, and explain
> them all, but then that's all this week's column would have room for. I
> first learned of Ricky from a column reader pointing me to a Web site
> promoting her T-shirts.
>
> Buchanan is only 30. "To be honest, it's pretty rough coping with so many
> interacting disabilities, but I just do the best I can," she said.
>
> "I've been bedridden for more than five years, so I am used to it as I can
> get. I seem to always be discovering more stuff I want to do and can't
> because it requires moving, energy, or it causes too much pain or I can't
> tolerate the noise/light or other things."
>
> She has learned a lot while being bedridden because it gives her time to
> think, she said, time other people usually don't have.
>
> Due to her disabilities she often isn't easily able to form her many
> thoughts into words. She also forgets the "simplest things," even events
> mentioned in her diary the day before.
>
> Yet she maintains a great sense of humor.
>
> "Laughing when you want to cry is one skill many people with severe
> disabilities cultivate," she said. "It's necessary because so many times
> in
> life when having the choice of either laughing or bursting into tears, if
> I
> didn't choose laughing I'd be a ball of depression nobody would want to
> get
> near."
>
> She began No Pity Shirts as a means of creative expression. Her usually
> humorous and always provocative tee shirts are designed specifically for
> people with disabilities. The T-shirts say things like "Soon my kind will
> rule the world!" and "This is what a person with a disability looks like!"
> and "Still human!"
>
> Will she ever get better physically?
>
> "I don't know," she said, "... but I still have hope. Like laughter, hope
> helps you get through those 'dark nights of the soul' when it's scary and
> you don't know which way is up."
>
> For more, see www.danieljvance.com or www.nopityshirts.com
>
>
>
>
> To learn more about EDS, visit our website: http://www.ehlersdanlos.ca
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>