Just keep swimming Just keep swimming Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming - Dory (Finding Nemo)

As a person who grew up with a disability, I knew two things as a kid, the first being that no one will ever understand what life is like for you, the other being that no one is like you and that you’re all alone in your brand of hell. That’s what I believed at 5 years old, and I believed it most of my life.

Everyone knows the story of Finding Nemo, how a clownfish named Nemo got snatched from the ocean by fisherman and his dad went on an adventure to try and find him, meeting interesting characters along the way.

While all of this is true I saw something else in the movie, I saw a character who was like me, born different and had to work harder to achieve what he wanted. So he worked harder, he learned to swim in his own way so he could be with his friends, he knew he was as capable as everyone else despite what his dad thought. He was as stubborn as I was and he taught me something that I hadn’t learned from anyone else, I could do whatever I wanted. I could be whatever I wanted. It didn’t matter that I spent more time at home and in the hospital then at school, it didn’t matter that I was in a wheelchair and couldn’t walk the length of the school. I just had to learn to do things my way and I could go on my own adventure break the rules and do whatever I wanted. And I’ve been doing that ever since.