An introduction ~I refuse to be called disabled

I refuse to be called disabled. .. It is true I can no longer climb mountains, water ski, walk to the store when I want to, pick up heavy objects, or not so heavy objects, I can no longer have the independence I once had to go anywhere I want, or stand for as long as I once did. Heck, I am very limited, but I truly hate that term!

Unless I am wearing a short dress, which you would never in a million years catch me in, or shorts which is more likely you would never see anything the matter with me as most of my reasons are hidden for why I cannot do everything I once did and still should be able to do in a perfect world. I could list all of my Boo-boos here but you would get bored very quickly so I will mention just a couple and then the big whammy people could see if their eyes ever looked down and if I was wearing shorts.

I have fibromyalgia and I have nerve damage from my waist to the tips of my toes and from my shoulders to the tips of my fingers. Now one would think that is the Whammy, but it is not. Before all of that hit, I fell off a cliff while hiking and shattered my foot, ankle broke my leg in two places. I have a huge scar on my foot and ankle where my foot was nearly severed by the leg bone as it punctured the skin. I was told I would never walk on that leg again. I am strong willed and do not listen to doctors. I walk, I am not graceful, I do not walk fast or far, but blast it I have my leg and I walk!

I refuse to be called disabled! I prefer to be called Differently Abled. It is true I cannot do what I once did, but I will not be held back because my body does not want to cooperate with me all of the time.

To help me gain more independence I decided to self train my own service dog. I will admit I did have some dog training experience before hand but I also hired a trainer to help with training through advanced obedience. With her, my independence grew exponentially as did my confidence to try some of the things I had let go, such as traveling across country alone.
I had intended this to be a small introductory post and it turned into a small larger one, so I have added it to the discussions instead.