Run of the Mill

Written by eklastic

I was born, I guess, with a disability. It’s a common one, I was born with a unilateral clubfoot. A run of the mill disability or illness is the best to have if one has to have one because there are more tested and tried treatments. I was four or five in the photo above, and the conservative treatment had obviously worked. I still had to wear a brace at night until I was a bout ten and I’ve been wearing orthopedic insoles all my life; my right leg is ever so slightly shorter and thinner but I have to point it out for people to notice (I normally don’t).

I remember that my primary school sports teacher kept asking me before every gymnastic exercise whether I would be able to do that. I was always puzzled why she asked me and not anyone else. I never felt disabled and thought I was just special – I looked forward to my half yearly visits to the orthopedic surgeon, Dr Wess was such a kind and jocular man.

FOWC with Fandango: Disability

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11 thoughts on “Run of the Mill”

    1. I was lucky. It wasn’t bad and it was treated right from the start. I remember seeing a young boy in South Africa begging in the street with calipers due to what I guessed were clubfeet. My very new husband was very worried when I handed the boy all the money I was carrying at the time. He thought I wouldn’t survive in Africa very long if I reacted like this to every beggar. But it was the correlation of birthplace and treatment, the “luck of the draw” so to speak, that got to me.

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