My name is Amanda Northrup. I am 34-years-old and from Tennessee. I am a wife, mom, working artist, gym developer and an advocate for inclusion in fitness for the disabled. I also happen to be a quad amputee and in a wheelchair. I had meningitis at 4-years-old and have been disabled for 30 years. I […]
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Mother and Daughter – Same Disability, Different Experiences
Even though I am 52 years old, I do not think I have ever spent so much time pondering disability issues as I have since Emily, my daughter, started this blog. The conversations we have had before, during, and after she writes her posts have been illuminating and have further reinforced how her experiences growing […]
Living Life One Step at a Time with the Help of some Clever “Handi-Hacks”
Seems like everyone is counting their steps these days as gizmos like Fitbit are all the rage. Because my daughter and I share a rare orthopedic disorder, Larsen Syndrome, we have many limitations in our upper and lower extremities that greatly impact our daily “steps.” Emily is a full time wheelchair user and I’m an […]
The Day I Dropped my Daughter on her Head
All parents have days that are harder than others, and times when we do or say things we later regret. And kids have accidents – they fall learning to walk, they don’t make it to the potty, and they never think about safety first. As a disabled mom, I think about safety perhaps even more than other […]
The World is Yours
Summer has started, and my daughter Scarlett’s first week out of Kindergarten is being spent at ballet camp. It’s the same camp we did last year, but the location has changed to a church in the middle of San Francisco. When I first heard that, I was enthusiastic. A church has to be accessible, right? […]
Donuts with Dad
One of the benefits of living in our community is access to the most delicious treats-less than a quarter of a mile away. Sweet Sinsations is a bakery that my kids and I affectionately call, “the donut shop”. Since we have discovered this tasty palace of desserts, we have been hooked and keep on coming […]
She’s Like Me
Perhaps you’ve seen the video by now; a little girl receives a doll with a prosthetic leg and, upon opening, she is overcome with joy at this revelation. The video closes with the now teary-eyed girl saying, “Thank you for making a doll like me.” (I’ve included the YouTube video with captioning options below.) In […]
Relationship: My Problems with, Me Before You, as a Disabled Dad
Allow me to set the background for you. Me Before You is the story of a man who after becoming a quadriplegic, finds the prospect of living with disabilities so terrible, he decides to opt for euthanasia. I would also like to add the character is wealthy because money always matters. A little bit about […]
Figuring Out Life Hacks as a Disabled Parent
In 1991, my husband Marc and I brought our newborn baby girl home when she was 9 days old. At the time, we lived in an apartment with several steps to enter. This was just the first of many challenges I had to navigate as a disabled parent. I was born with Larsen’s Syndrome (LS), […]
Making it Work: Caring for an Infant as a Mom with SMA
I certainly thought I knew myself as a parent, before I was one (ha!), better than I did. This has by far been the greatest, best, most difficult and even most anxious time of my life as a settle in. My current anxiety is about Gia becoming mobile. I already have help and am never […]