I got a huge smile on my face when I stumbled across this tribe. What a great idea! Sometimes I feel like I am the only one - now I know I'm not!

I have bilateral congenital hip dislocation. It wasn't diagnosed until it was too late to correct with braces. I have gone through many surgeries on my hips including one that further damaged my left hip. Pain management has been a part of my entire life. I can't sit criss-cross-applesauce. I have foot long scars down my hips with football-like hashes. I have always had a limp. My hips, and thus back, are crooked which is visible and causes all my hems to hang longer on my left side. I was always the kid who couldn't be in physical education or was picked dead last for whatever team was forming.

My husband gave me 4 belly dancing lessons for a Christmas gift in 2004. I was mortified. I went with dread in my heart thinking I would have to endure 4 lessons with young, blonde, 19 year old girls who had taken dancing lessons all their life. How wrong I was! The room was full of regular women and girls who all had different bodies and different experiences. I'll be forever grateful to my husband for introducing me to an activity that is so fun, such good exercise, and has introduced me to lots of other regular women who enjoy it too.

My advice in every day life for someone with a disability is pretty simplistic:

Do everything you can to naturally reduce your pain level. Pain wears us too thin.

If you know of an exercise that targets your problem do it religiously. Exercise really can reduce pain and strengthen your weak area.

Be kind to your body with good nutrition. Cut out all the junk you can - processed foods, white flour, white noodles, white rice, sodas, and white sugar.

And when things seem to much to bear I use comparison for a reality check. I can still see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. My brain works. I have food each day and shelter every night. (There are so many in this world who don't even have their most simple daily needs met.) I have a healthy and intelligent daughter who is full of goodness and a husband who tells me that he likes my scars because they are an outward sign of how strong I am.

Keep dancing!
Saar-rah