@immarollwithit [1] Reply to @yomama3839 Disability is a spectrum and is dynamic ##YesIMovedMyLeg [2] ##DisabilityIsASpectrum [3] ##DisabilityAwareness [4]
♬ Cover Me In Sunshine - P!nk & Willow Sage Hart [5]
Mya Pol — a self-proclaimed "wheelie lady," TikToker with over 377,000 followers, and disability activist — had the best response when someone left an insensitive comment on a TikTok video she posted on her page. When it comes to her wheelchair use, people on TikTok [6] have questioned why she uses one (even though, quite frankly, it's none of their business). After a TikTok user said, "she moved her legs she is not actually disabled," Mya took to her platform to call out the ignorance of these kinds of comments and educate her followers on how disability is a spectrum. "Not all wheelchair users are paralyzed," she said, going on to describe different conditions that can lead to people needing wheelchairs.
Mya is not paralyzed; she uses a wheelchair because she has reflex syncope, which puts her at high risk for passing out and causes her to be gravitationally challenged. While she is able to move her legs, that doesn't mean her need for a wheelchair is any less valid than someone who cannot move their legs. "I wish people were more aware of what disability actually is, what disabled experiences feel like, what disability actually looks like . . . because there is no one right way to look disabled," Mya told POPSUGAR in an email interview [7]. And thanks to her TikTok, more people are now aware of that!
Want to learn more about Mya? Check out her TikTok account here [8].
@immarollwithit [9] I can stand, even walk, it's just not safe. I'm the most free in my chair🥰 #wheelielife [10] #disability [11] #levelup [12] #immarollwithit [13] #rollwithit [14] ♬ Level Up - Ciara [15]
