Background Image

...

I'm Not An Advocate For Disability Issues. Human Issues Are What Interest Me. You Can't Possibly Speak For A Diverse Group Of People. I Don't Know What It's Like To Be An Arm Amputee, Or Have Even One Flesh-and-bone Leg, Or To Have Cerebral Palsy.

-Aimee Mullins

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

I'm Not An Advocate

Aimee Mullins

...

I'm Not An Advocate For Disability Issues. Human Issues Are What Interest Me. You Can't Possibly Speak For A Diverse Group Of People. I Don't Know What It's Like To Be An Arm Amputee, Or Have Even One Flesh-and-bone Leg, Or To Have Cerebral Palsy.

Views: 9

Topic

More From Aimee Mullins

Everyone Is Really Afraid Of Getting Out There And Not Being Good. That's The Challenge: To Be Afraid And Know People Are Staring At You And Know You Might Not Do All That Well, But You Do It Anyway. What Singles Out The Successful Athlete From The Ones Who Never Make It Past A Plateau, It That Successful Athletes Risk Failure, Even Though They Are Terrified.

With L'oreal, I Get To Be Aimee Mullins, Model. No Qualifier. And That Means Everything To Me.

There’s An Important Difference And Distinction Between The Objective Medical Fact Of My Being An Amputee And The Subjective Societal Opinion Of Whether Or Not I’m Disabled. Truthfully, The Only Real And Consistent Disability I’ve Had To Confront Is The World Ever Thinking That I Could Be Described By Those Definitions.

In Athletics, The Idea Of Possibility Is Presumed. It's Not 'if;' It's 'how.'

For Me, I Never Ever Felt The Ownership Or Any Identity With Any Community Of Disabilities. I Didn't Grow Up Being Told That I Was A Disabled Child.

When I Watch Mad Men And I See The Patronising Attitudes To Women That Are So Shocking For All Of Us To Watch Now, I Feel That I've Lived And See The Same Evolution In This Regard Around Disability.

True Beauty Is When Someone Radiates That They Like Themselves.

It's Hard Enough For Women To Walk On High Heels. And I'm On Stilts!

An Athlete Experiences The Emotions Of Pain And Elation Through Triumph And Defeat, Through Teamwork And Individuality, As Nothing More Than A Human Being...that Is The True Glory Of Sport.

Adversity Is Just Change That We Haven't Adapted Ourselves To Yet.

Our Responsibility Is Not Simply Shielding Those We Care For From Adversity But Preparing Them To Meet It Well.

The Only True Disability Is A Crushed Spirit

I Like That Pilates Compromises The Mind And Body. It's Not Just About Being Able To Run Around The Block A Few Times. It's About Alleviating Stress And Controlling Breathing. It's About Being Balanced.

I've Said This Before, But I Believe More Than Ever That Confidence Is Sexier Than Any Body Part.

If We Want To Discover The Full Potential In Our Humanity, We Need To Celebrate Those Heartbreaking Strengths And Those Glorious Disabilities That We All Have...it Is Our Humanity, And All The Potential Within It That Makes Us Beautiful.

In Sports, I Refused To Do Any Interviews That Were Just Going To Become Human-interest Stories. Don't Turn Me Into A Tragic Heroine.

Life Is About Making Your Own Happiness - And Living By Your Own Rules.

I Think That Everyone Has Something About Themselves That They Feel Is Their Weakness... Their 'disability.' And I'm Certain We All Have One, Because I Think Of A Disability As Being Anything Which Undermines Our Belief And Confidence In Our Own Abilities.

Half Of Hollywood Has More Prosthetic In Their Body Than I Do, But We Don't Think Of Them As Disabled. You Amputate Part Of A Nose, That's 'enhancement'. You Put A Prosthetic In A Breast Cavity, That's 'augmentation'. But You Amputate Part Of A Limb And Put A Prosthetic There, It's 'disability'?

The Power Of The Human Will To Compete And The Drive To Excel Beyond The Body's Normal Capabilities Is Most Beautifully Demonstrated In The Arena Of Sport.

If You Watch Any John Hughes Film Of The Eighties, That Was My Childhood Experience.

I'm Not An Advocate For Disability Issues. Human Issues Are What Interest Me. You Can't Possibly Speak For A Diverse Group Of People. I Don't Know What It's Like To Be An Arm Amputee, Or Have Even One Flesh-and-bone Leg, Or To Have Cerebral Palsy.

I Hate The Words 'handicapped' And 'disabled'. They Imply That You Are Less Than Whole. I Don't See Myself That Way At All.

If Left To Their Own Devices A Child Will Achieve.

Adversity Isn't An Obstacle That We Need To Get Around In Order To Resume Living Our Life. It's Part Of Our Life.

Success Isn't Winning Every Time. A Lot Of Different Factors Go Into Every Race, And You Can't Control All Of Them. Success Means Doing As Excellent A Job As You Can On That Particular Day. The People I Admire Most Aren't Necessarily The Most Wonderful Athletes. I Admire The Ones Who Keep Coming Back And Doing It, Time After Time.

I Have Learned Not To Overlook The Advantages Of Being Me. From When I Was A Softball Player, And I Held The Stolen Bases Record. I Would Slide Into Second With My Prostheses, And The Girl On The Base Could Either Step Aside Or Meet Two Wooden Sticks.

Beauty Is Not Skin-deep; It Can Be A Means Of Self-affirmation, A True Indicator Of Personality And Confidence.

Giving Up Is Conceding That Things Will Never Get Better, And That Is Just Not True. Ups And Downs Are A Constant In Life, And I've Been Belted Into That Roller Coaster A Thousand Times.

The Pentagon Isn't A Place That Champions Individuality And Innovation.

Confidence Is The Sexiest Thing A Woman Can Have. It's Much Sexier Than Any Body Part.

When I'm Curious About Something, I Do It Full On And Take It As Far As I Go, But When I Feel Like I've Really Explored It, I'm Ok With Putting It Aside And Going On To Something Else.

I Had A Paper Round And Every Night I Would Put The Dinner On Before Mum Came Home From Work. I Was Capable Because I Had To Be.

I Haven't Had An Easy Life, But At Some Point ,you Have To Take Responsibility For Yourself And Shape Who It Is That You Want To Be. I Have No Time For Moaners. I Like To Chase My Dreams And Surround Myself With Other People Who Are Chasing Their Dreams, Too.

You Know, I Think There Are Certain Words Like 'illegitimate' That Should Not Be Used To Describe A Person. And Certainly, We Have Come Far Enough In Our Technology That Our Language Can Evolve, Because It Has An Impact.

I've Had Journalists Asking Me, 'what Do We Call You - Is It Handicapped, Are You Disabled, Physically Challenged?' I Said, 'well Hopefully You Could Just Call Me Aimee. But If You Have To Describe It, I'm A Bilateral Below-the-knee Amputee.'

The Legs That I Have Made Are Far More Perfect Than The Ones Nature Would Have Given Me - My Mother's Side Of The Family Have Awful Legs.

Sure, I'd Love To Have Children Some Day. But World Domination Comes First.

At Some Point In Every Person's Life, You Will Need An Assisted Medical Device - Whether It's Your Glasses, Your Contacts, Or As You Age And You Have A Hip Replacement Or A Knee Replacement Or A Pacemaker. The Prosthetic Generation Is All Around Us.

I'm Not Running Around As A Continual Ray Of Sunshine. It's Just I Don't Believe In Wasting Time Feeling Sorry For Myself. Get Over It.

We All Bullet Point Our Triumphs, But I Am Who I Am Because Of Everything You Don't See On My Cv. The Stuff That Doesn't Work Out Teaches You How To Trust Your Instincts And Adapt.

The Best Beauty Secret, Besides Sleep And Plenty Of Water, Is Do Whatever It Is - Before You Go Out, Before You Need To Feel Beautiful - Do Whatever Makes You Feel Confident. If It’s Putting On A Great Dance Record And Rocking Out In Your Apartment, Do It. If Kissing Someone For 10 Minutes Makes You Feel Confident, Do It.

A Lot Of My Life Is About Will - Having The Will To Prove What My Body Can Do.

It's Society That Disables An Individual By Not Investing In Enough Creativity To Allow For Someone To Show Us The Quality That Makes Them Rare And Valuable And Capable.

People Presume My Disability Has To Do With Being An Amputee, But That's Not The Case; Our Insecurities Are Our Disabilities, And I Struggle With Those As Does Everyone.

The Idea Of Prosthetics Is A Tool. Most People's Cell Phones Are Prosthetics. If You Leave Your Cell Phone At Home, You Feel Impacted By Not Having It. It's An Important Part Of Your Daily Function And What You Can Do In A Day.

Pamela Anderson Has More Prosthetic In Her Body Than I Do. Nobody Calls Her Disabled.

I'm Not An Advocate For Disability Issues. Human Issues Are What Interest Me.

Belief In Oneself Is Incredibly Infectious. It Generates Momentum, The Collective Force Of Which Far Outweighs Any Kernel Of Self-doubt That May Creep In.

It's An Objective Fact That I Am A Double Amputee, But It's Very Subjective Opinion As To Whether That Makes Me Disabled.

Trending Author

Charles De Lint

Morena Baccarin

Katherine Paterson

Category