Some of the people closer to me know that I have struggled for quite some time with the term disabled. I find it a better term than handicapped, but it’s never been a word that I really identify with even though I qualify for the term quite well.
I recently stumbled across the Instagram account of an athlete named Logan Aldridge. Despite losing his arm at a young age, he has done the most amazing physical feats and has put absolutely no limitations on himself.
As I was going through his posts, there was one where he was being interviewed, and what stood out was he said that his loss of his arm isn’t his disability, it’s his ability.
That statement struck me so hard and it’s taking me a few days to figure out what it meant to me.
The reason it struck me is because I don’t feel disabled. Of course, I have limitations, but in many way, I feel like a fraud claiming to be part of the disabled community.
I do feel like this is my ability. Not my disability. It’s my ability mentally because so many people put limitations on me, including myself, but I have been able to move past those and show what I am really capable of.
I thought moved enough to actually write a message to Logan. I can’t imagine I’ll get a response, but I still felt good letting him know how his words helped me.
Part of what I wrote was that I really do love and embrace the idea of calling it my ability. It is what I am able to do despite the restrictions my car crash put on me.
I see saying this is my ability as something beyond the actual physical act. It’s OK to call at my ability because I have been able to move on mentally from the ideas of what physical limitations I really have. That is where my true ability lies! 
Towards the Oak Tree 