Silver Moth Creations

I am disabled. I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a connective tissue disorder as a result of a collagen deformity. It causes hypermobility, pain, dislocations, and a whole host of other issues. This makes my journey as an artist much harder than someone who is able bodied. There are multiple things that directly affect my ability to do art. The first I would say is scoliosis, because the ligaments in my back are not strong enough to hold my spine straight. It makes sitting in one spot difficult and often times very painful. The second would be my right shoulder’s torn ligaments. It often will just fall out of socket, and because I am right handed, it can become very inconvenient. I also have extreme hypermobility in my fingers which leads to hand pain and stiffness and the inability to “properly” hold tools or pencils. Sometimes, if I work too hard and push my body too far, it’ll force me to rest by slamming me with pain for days at a time or giving me a migraine bad enough to keep me in bed or even send me to the ER. There is not really anything I can do about it other than physical therapy (which is way to expensive to be a regular thing), and even then, the damage already done cannot be reversed.

I like to be open about my struggles with EDS and related problems because someone else may be going through the same thing while being scared to even start their journey with art. It can be hard to balance medical bills and the purchase of art supplies, laced with the uncertainty of your ability to even use those supplies to create. Sometimes, I won’t do any artistic activities for months at a time because of physical ailments or mental blocks. This scares a lot of people because society is always telling us that we can’t do things. I think art should be encouraged, especially in the disabled community. It can create hope and having something that you created with your own hands is empowering. I want to be able to use art to encourage those too afraid to try, as well as produce something meaningful, and even just the ability to say I can. I don’t often create art relating to my disabilities, but I hope that when I do, the people who kept telling me to give up or that I wouldn’t be able to create something, see it and change their mindset about disabled people. It has been a bad pain week, at about an 8/10 constant pain level, but I am off to go try to create something just to say I could.