|
I have a disability known as Moebius Syndrome. I write this page for two purposes:
- I have accumulated enough circumstantial evidence to
conclude that my disabilities have a significant effect on my social
interactions. Hence I hope people around me, if you stumble upon this
page, would understand me a little better.
- If you have Moebius too, please do feel free to get in touch. I'm no aunt agony though.
My disabilities include the following
- I am
not able to have much facial expressions - smiling, frowning, raising
my eyebrows, etc. Because of this I think it takes a while to
understand who I am. So let me save you some work: I'd describe myself
as a kind, warm but also rather shy person. Don't mess with me though, as I'll still kick your ass...
- I am also asymmetric: for instance I have more control over
my left eyelid than my right. I'm guessing this, and the fact that I
can't raise my eyebrows, sometimes makes people think I'm staring at
them.
- I
suffer from some amount of slurred speech, though I think not
significant enough, because people still understand me most of the
time. (-: I think this problem may be compounded by my foreign
accent, with respect to North Americans.
- I
have disabilities with my fingers / hands and arms. They are weaker and
significantly less agile than the average person's. I have no problems
typing this page, of course, but I have occasional problems with what
people would consider mundane everyday tasks like getting my seatbelt
on and reaching into my back pocket for my wallet. I've been asked why I
write about my hands / arms -- I guess the question really was, why is
this related to social interactions? An example of why it is revelant: I have been
explicitly told to switch from theoretical physics to experimental
physics. Strictly speaking I think I probably can manage as an
experimentalist -- after all I've survived Berkeley's undergrad labs (though not without some help from my lab partner) -- but given my interests together with my disabilities, I see no reason to do so.
I am quite open to discussing my disabilities, so if you know
me and have something to ask / talk about, please feel free to do so.
|