Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to lose a limb or the use of it at least. Even temporarily. What if my right leg was a stub that ended right below the knee? What if I couldn’t use my left hand? I’m more of a leftie than a rightie when it comes the handy business. Most things in life require mobility. Walking. Eating. Majority of hobbies.
Suddenly having to adapt to a new situation sounds a bit scary. Breaking a bone isn’t all that frightening, but losing a limb for real is sort of permanent you know. The world of prosthetics is quickly advancing but what’s on the markets today isn’t really on the level of the real thing. Bionics and whatever other there is lack in accuracy when compared to real arms and legs. Meanwhile the person wearing them can compensate and adapt to what prostheses offer, the prostheses themselves are just what they were made to be. Useful, but useful only to the degree their manufacturer had the ability and resources to make them. The bought arm just won’t learn the same way as the arm that’s directly connected to your nervous system.
I suppose in the leg department there are some designs that may make you jump higher or run faster but I’d still personally prefer to keep my limbs intact for as long as possible.
Today I saw a girl and her (assumed) mother at my school. The girl looked like a potential new student for the next school year. She seemed a bit younger than me, but old enough to be finishing 9th grade. Of course I didn’t ask them what they were doing at school, that would have been a bit odd thing to ask and possibly made them feel unwelcomed. I don’t want to make people feel that.
When they walked past me I noticed the girl’s right leg looked rather bony and thin, and her step was a bit asymmetrical. She wasn’t really limping but it wasn’t quite what you’d call “normal”. Not that there’s any “normal” way to walk. Everyone has their own style and some people’s walking style stands out less than others’.
When the girl and her mother sat down near to me I couldn’t help but take steal a glance at her leg. Now that she was sitting her I saw her knee even better through her jeans. It really was what I thought. A prosthetic leg.
It was the first time I saw something like that so close. Of course I was a bit curious. I kept observing the pair. A subtle glance here and there when they were sitting near to me. When the student counselor came to take them to her office I watched the girl walk away. I’m just guessing, but I think they came to talk about the girl’s special needs and possible disabilities that come along when you can wear legs the way you wear clothes. (On a side note: There’s 5 floors and no elevator in the current school building, but if my memory serves me right our school is moving at least temporarily to another building over the summer break.)
I just hope that the girl and her mother didn’t notice me, or if they did they were understanding. I didn’t mean to be rude but new things often make me curious. I’m very well aware that having prosthetic limbs doesn’t change the person, and that it’d probably be better to ask directly, but I don’t want to bother a random passerby with questions they most likely have heard thousands of times before. I’ll need to try and figure out how to balance being (or trying to be) polite and being bothersome. maybe I’ll have a change to learn more about her next year.
Prosthetics aren’t that common amongst the youth in a country that hasn’t been in a war since the 1940’s so at least for me people who have artificial limbs remain a mystery. Of course there’s always birth defects and car crashes where one may notice that they have less than 2 upper limbs and 2 lower limbs but on average those cases are uncommon, so prosthetics remain uncommon too.
One day 