Quality of Life

I am aware of some healthcare providers that tend to think people who are paralyzed have a very low quality of life. There are assertions that they would rather die than live with a severe disability. Although some spinal cord injury survivors tend to feel different. I believe every new circumstance in life comes with new meanings, choices, adventures, possibilities and challenges.

There is no question that quality of life means different things to different people and at different times in life. Over time our perception of it changes. When we are younger, we focus on leisure activities, physical abilities and employment. Although as we get older, we place more emphasis on family and relationships.

The same is true for someone who becomes disabled. For the first year or so, they may dwell on what life could have been or what abilities were lost. Although as time goes on most tend to realize there’s more to life than just thinking about the what if’s. That despite what happens we can still go about living however we choose. 

With me, at 16 years old I was still in high school looking ahead at all the opportunities I may miss. It took a good year for me to finally realize that I still had more life to live, just in a different way. Even though I was in a different situation than planned, I can still maintain a good quality of life. That despite my newly transformed way of doing things, my overall values stayed the same and I can still find joy.

Jenni