My Very Special Abilities
How my disability made me flexible
It’s 7 a.m., and the tip of my nose rests in the valley between my kneecaps. Forward bends are my favorite because it takes little to no effort for me to perform them, and despite the yogic edict to the contrary, my body feels deep satisfaction in its ability to function in ways few bodies can. Sometimes I turn my head and rest my ear on my knees to sneak a peek at the person next to me as they struggle, willing themselves to bend, inch by arduous inch. I imagine a world where everyone but an unlucky few could comfortably fold themselves in half or compact themselves into human balls. Economy class would eliminate legroom because people could just bend in their seats. Cars would be so much smaller, more fuel-efficient; offices and apartments a fraction of their size. In that world, I would be normal, and the person next to me who couldn’t touch their nose to their knees would be disabled.
My disability is the reason I’m so flexible in the first place. I’m partially blind because I’m albino, and as a kid growing up in the Philippines, the desks in my classroom were too far away for me to read the board. So I plopped down on the floor to get closer. Somehow, the order that Spanish colonization brought to my Catholic school could not deter indigenous practicality, as my teachers realized it made no sense to keep me at a…
