Post a random truth (about yourself)

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I sometimes try to imagine what it would be like to only have one arm

Difficult, I would imagine.

Yeah it's really difficult to imagine and I've got a good imagination

I remember when I was about 9 there was a girl at school with only one arm. At first it worried me, but then I became fascinated (even though we didn't know each other really). So sometimes when I was at home me and my sister would tuck one of our arms into our shirts and try and do normal everyday things with only one arm. My brother said it wasn't very nice as it seemed we were making fun, but we honestly weren't. We just wanted to know how it felt like having one arm, sort of like an acceptance strategy. It's a shame all children don't approach a person's differences like that and become more forgiving rather than hostile and bullyish. I was no longer uneasy of the girl's one arm (even though I never showed her that I was uneasy about it because I knew it might hurt her feelings). But a lot of NT kids would approach a difference they were uneasy of by bullying or taunting and treating them like they had a contagious disease or something. That's how I got treated by my peers, when I was older (in my teens).

It's cute how a 9-year-old with AS and ADHD, and a 10-year-old with learning difficulties, dealt with a child's difference without hurting the child but instead trying to understand what life was like for her without pestering or asking her questions.

I bet it was hard only being able to use one arm when your instinct is to use two

Did you keep the left one or the right one

I kept the right one lol, and had the left one in my shirt. Not because I was cheating by using the hand I write with, because whichever arm she was missing she'd probably have been taught to write with whatever hand she had. But her left arm was the one missing anyway. She had a limb there though but it only went down to her elbow.

Yeah I'd definitely miss my arm

I'd be finished if I lost an arm. No more guitar playing for a start. I'd have to go a capella. I've got the bottle to do that but it's not the same.

You've still got your feet

Yes but I'm not learning all those chord shapes again with my toes. Not at my age.

I might try it

There was a girl who played a cello with her feet. I think she'd been born without any arms. She played it very well. Just shows what you can do, but I think it'd be different if you lost your arms later on. I was bad enough after the pacemaker op when they told me not to raise my left arm above shoulder level, not to play my guitar, and not to lift anything heavier than 5lb. I had to get help to lift the big pot of taters when I was cooking.

It's the phantom itch that would get to me

I can barely stand even imagining it

Yes that must be like hell on earth.

That's what I mean mate
It must be absolutely hell on earth

You can get it from other things as well. Nerve damage, vitamin deficiency, and shingles for example. And the treatments are all that effective.