In my job as a fat activist, people like to fling links at me that they think disprove the things I am saying.
When the planets align in just the right way and the whim strikes me, I’ll dig into their links and see if there’s anything there. I haven’t been flung a worthwhile one yet, but I’m open to new experiences. And I want to teach you how to do it too so you can have a better idea of how to sort out the good information from the bad.
My journey with NEDA began after my daughter and I attended our first NEDA Walk in St. Louis shortly after she was discharged from her first treatment stay. I remember the joy in knowing that all the people there knew exactly how I felt. I was trying to learn all I could about eating disorders when I discovered NEDA and the Walks. I decided I wanted to be a part of a Walk in Indianapolis.
I decided to test out my theory that the world can be changed through conversation. I sent out one hundred letters to one hundred different people who have positively impacted this world. In each letter, I simply asked for them to chat with me over coffee about the change they have made. Claire Mysko, the CEO of NEDA was an obvious choice because of her inspiring work with body positivity!
I’ve wanted to talk about my body image struggles and my blindness in a correlating way for sometime now. Many people don’t realize that just because I can’t see well, doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with what I do see or feel. I don’t blame my blindness for my past eating disorder, but it has played a role in my body challenges.
