The main thing is to accept yourself and not whine. Opinion of model with prosthesis Veronica Levenets

Why can I talk about this

I was born without an arm in the small town of Zolotonosha, whose population is 30 thousand people. Everyone there knew each other. And if something unusual happened, it became public knowledge. Therefore, when a child appeared without an arm, the likes of which had never been seen in the city, everyone immediately started talking about it.

I have aplasia - my left hand has not fully developed. Now this does not surprise anyone, but almost 30 years ago in a small town this event was beyond the pale. My mother constantly had to listen to some kind of jokes and see grins.

When I was growing up, I felt that I was not like everyone else, and I constantly asked myself the question: how could such a child be born to wonderful, healthy parents? I even reviewed all my documents, thinking that I could be adopted.

I felt like I was the only person

with disabilities, because then there were no social networks, and people similar to me did not surround me. Nowadays my subscribers sometimes come up to me on the streets and thank me for the inspiration. Now a community is emerging that allows you to not feel completely cut off from society. And then everything was different.

My peers didn’t want to take my hand on the line or during sports games.

Since then, for a very long time, the opportunity to hold hands with someone was a fad for me; I was very worried in situations where this could happen.

I was often teased. The boys who liked me could choose another girl only because I didn’t have an arm. Me bullied at a children's camp. Even as a child, I did gymnastics, but quickly quit because I didn’t like being looked at. Feeling other people's eyes on me was the worst thing for me.

Every time someone said that I was armless or that I couldn’t do something, it was always like a knife to the heart. But I tried to hold on, especially in public.

Now the episodes from my childhood seem stupid, but at the time they hurt me. I programmed myself for the best, and my parents kept saying that I Well done.

How I learned to accept myself

Our whole life consists of a series of ups and downs, and the path of self-acceptance is endless.

I think there were two things that influenced me the most. The first one was back in elementary school, when I was able to do push-ups on a prosthesis along with my classmates. Everyone told me it was impossible, but I did it. And I felt stronger.

Another serious stage self-acceptance was five years ago when I was choosing a wedding dress. It should be noted that as a teenager I thought that I was, in principle, a beautiful girl. But I also always thought that if I had a hand, it would be absolutely wonderful.

Therefore, the embarrassment still remained and all my life I hid behind bags, long sleeves, scarves, even in hot weather. And when I saw that same wedding dress with bare shoulders and risked wearing it, I realized that I beautiful and with a prosthesis. Then I said to myself: “How long can you hide? You marry the person you love, and you are not loved for the number of hands you have.” I didn’t feel more confident than when I walked down the aisle.

Why you shouldn't feel sorry for yourself

I often meet people complaining about life. But these people are full and healthy. And I live with one hand all my life. And it's not easy. But this is not a sentence and not a reason to justify your mistakes. There’s no reason to say that I can’t do something or that it’s difficult for me. This is not a reason to whine.

Since childhood, my parents told me: “It’s all little things, you’ll survive everything. You are no worse than others, everything will work out, you are strong.” Since then I can't stand whiners.

Many people have a disadvantaged position; they believe that they are owed everything. But that's not true.

I am very close to the idea that you need to stop whining and instead do something better. You must always start with yourself. A person chooses who he wants to be in life. And you need to change the mood within yourself, not compare yourself with others, but only with yourself.

Here people like to focus on what they don't have and what they can't do. On the contrary, you should focus on what you can and what you really want in life. No matter how difficult it may be, it is important to unleash your inner genius.

That's what I did. I received bright dentures, and they sat there for a couple of months, and I wondered if I would be able to go out in them, if they would look at me. But gradually I began to overcome myself, wear these prostheses, run social networks and talk openly about my path there. About the fact that I don’t have an arm and I’ve been shy all my life, but I’m tired of it.

And as soon as I accepted myself, my life began to change. I got into it completely by accident modeling world. I took the risk of participating in a competition to become the face of the Mixit brand and won. I was invited to a photo shoot and became the face of the company. From that moment on, I took up modeling, but more on an amateur level - I promoted myself as a model on social networks.

Why you shouldn't feel sorry for others

The easiest way to explain this is through the example of people with special needs. I was once told that an experiment was conducted in our country when a photograph of a model with a prosthesis was hung in a store, and while it was hanging, sales fell. We began to analyze why and found out that people see a person without a hand, worry about him, their mood drops, and they buy less.

But there is no need to feel sorry for us, no exceptions need to be made. Children with special needs can express themselves.

It’s a pity that this is not yet understood in Russia. Often clients are not ready to work with models like me. I was often told that everything is fine with my portfolio, I look good on camera, but still my peculiarity can be off-putting, so I need to think about it.

Attitudes towards models like me are changing very slowly. Job things have only taken off since last year I was invited to appear on the cover of the Bulgarian magazine Grazia. My PR woman sent my photos and information about me to the magazine. They liked my type, my story, my peculiarity, and they called me.

I became the first Russian model with a domestic prosthesis, whose photo was published in European gloss. I was very pleased.

But shooting in the magazine was important not only and not so much for a modeling career, but in order to show that even a person with special needs can achieve a lot and can make a name for themselves.

I am happy to wear my bright dentures and am no longer embarrassed by them. On the contrary, it has become a feature, a statement that this is possible. That people with disabilities are beautiful and we can work just like everyone else.

Using my example, I want to show that all problems are only in my head. Difficulties happen. But you can always deal with them if you want to.