(Niamh Ni Hoireabhaird’s article appeared in the Guardian 6/25.)
From ballroom to hip-hop, I tried many different dance classes growing up, but nothing ever stuck for too long. My body never found its rhythm to any music, I quickly became exhausted from any physical exertion, and I concluded I must just not have been made for exercise.
My theory was confirmed when I was 13 – and I was diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), which is a rare, progressive neuromuscular disease that causes nerve damage, muscle weakness and mobility loss. Now, aged 29, I use a wheelchair and a lot of my coordination has been eroded. I still love to dance but it’s increasingly rare I get the chance.
After reading an opinion piece in the Guardian three years ago by Kate Stanforth, a professional, wheelchair-using dancer, I followed her career on social media with delight and admiration. Having begun ballet at the age of two and entered pre-professional training at eight, Stanforth continued dancing for a short time after becoming unwell as a teenager. As her health needs became increasingly complex, she was eventually forced to stop training. She was diagnosed with ME, or myalgic encephalomyelitis, a chronic neurological condition that affects the body’s ability to produce and use energy, and later with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genec connective tissue disorder affecting the body’s collagen.
