My name is Inês. I am currently 21 years old, living in Lisbon, Portugal.
Still studying - taking a degree in performing arts. I aim to be a playwright, a theater producer, maybe a lyricist, maybe a collumn writer too and god knows what more. Basically I want to work in the artistic and literary fields in however many ways I find I might have a certain drive for.
Breathing on wheels is my third blog. I currently hold two more platforms, both in Portuguese: My site Inês Marto where I post creative writing and poetry quite often (I have also recently published my first book Combustão, a selection of texts I published for the last 7 years) ; and Teatral-Mente Falando which is about theater, actors and plays being made currently in Portugal.
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to explain the title. Here goes nothing then:
I was born on the 3rd of September, 1995. 3 months premature (26 weeks of gestation) , with a twin brother. Rumour has it we didn't even have fully formed lungs back then. Which ended up in me having cerebral palsy, spastic dyplegia to be more specific, as a life-long companion.
Further on I am sure there will be more details about this, but long story short it affects my moving ability. With surgeries here and there and many years of therapies, I can manage pretty well to do the most that I want to - but we will also go deeper into that soon.
The thing is I have some... let's say unusual views about life and handicaps and recoveries and all that jazz. I always said that I wouldn't do this. That I wouldn't speak up about the wheelchair. That I wouldn't even make space for it in my business card (yeah, it's a metaphor, I'm not that much of a serious person to have one of those - yet). It is precisely why I finally brought myself to do this - mhmm, I'm controverse as hell and if you plan on staying I'd advise you to get used to that - but no, this isn't going against that principle of mine - yes, I'll admit that I am confusing too - like I said, it is precisely why I did this.
The aim of Breathing on wheels is to show that there is so much more to us than actually merely breathing while on a wheelchair - hence I said on, not in, that's right - quoting Aaron Wheelz Fotheringham (if you dont't know who he is, do yourself a favour and meet one of the most epic people I have been lucky to find out about) “When someone says ‘You’re in a wheelchair,’ it’s like saying that I’m confined to my chair, I’m ‘on’ my wheelchair; I ride it like a skater ‘on’ a skateboard.” I aim to write freely in here. Maybe actually become a social person even - the sky is the limit, right? - time (and feedback) will tell. Wether it is related to wheelchair life or not. Maybe by doing so I can show how it is not such big of a deal, riding wheels. Sometimes. Sometimes it is a pain in the ass (quite literally too, I may add). But that is exactly my point. Sometimes the spotlight is on it. Other times you barely notice it. Some days I feel it as an extension (quite a rusty one, glad I'm gonna get a new one pretty soon) of myself, and other times there comes the "why me?" again, and I wonder how it would be if there were no wheels needed. I'm gonna be raw here. I'm gonna be a person here, not a motivational coach. Maybe to the extent that I might regret this someday, who knows. The first step has been taken. Hang on close by and I'm gonna open the window bit by bit to my twisted mind.
My name is Inês. I am currently 21 years old, living in Lisbon, Portugal.