Sunday 8th February

Aimee Mullins

(born 1976 in Allentown, Pennsylvania)

American athlete, actress, and fashion model best known for her extraordinary collegiate-level athletic accomplishments, despite a disability that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs.She was born with fibular hemimelia (missing fibula bones) and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was just one year old. While attending Georgetown University she competed against able-bodied athletes in NCAA Division I track and field events and set Paralympic records in 1996 in Atlanta in the 100-meter dash and the long jump. She says she will have realised one of her ambitions when people describe her as “Aimee Mullins, the model”, rather than “Aimee Mullins, the disabled model”.

http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/famous-amputees.shtml

Comments:

* I really like the idea of using the fact that she doesn’t dwell on the fact she has no legs or feet but is determined to be seen as more than disabled.

*I think that could use her story to influence my work in that people take having feet for granted and don’t look after them enough