My journey to success took a different path than most teenage girls. As Auditory Process disorder, a condition where the ears and brain do not fully coordinate with each other impacted my life in many ways. Dancing for thirteen years has also taught me a lot about success, work ethic and who I am as a person. In being born with APD I found my success through dance, and my dedication and hard work has shaped me into who I am today.
I remember it so clearly. Sitting in the Grade One classroom after school with my teacher and my mom. Too young to understand the situation but knew from their body language something was wrong. Next thing I knew I was sitting at Children’s Hospital getting diagnosed with APD (Auditory Process Disorder). APD is …show more content…
A brief silence in between my heavy breathes. The silence was interrupted by the audience’s applause, so loud and proud. It was that moment after I finished performing my first dance solo that I knew I was limitless and a powerful individual born to stand out. As I started dance at the age of 3, it was not until I was 9 that everything started to become surreal. Dance was getting competitive and advanced, along with school getting more difficult. Dance was my first love as it came to me as a second nature. Blocking out the entire world and focusing on the music rippling through your body. A sensation no words can describe. At dance I was not that girl who had APD, I did not have to leave the room to go to resource, and did not have to get treated differently. In fact, I was standing out in a positive way. Dance made me overcome the barrier of being insecure and having a low self-esteem. It pushed me at school to take what I was giving and find ways to make it work so that I could achieve my goals. In order to do so, music therapy, hands on & visual learning, and speech therapy were ways that I could rewire my brain and overcome my obstacles. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did” was the wise words Newt Gingrich had once said. I feel connected to this quote, as failure was never an option. I had to keep going even when situations got tough just to catch up to the rest of my friends and
I remember it so clearly. Sitting in the Grade One classroom after school with my teacher and my mom. Too young to understand the situation but knew from their body language something was wrong. Next thing I knew I was sitting at Children’s Hospital getting diagnosed with APD (Auditory Process Disorder). APD is …show more content…
A brief silence in between my heavy breathes. The silence was interrupted by the audience’s applause, so loud and proud. It was that moment after I finished performing my first dance solo that I knew I was limitless and a powerful individual born to stand out. As I started dance at the age of 3, it was not until I was 9 that everything started to become surreal. Dance was getting competitive and advanced, along with school getting more difficult. Dance was my first love as it came to me as a second nature. Blocking out the entire world and focusing on the music rippling through your body. A sensation no words can describe. At dance I was not that girl who had APD, I did not have to leave the room to go to resource, and did not have to get treated differently. In fact, I was standing out in a positive way. Dance made me overcome the barrier of being insecure and having a low self-esteem. It pushed me at school to take what I was giving and find ways to make it work so that I could achieve my goals. In order to do so, music therapy, hands on & visual learning, and speech therapy were ways that I could rewire my brain and overcome my obstacles. “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did” was the wise words Newt Gingrich had once said. I feel connected to this quote, as failure was never an option. I had to keep going even when situations got tough just to catch up to the rest of my friends and