And so the journey begins …

Phew, it feels weird to be sitting down and writing my very first blog post, so thanks for joining me! 

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Tori. I am a 22-year-old recent graduate from the Toronto area of Canada. On the inside, I’m just your average Millenial — I spend way too much money on Starbucks, I unapologetically call myself a “dog mom”, and I still forget I’m an adult 98% of the time (trust me, it’s actually a really hard concept to wrap your mind around!) 

Despite this, if you see me in person, you will quickly notice that there is something different about me. That’s because I was born with a rare genetic disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which essentially means my body can’t produce the proteins necessary to make my muscles work. I’ve been in a power wheelchair since I was 2 years old, and I currently don’t have a lot of muscle function left, other than about 2 fingers on my right hand. Even though I need help with just about every physical task in my daily life, the functionality I do have is more than enough for me to be able to drive my wheelchair, type on my iPhone, and do quite a bit of painting and drawing, which I love! 

Blogging has been something that I’ve wanted to get into for at least 3 years now, but something inside me has always told me “not yet”. I love writing, I love sharing my experiences, and I love being creative, yet I’ve always been scared to put myself out there in this type of way. What if nobody cares what I have to say? What if I fail? The internet is such an over-saturated place and sometimes it can be intimidating to make space for yourself among a sea of millions of other people doing the exact same thing. 

However, with having recently graduated from University, I’ve had a bit more time than usual to reflect … and honestly, I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Writing is something that makes me happy, so I’m going to do it. It’s as simple as that! Whether or not my writing ever gets a following, I’m excited to have an outlet where I can be creative and have fun, whatever that may look like. 

So what can you expect from this blog, you may ask? 

Well, my vision for this blog has always been centred around travel and lifestyle. It’s cliche, I know, but it’s a space I’ve always craved more disability representation. There are definitely already some amazing content creators that have already entered this space, but diversity shouldn’t just be a token few. In order to have true representation, we need to have intersectionality among many different experiences. A few disabled voices will never be able to speak for the entire community, so it is my hope that by adding my small piece to the puzzle, we can begin talking about it just a little bit more. 

In the coming weeks, I will be publishing some posts that I am very excited about! Some posts will be raw, honest accounts of my experiences as a young adult with a disability. Others will be more curated and detailed, aiming to give others information on accessible travels, adventures, and experiences I’ve encountered. In both cases, I hope my blog is a source of conversation for people — one where disability isn’t over medicalized and sad, but rather, embraced as a normalized part of human existence. 

If you want to keep up with the latest posts, make sure you’re following me on Instagram (@torihunter.blog), where I will let you know whenever I publish something new! You can also catch a lot more of my day-to-day life there, as well as some other thoughts / ideas I have that might not make their way into my blog. 

Thanks for joining my journey so far … I hope to see you back again soon! 

Until next time, 

Tori