{"id":12099,"date":"2019-07-27T00:14:56","date_gmt":"2019-07-27T03:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=12099"},"modified":"2019-07-27T00:14:56","modified_gmt":"2019-07-27T03:14:56","slug":"fall-river-girl-inspiring-others-to-overcome-hurdles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=12099","title":{"rendered":"Fall River girl inspiring others to overcome hurdles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>FALL RIVER: <\/strong>Emma Archibald looks at her disability differently than most would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Archibald,\n of Fall River, was born missing part of her hands and part of her feet \nas a result of Amniotic band syndrome but the young woman isn\u2019t letting \nthat deter her. The 16-year-old is using it as a teaching moment for \nother War Amps children amputees. She does this by attending conferences\n such as the recently held 2019 Atlantic Child Amputee (CHAMP) Seminar \nin Fredericton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think of it as a disability because I \nhave learned to adapt and don\u2019t know any different. I think my biggest \nchallenge was other people adapting to it,\u201d said Emma in an interview \nwith <em>The Laker<\/em>. \u201cPeople are usually curious and I\u2019m happy to \nanswer their questions because I would be too. But if people choose not \nto accept it, then I learned and still am learning that I shouldn\u2019t try \nto hide my difference but to embrace and live my life without worrying \nwhat other people think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Emma attended seminars to see the latest\n developments in artificial limbs and attend informative sessions on \ndealing with amputation. She applied to be a Junior Counsellor so that \nshe could give back by answering questions and offering advice to \nyounger Champs. At the seminar in Fredericton, Emma encouraged other \nChamps to embrace their amputation and overcome hurdles on the road to \nindependence. It was her eleventh year attending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy favourite \npart about the seminars is that you get to meet so many new people and \nform long lasting friendships,\u201d said Emma. \u201cThese seminars are very \nfriendly and informal and are held from Friday to Sunday with many \nsessions that allow opportunities to share advice, learn about latest \ndevelopments with artificial limbs, and programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a junior \ncounsellor, we go a day early before the families come to prepare and \nhave training sessions where we learn more about the background of the \norganization and how to run sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She applied to be a Junior \ncounsellor with the war amps because it\u2019s a way for me to give back \nbecause they have been such a big part of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Emma, who plays\n basketball; competes in track and field and plays flag football, said \nshe even forgets at times that she\u2019s missing some fingers and toes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\n hasn\u2019t stopped me at all from doing things such as sport,\u201d she said. \n\u201cThere are some rough days but everyone has those and I\u2019m extremely \nlucky to have such amazing friends, family and the War Amps there to \nsupport me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She has a message for others in similar situation as her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\n are who you are and you can\u2019t change so learn to embrace it by \nmaintaining a positive attitude,\u201d said Emma. \u201cOnce you accept it, then \nother people will be more accepting of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FALL RIVER: Emma Archibald looks at her disability differently than most would. Archibald, of Fall River, was born missing part of her hands and part of her feet as a result of Amniotic band syndrome but the young woman isn\u2019t letting that deter her. The 16-year-old is using it as a teaching moment for other [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[656,2,657],"class_list":["post-12099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-emma-archibald","tag-fall-river","tag-war-amps-amputee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}