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We all have insecurities. How do we handle standing in front of a crowd letting everything be exposed? Vulnerability equals strength, they say. Maybe we’re all not so brave and prefer to hide. Those who are brave enough to be who they are in front of judgmental eyes have a different story to share.
Liv Ryan was born without a left hand and wears a prosthetic. For some, imagining only the tension of introducing oneself with that one line can seem intense. Yet, when Liv performed her comedy act, she opened through the walls of uncomfortability with ease. She continued opening up with the audience with: “It’s not something I’m ashamed of, but at the same time, it’s not something that I love to broadcast. Like, I’m not walking into a room of new people being like, “Fake hand! Who wants to touch, eh?!”
People laughed with her and the hardest part was over. She was ready to pursue the rest of her night. According to REFINERY29, Liv had often dealt with her insecurities about her hand throughout her whole life. As a child, not having a left hand meant not being able to do what we consider trivial matters, like putting our hair up or swinging from the monkey bars. As a teenager, Liv hid her insecurity from the world by shielding herself underneath sweatshirts. When she received her prosthesis in college, her world changed. She became more confident and outspoken trying to enter a new sense of self and forgetting the Liv she was before.
Her friends from college got to know her as someone who did not shy away easily, a feat that strengthened Liv’s happiness even more. Once known as someone who was so used to hiding her hand and afraid of others viewing her as, she now emboldened the thought of standing out from everyone else and turn her fears into a comedy routine. She performed with a comedy troupe in Connecticut called “The Hysterics,” and left the audience with a unique memory to hold onto.
It’s not every day people with disabilities will laugh about what they have going on because we are known in society to take disabilities very seriously. It’s almost like a silence that is ordered when we enter the same vicinity as someone who is disabled. But with performances like Liv’s, we are to remember, disabilities make us human. We could easily have the same affects in a matter of time or in no time at all. The vitality behind the joyful character to have a sense of humor about what we have is a predominant blessing to remind all of us, “it could be worse.” It always can be, and even if it is, it’s a great way to laugh about it. The main thing is we are here to share about it and let others who feel the same way that they are not alone.
In a day and age where communication can get lost amiss the mass media, not being alone is an everlasting message.
