top of page
Search

Disability Into Possibility (Originally Published 2/18/2022)


Can you imagine a disability being a blessed event? Probably not. You may change your mind after you know more about Winter the dolphin.

           

Winter, the subject of a book and a movie was a bottlenose dolphin found entangled in the ropes of a crab trap by a divinely driven fisherman in 2005. Estimated at just two months old when found, the crab trap ropes had cut off the circulation to Winter’s tail. The dolphin’s tail eventually rotted and fell off.

           

After Winter was discovered, she found safety and solace at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium where she lived until her death November 11, 2021 from gastrointestinal issues. Dolphin tails typically move up and down to help them maneuver through the ocean. Due to the lost tail, Winter compensated by moving her back end from side to side which was causing the beginning of scoliosis.

           

In 2007 Winter was fitted with a prosthetic tail that took a little less than two years to develop. At issue was developing a dolphin tail that would not come off when Winter would jump ten feet into the air as dolphins so often do. Winter became an attraction at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

           

Is this a dolphin obituary? Perhaps. However, a little deeper research has shown how one disabled dolphin brought new technology for other prosthetic users, hope to millions of physically disabled people, and a financial rebirth of a failing marine aquarium.

           

During the development of Winter’s prosthetic, at issue was how to comfortably attach the silicon and plastic fin to Winter’s body. The result was the invention of a gel liner aptly monikered Wintersgel. Wintersgel, a very soft silicone type material that now benefits humans requiring prosthetics providing a more comfortable and skin-friendly fit. Winter’s prosthetic developers will tell you that developing a dolphin prosthetic “forced” them to think outside the box that has ultimately greatly benefitted the amputee population.

           

Winter’s disability more than benefitted the invention of Wintersgel. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium was originally a sewage treatment facility containing several old tanks. Winter’s presence more than doubled the attendance at the aquarium whose mission was to help disabled whales and dolphins. Awareness of disabled Mammalia increased donations allowing the aquarium to perform much needed renovations including a new tank for Winter, named so for the time of the year she was discovered.

           

Winter’s disabled body however didn’t just provide the impetus for the creation of a new product to improve prosthesis wearing and enhance an aquarium’s bottom line. Perhaps Winter’s greatest mission, was the influence Winter had on millions of human spirits. From the book about her to the movie and actual visits to the aquarium, Winter inspired hope, courage and peace to a plethora of people who came to understand that if a dolphin could rise out of the ashes of what in essence was no legs to achieve a well-balanced life, well anything is possible.

           

Children with prosthetics came from all over the world to visit Winter only to realize that their kindred scars don’t necessarily mean a full life can’t be lived.

           

If a disabled dolphin can inspire inventions, products, and hope, just imagine your own possibilities. On some level each and every one of us has a disability. Why not let Winter’s life provide a message of inspiration to take your own disability and drive it into a useful rather than a non-useful vein? God don’t make no junk. Everything has a purpose. Here’s hoping you find yours and like Winter, may each and every one of us take what we have been blessed with and let it shine for all the world to see.

Amen.

 

Affirmation:  I am perfectly designed for my life purpose.

“I'm Catherine Wilcox, working to help others see that God is in all things, all the time, through conscious change and self-healing.”

If you have found this message enlightening, please send it to one friend.  This action will help my vision of a more enlightened species to help usher in the new healing Age of Aquarius.

Catherine Wilcox is a Conscious Change Coach, Mentor, emotional intuitive and Writer. If you like what you read here, then you may enjoy one of her Published Books:

**Catherine’s latest Book, The New Stone Age, Crystal Data for the 21st Century, contains ten chapters of information designed to help the novice and intermediate crystologist obtain the secrets to working with crystals to help the four mind-bodies balance chaotic energy.

Comments

Rated 0 out of 5 stars.
No ratings yet
Add a rating
bottom of page