Why I fight: Inspiration from Ronda Rousey
Ever since I met Ronda Rousey May 29th, 2015 – the response I received from my post has been my most popular post ever by far! Since that time, I went on to read her book and became more inspired than I could have ever imagined. Though she didn’t mention her speech impediment was apraxia in her book, I still had her promise from that night, saying she would say it was apraxia in every interview forward, ringing in my ears.
As I have gone onto read more about her, I realized there couldn’t be a hand-picked better person to represent our kids with apraxia.
On the surface she seems like a bruiser. She’s made comments like “I’m going to break her arm and I won’t care,” that haven’t gone over well in the press. In case you’re wondering, that’s why her fight song is “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett. She has said she doesn’t care about her reputation, which also hasn’t gone over well in the press. In another interview she said she doesn’t have PR people telling her what to say, and she doesn’t want them to. I think it’s brilliant. Kids with apraxia work so hard to say anything at all, I admire her for saying what she wants to say now. She worked for it. She deserves it.
As her fight August 1st draws near, I tried to rally the apraxia community to hashtag all night to get her to be a champion for our kids too. People were excited, but then they began to worry.
“Has she ever actually said she had apraxia?”
“Are you sure she has apraxia?
“What if she doesn’t want to say she had apraxia? Shouldn’t this be a personal decision?”
I understand their worry. I could very well be perceived as “outing” her. She could be mortified. Even worse she could be angry, and I DO know you don’t want to piss Ronda Rousey off (excuse my language)!
Here’s what I do know though in her own words. Ronda Rousey doesn’t
“give a damn about her reputation” and in her book she says,
“I fight for those who can’t fight for themselves.”
I know that when she finally succeeded in making a store clerk realize that the “balgrin” she wanted for Christmas was Hulk Hogan, she learned,
“This was an early lesson on the importance of always believing that if I wanted something bad enough and tried hard enough, I could make it happen.”
I know she made the president of the UFC eat his words because of her persistence when he promised her women would never fight in the UFC. I have to believe she won’t be mad at my persistence, but see something she has in herself.
I know that she said when her mother moved her from California to North Dakota, she described it as
“this arrangement would provide an opportunity for me to find my voice – literally” before CASANA ever existed and coined the term “Every Child Deserves a Voice.”
I know that she quoted her grandma as saying,
“God knows what He’s doing, even when you don’t,”
and I have to believe He was involved when I read one interview that sparked my interest and that night I was standing in line at a book signing where she looked at me incredulously and said,
“Apraxia. Yes? This is what they think I had,” before posting the apraxia brochure I gave her a short two hours later on her facebook and twitter accounts.
I know Ronda is far from ashamed of her personal struggles. If she were, she wouldn’t have so openly admitted all of them in her book from dealing with her father’s suicide, to battling self-esteem issues as a child, to falling into bulimia, or to living in her car. In fact, if you read her book, that’s why she fights. She doesn’t hide her struggles, she’ll beat your ass if you even accidentally insult them. In her own words:
“I am a fighter. …..it has been that way since I was born. I fought for my first breath. I fought for my first words. I fight to make the people who love me proud. To make the people who hate me seethe. I fight for anyone who has ever been lost, who has ever been left, or who is battling their own demons. Life is a fight from the minute you take your first breath to the moment you exhale your last. You have to fight for people who can’t fight for themselves.”
I know that in an interview leading up to her fight in Brazil, she was asked why she didn’t ask for it to be in the States, and she replied she had promised the people of Brazil she would be back and she said,
“I’m a woman of my word,”
further reminding me of her words when she looked me straight in the eye that night when I asked her if she would say apraxia instead of speech impediment here on out and she said,
“I will. I really will.”
If she denies it, I will fully accept the mia culpa. I will be devastated, but the blame is on me. I will own it.
I have to say though, that devastation is still worth the risk. It’s still worth pursuing. I fight too. I fought for my daughter to find her voice. I fought and still fight to get her the services that she needs. I fight every day in my job for each one of my clients to also find their voice. I fight for this now, because apraxia needs a face. I fight for this because I want to tell my daughter and my clients that not only can they beat apraxia and live like any ordinary person, but if they want to, they can go on to be extraordinary too…just like Ronda Rousey.
Will you join me? Tweet, facebook, or instagram August 1st with the hashtags: #UFC190 #herfightourfight #knockoutapraxia #strongerthanapraxia #tapoutapraxia
