Between California, Virginia, and now Florida, my life has significantly changed. Some things have changed for the better, and some for the worse. If I'm honest, I don't do well with unexpected change. Therefore, my most recent move to Florida left me feeling lost, broken, and unworthy. I carried this feeling around for months while "hiding" from the real world. As a person with disabilities, would I ever find love again?
My divorce at 27 years old was one of the hardest chapters I've ever lived through. It wasn't just the end of a marriage, it was the collapse of the future I thought I was building, the routine I relied on, and the emotional support I believed in. It truly was something I never expected to happen.
I chose peace over protest and didn't fight during the process, but the process made me lose my sense of self. I had to figure out who I was. The authentic version of me. A version of me that wasn't watered down. A version of me where I wasn't constantly belittling myself. A version of myself that involved keeping myself happy and learning to love my authentic self. I yearned for a sense of self, and I fought so hard to maintain my value and self-worth.
"You can't be successful with your wheelchair." "You can't do public speaking." "You can't dance." "You can't work for us because XYZ is not accessible." Living life in a world that says, "you can't," makes me even more eager to say, "I can."
Time went on, and I found religion again on my own terms. This helped tremendously, but I still felt like part of me was hidden away.
My wheelchair is my freedom. A simple swipe on social media led me to a local able-bodied Zumba instructor, Talisha. Talisha welcomed me with open arms. She introduced me to the world of dance fitness. This made me see a glimpse of who I used to be and gave me a glimpse of who I could be if I continued down this unknown yet exciting road.
While my body felt broken and my mind felt self-confused, movement made me feel whole. Zumba showed me that no matter if I am sitting or standing, dance is so much more than just dance. Dance is fun and unique. Dance is a community, which is something I yearned for but didn't know how much I truly needed.
The movements I made slowly began to heal my soul, heart, and mind. Dance fitness brings peace and confidence. You do not need to be at 100% in order to dance. You can come into a class feeling only 25% there and end up feeling significantly better after.
Today, I am a wheelchair user, business owner, adjunct college professor, and a Zumba instructor who is looking for nursing homes to show adapting Zumba dance and exercise. Zumba sparks a joy I lost and thought I'd never receive again. Zumba provided me with the opportunity to learn & love my body all over again and make amazing friends along the way.
I became a Zumba instructor to show the beauty in uniqueness. I became an instructor to show those who needed ways to adapt and dance it out in ways that work best for them. I can see my movements helping others. I can see myself doing seated Zumba in a room full of people in different stages of their lives and give them dance.
Zumba is challenging, fun, and truly lifechanging. Zumba challenged me and helped me find not only adaptive moves, but also my new world of self-confidence and power.
Zumba is so much more than fitness for me. Zumba is a community full of connections. As a wheelchair user, Zumba has allowed me to see that wheelchair users and able-bodied people can dance together. Although it may be a one-hour dance class, Zumba showed me that if people with and without disabilities can dance together, we should be able to work collectively outside in the "real world."
Zumba and dance fitness play such a large part of my life. It challenges me and it makes me focus, but ultimately it gives me a purpose.
Dance fitness helped my physical health and ultimately my mental health. My mental health struggles are tough. I take medication, but even that almost feels like a blanket around the mental health conditions I suffer from.
Once you roll into a class, it's like all your problems get left at the door. You shed the heaviness of the week and roll in feeling brand new. My love for dance sparked my love for fitness as a whole. I believe that any movement is good movement as long as you are doing what is safe for you. Everyone's bodies are so uniquely different. This is why fitness, dance, and inclusion are substantially important.
This is just the beginning. I will continue to take Zumba classes until I can find a location such as a nursing home, and I can't wait to see where the music takes me next.
About the author
Gloria Stephens is a disability advocate, adjunct professor, and doctoral candidate whose work is deeply informed by her lived experience with arachnoiditis, incomplete spinal cord injury, and autoimmune autonomic neuropathy. As a wheelchair user, Gloria has a desire to improve accessibility, dignity, and disability representation across healthcare, transportation, and community spaces.
She is the founder of Disabled With Dignity LLC, where she blends education, advocacy, and storytelling to uplift disabled voices. Gloria also teaches Masters and Bachelors Human Services courses. Her research focuses on improving airline accessibility for wheelchair users, continuing her mission to create a world where all people can navigate life with equity, respect, and independence.
Gloria's ride is a QUICKIE Nitrum and Empulse M90.
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