I am marching virtually today because I marched and knocked on doors more than 45 years ago, for freedom and equality, for the right to unionize, for integrity in government, and for women’s rights.  Today I refuse to sit idly by and watch Donald Trump dismantle every good thing that our society has built over the course of my adult life.

      But I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a devastating genetic condition so rare that it takes 10 years, on average, to be accurately diagnosed.  It has a variety of forms, impacting between one in 5,000 and one in 20,000.  Each one of us was born with a pre-existing condition.   We endure relentless pain and endless complications that cause debilitating dizziness, weakness and fatigue, food and environmental allergies, and organ ruptures, just to name a few.  For some, these symptoms start in infancy, for others, in their teens and twenties.  For others still, symptoms appear in their forties and fifties; mine started almost the day I turned 40.   I can no longer walk more than a few feet without my zebra-festooned cane, and for longer walks, I depend on my walker.  (The zebra pattern is the awareness color of the Ehlers-Danlos Society.)

      I’m 66, and so far I’ve outlived my life expectancy.  But as long as there is a breath left in my body, I will metaphorically stand up to Trump and each and every Republican who seeks to dismantle our constitutional rights and the programs that make this country great to begin with.  I will fight with my voice and my twisted fingers, with my telephone and my computer.

     Thank you Sonya Huber, for the opportunity to make my voice heard together with so many others.

Maria Cantarero is a retired community college instructor who continues to teach Contemporary Native Literature online, at Bay Mills Community College in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  She can be reached at kinoomaagekwe@yahoo.com .