Long time, no post! Sorry.
I wanted to post tonight about tattoos. More specifically disability and tattoos.
For those of you that do not know this, I have three tattoos; the 3E Love Symbol for International Acceptance, a Cerebral Palsy Awareness Ribbon, and my personal favourite, my waterski tattoo.
First of, if you are considering getting a tattoo these are the thing I urge you to consider:
1. Placement- I have all of my tattoos in places that they can be covered. Let's face it, they are not always accepted in the professional world. Currently, I have a job that does allow me to show my tattoos (although preference is that they are covered, there are no "rules") but this may or may not be the case in the future. I like to think that because of the field I will be entering career wise, my tattoos will be looked at my way of expressing my story, but that may not happen.
I absolutely refuse to have anything put on my legs or feet because of spasms. I have heard of people tying down legs and arms. Personally, that concerns me. Tattoos can sometimes take a long time (my waterski tattoo took 3 hours) and it is already an uncomfortable process. Breaks happen when it is a long sitting, but, I am guessing that unless the restraint was extremely tight, the power of a spasm could still cause an arm or leg to move and ultimately cause problems with the way the tattoo comes out looking. That being said they can do touch ups on small things.
2. What Do You Know About the Shop/Artist? Have you seen the artists work? A tattoo is exactly that; a piece of art and needs to be done by a professional tattoo artist. A tattoo is permanent. It is forever. Ask to see a portfolio of work, look at the website of the shop etc. Don't settle. If you don't like the drawing they give you, speak up. Don't worry about offending them. It is YOUR tattoo and needs to be how YOU want it.
Does the shop look clean (don't be fooled). Does it seem they keep proper records? You can tell this by the paperwork they get you to fill out although that is not a sure fire sign. Do they have all their certifications and such visible? Two of the places I got tattoos from were places where people I or my family knew had gone. The other is owned my my moms coworkers family.
3. What Does It Mean to You?- Some people think a tattoo is just a tattoo. All my tattoos have deep meanings to me. I will not get a tattoo because it looks cool or because I dated somebody for a day (seriously there was a girl who met a guy online and the first time they met in person she got his name tattooed on her FACE in Russian. Yes, that was a thing. Look it up if you wish). A friend of mine told me he wanted to get a band name tattoo as a first tattoo and I told him I thought it was a bad idea. What happens if you don't like the band anymore? However, it really isn't anyones place to judge someone else's tattoo. Even if he got that band name, that's his thing and I will be the last person to judge him for it. Even when I have an opinion about a tattoo that isn't so positive, I try and keep it to myself because tattoos aren't about what other people feel, they are about what they mean to you (I have issues with hateful tattoos but, that is a different story.)
There was a lot of talk about my waterski tattoo from family and friends:
"What if you decide you don't like waterskiing anymore? That tattoo is permanent."
Although this is in fact a possibility and also the exact same logic I used about my friends tattoo, my tattoo has a deeper meaning to me than just waterskiing. Waterskiing makes me super happy. Talking about waterskiing makes me happy. But this tattoo also reminds me that even when I do not think that doing something is possible because of my Cerebral Palsy, I waterski. I will forever have done that even if I decide not to do it anymore. I will be forever connected to these tattoos even if I started walking tomorrow.
My waterski tattoo is quite noticeable. It is pink, blue, yellow, and black and goes from about my elbow to my wrist. Even with a long sleeve t-shirt it sometimes peaks out. It has started a lot of conversations and I have to say when I tell people what it is for and that I waterski, it surprises them. Like the random barista at Starbucks who struck up a conversation about it during morning rush? He was awesome.
What are your thoughts on tattoos? Comment below. I'm excited to hear your thoughts!
J
