National Scar Appreciation Day: Learning to Stop Hiding My Scar

Today is National Scar Appreciation Day, which I was excited to realize happens during Invisible Disabilities Week! 💃🏽

Two years ago, I did my first photo shoot for brand/speaker photos with Jocelyn Phillips Branding. Considering I talked about hiding my leg scar for 25+ years in my Speaker Slam Grand Slam speech the year before, I figured I should have some photos of it.

Growing up, I always tried to hide my legs. I didn't wear shorts in public until my late twenties - other than at work on festival days, when it was too hot and I was moving around outside too much to care, and occasionally on vacations, where I'd never see anyone again. 🙃

When I was 10 days old, I had a muscle biopsy. The doctors didn't think I was going to live back then (when I was born, I didn't cry, couldn't suck to be fed, and couldn't move my limbs), so they weren't too concerned with the aesthetics of my surgery.

So since then, I've had a 3 inch scar on the front of my left thigh. I have a similar-sized one on the back of my left arm from a second biopsy when I was 12, but because of its placement, I don't see it myself as often.

For years, I hated my leg scar. It felt like the telltale sign of my disability - which I could hide pretty well until I had to open a heavy door, or walk up a flight of stairs, or get up from sitting on the ground.

A couple of years ago, I did my speech about hiding my scar at an event in front of 1,000 people. A few people came up to me and said they have scars too that they struggle/d with, and how my talk moved them - which I'd never thought of as a possibility before then, but I loved it so much.

Just another reminder that we're never as alone as we might think we are in our experiences. I still don't love my scar, but it's there. I accept it more than I used to, and don't hide it from people or in photos anymore. And I think little Lauren would be happy with that. ✨🫶🏽