Today we’d like to introduce you to Paula Carozzo.
Hi Paula, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
At the age of five, I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after a malpractice from surgery in Venezuela. After realizing that there was no treatment and having doctors tell my parents that I would never walk again, my family decided to move to the United States for more developed treatments and rehab options. We came to Miami with the hopes of finding a cure because this was the first stage where I still didn’t have a diagnosis. After many visits to several neurologists and orthopedics, I was officially diagnosed with cerebral palsy and realized there was no cure. Cerebral Palsy is a group of movement disorders that affects your walking, movement and posture. As a kid I was in a different doctor’s office every week and receiving all sorts of treatments for the improvement of my condition. Growing with a disability was tough, especially in the teenage years. I feel that being a teenager is hard enough, but most of us have someone to relate to while being a rebel. I didn’t, so I had to be my own role model. Wrapping up high school, I noticed I had a passion for writing and telling stories, so I went to college and majored in public relations with a minor in business. Graduating college, I went on to work in several PR agencies in fashion and entertainment and there was one thing all the agencies had in common: they didn’t represent the disabled community, in fact, the industry itself didn’t represent people with disabilities. Upon having this realization, I knew it was time to stand with my community and start representing, and that’s when I launched the blog. My blog is a daily diary of my adventures, struggles and moments of living with a disability. Since the launch, I have garnered partnerships with brands such as Aerie as brand ambassador where I constantly advocate for change with social media campaigns. I have also built a community of people who support the cause and want to advocate for change. As an inclusive advocate, I share my struggles, frustrations and adventures of living with a physical disability in the most vivid and fashionable ways. The main goal is to educate my audience of the needs and the changes the disabled community is looking to see in the world while advocating for our rights.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There will always be challenges along the way. I knew that launching this project to create awareness would bring its difficulties, nonetheless, it’s caught the attention of many. I mostly see the obstacles/challenges when it comes to changing and shaping people’s perspective on what being disabled is. There are so many stigmas in what being disabled is that when you create content around it, it can be complicated to get the specific message across. Brands have been extremely open to working with because they are realizing they have a social responsibility to include us as well, and through brands is where we can broaden the consumer’s perspective on a deeper level.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an inclusive advocate, and a disabled blogger. I am constantly on a quest to redefine and break stereotypes on what being disabled is. I am known as a spokesperson for inclusive beauty, inclusive rights, adaptive fashion and accessibility. I am also recognized for my canes, as I pose with them in all my images in the most vivid and fashionable ways. I am most proud of shaping the perspective around disability by breaking boundaries and redefining what being disabled is by advocating, speaking or modeling. I feel that is essential to be the voice for a community who has been excluded and shut down.
What makes you happy?
Happiness to me at the moment is being able to feel full and complete and happy with the self. I say “at the moment” because I feel that our perceptions regarding life change as we face situations and evolve. For me, feeling happy with myself comes from moments in my life where I was constantly being “fixed” by doctor’s, specialists and my parents regarding my disability. They were always trying to make me walk better, faster and become more independent. While all of this was necessary for my self-development and independence, I was never taught to accept, embrace or accept my disability. And this is something I had to teach myself. Accepting my disability was a process. It didn’t happen overnight. It definitely taught me a lot about myself and why this is my mission in life. If you don’t accept yourself or recognize yourself, there is no room for growth, however that may look like for you. Trying to change yourself from a root of negative emotions causes a beating in us that limits the room for growth. If you seek change coming from a place of acceptance and positivity, the mental message that we get sets the tone for success because you are already coming from a positive root. This conclusion made me realize that you really have to seek acceptance from within before looking elsewhere, and I truly feel that you can only do that yourself.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pauuzzo/?hl=en
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