Hi! Always fun to have more mermen,
First off, we have a facebook group for those of us in the industry dealing with physical illness if you'd like to join:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/575974002776889/ we face things that other mers don't, so we like having our own space to build each other up and discuss tips etc There's also another group for mers who rely on wheelchairs too
Second,
Not everyone knows this anymore because I don't talk about it as much as I did in the early days of my mer-career, but my journey is very similar to yours. I also lost the ability to walk after struggling with serious illness my whole life. I had to learn to do it through physio again, and I used mermaiding as my motivation. I was born very premature and almost died on a number of occasions. Currently I am also taking a drug that when I started was in the trial stage. Now it's approved in my country, and the UK, but isn't yet available worldwide. Without this drug I would be permanently disabled and in excruciating pain.
Finally, I think being a merman is an excellent goal for you. If I can work up to swimming in a silicone tail- I believe you can too! My advice to you based on my own experience is it's OK to start out small. If you haven't yet, get a monofin to learn with. Even just that will be SO empowering. Then, upgrade to a fabric tail. Break this into achievable steps for yourself, and I think you'll be swimming in silicone in no time!
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