The emotional impact of amputation is very similar to that of loosing a loved one. Individuals who face amputation will go through anger, denial, depression, withdrawal, and finally acceptance.

Amputees will not just have to deal with their personal issues but the outside world as well. I don’t have to remind you how tough the outside world could be for people like us. Amputees like us have to deal with other people who are not used to our conditions. Unfortunately, because of the visible nature of the amputation, it brings a very undesired attention towards an amputee which can lead to various emotional impacts on an amputee .  I have encountered many reactions from people throughout my amputee life and believe me some have been very disappointing but on the other hand some have been very positive and encouraging as well. The bottom line is that we amputees have to realize that some people who have never encountered an amputee might not know how to react and the disappointing reaction I told you about earlier could be because they were just nervous and didn’t really mean to hurt you or your feelings.

So we amputees have to learn to avoid being bitter and learn to overcome the emotional impact of amputation.. We need to learn to accept who we are and make the best out of everything. We are capable of doing anything and everything. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t give up. When you feel down and start feeling sorry for yourself, please know that there are always people whose conditions are  far more worse than yours. Think about them and you will automatically start feeling good. This works for me every time.

You are still the same person. You are just as important as you were before and your life is just as worth living as anybody eases. Just be positive. Maintaining a positive attitude will take you places in life. From very early on I realizes that I was going to be an amputee for the rest of my life and no matter how much I grieved or feel sorry for myself or complained, it was not going to change the fact that I am an amputee. I realized that life goes on and I was lucky that I survived the accident.  I realized that everything from then on was a challenge and I decided to meet that challenge head on. This positive attitude has helped me tremendously.