Sano has faced and overcome malicious attacks from complete strangers online. - Weixin
TOKYO: A Japanese mother who was born minus three limbs and with just a stump for the other became a YouTube influencer to prove to bullies that a disabled person can also be a good mother, moving many people online.
When Ami Sano, 34, gave birth to her daughter, Mei, in 2020, she faced many malicious comments from strangers, doubting that she could be a good mother because of her disability.
She was born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare congenital disorder characterised by the absence of four limbs. Sano is bereft of three limbs and has an underdeveloped left leg and foot with three toes.
She managed to learn life skills, writing and drawing under her mother’s guidance and went to regular schools, even becoming a cheerleader at secondary school.
Sano worked as a voice actress and office assistant after graduation, and made her own living like anyone else. But she had always dreamed of making a family.
She shared that she experienced trauma from a past relationship when a boy she met at school abruptly left after seeing her.
Sano met her husband in 2014 through a friend and he told her he did not care about her disability, treating her like an independent woman.
They got married in 2017, and had their able-bodied daughter in 2020 after undergoing a year of fertility treatment, which included measures such as artificial insemination.
Sano said she was shocked to find people questioning her ability to become a mother because of her condition.
She said that she started practising mothering skills even before the baby was born, such as changing diapers and feeding milk, to prepare herself for motherhood.
“I will prove to them that I can be a good mother,” Sano told Japanese media outlet ABEMA. In 2020, she started her YouTube channel, which now has 383,000 followers.
Sano uploaded videos demonstrating how she managed, with the help of a baby carrier, to hold Mei on her chest by herself, how she cooked for her girl in a custom-made kitchen designed by her husband, and how she picked up Mei from kindergarten.
She said she wanted to encourage other disabled people, showing them they could do what they want.
Sano said her father had always told her: “Do not think about what you can do. Think about what you want to do.”
Sano said she had doubted herself at times, such as when she picked up Mei from school and could not hold her hand like other mothers.
But little Mei grabbed her sleeve and said: “I’m now holding mum’s hand.”
Sano’s story has moved many people online.
“Only those who do not love or look after their children are not qualified to have kids. You make a perfect mother,” one person said on YouTube.
“When Mei sees your videos after she grows up, I’m sure she will know how great a mother you are,” said another. - South China Morning Post
