Melissa Blake suffers from Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome, a genetic bone condition. She had always wanted to be a model, but due to her impairment, it was said that her dream would never come true. She got to model at New York Fashion Week years later.
Journalist Melissa Blake focuses on pop culture, relationships, pop culture, and people with disabilities. Blake was born with the inherited bone and muscle condition known as Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome.
But when Blake was a teenager, someone crushed her hopes, telling her that her disability would prevent her from ever being a model. She carried the hurtful comments with her for a long time.
Blake had no idea that she would soon be among those contributing to the shift in the perception of disabled individuals in the fashion business. The 42-year-old watched her fantasy come true 20 years later.
The journalist noted that a reformation of beauty standards was long overdue, even if she acknowledged that the epidemic was a vulnerable moment for disabled people, leaving them with restricted access to health care and other essentials. She was so honored to be among the icons of this revolution in the fashion industry.
Blake’s home was the setting for the filming of her runway walk. Each of the 25 models had a unique film that combined shots of their stylish ensembles with intimate narratives about their experiences as disabled persons and what it meant to them to be involved in the creation of spaces for the disabled.
She has contributed her knowledge to reliable websites such as Psychology Today. The title also refers to the freedom for people to retract or clarify statements that were made inadvertently or at the incorrect moment.
Three years after her tweet went viral, Blake recapped it with a clap of his own: “Because of you, I blossomed instead of withering, took up space instead of hiding.” She wrote, “I’m still standing and rolling.