US Thalidomide Survivors in the News
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Secrets and Lies
Summer 1979
“Oh my God! Were you a thalidomide baby?”
A gray-haired man stood staring at my disfigured arms and hands; trapped in the aisle, my heart raced.
Finding Our Tribe: Thalidomide Survivors
Before the gathering of US thalidomide survivors, I expected there would be many tears as we told our stories. In the end, there was far more laughter than tears.
Normalizing “different”
For more than 45 years I worked hard to hide my physical differences and associated struggles. Each decade became more difficult until I could no longer hide.
Coming Out of the Closet as a Thalidomide Survivor
When I was a child, I knew that having birth defects was a source of shame to your family. But the truth about the cause of my defects was deliberately kept from me.