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By Josh Perry
Hometown Weekly Staff
Jessica Cox, the world’s first armless pilot, spoke to families last week at Blake Middle School. The following day, Cox, who is also a third degree black belt, made a second appearance at Blake to speak with Medfield students continuing the school’s yearlong theme of inclusion and acceptance.
Born without arms, Cox has not allowed her differences to limit her life. She told the story of getting her driver’s license as a teen and how she joked with the instructor. “Have you ever driven with someone without arms?” she asked. When the instructor answered no, she added, “Well then you better buckle up.”
She got her license that day, although there were some battles with the DMV in the coming weeks. As Cox noted, she is not afraid of a challenge and is willing to keep fighting through adversity when she wants something.
“Walls are only there to stop people who don’t want it bad enough,” she explained.
Cox reminded families to “think outside the shoe,” as she explained some of the details of her daily life, including putting on and tying shoes, putting on clothes, brushing her hair, and more activities that many take for granted.
Cox demonstrated how she ties her shoes everyday using her feet and toes, which have become her hands and fingers. She invited two students on stage to try and open a can of soda without hands and after they came close, she showed how she does it with only a little struggle.
When she decided to overcome her fear of flying at the age of 21, Cox did it in the most unusual way possible - by becoming a pilot. Obviously, having no arms is a challenge, but Cox noted that the hardest aspect of her training (aside from landing the plane) was learning how to put on the standard four-point pilot’s harness.
Eventually she figured out a way of managing it, sliding down the seat into the buckled harness, but the first time that she did it took 45 minutes. Each time she tried it, it got easier, as with so many other aspects of her daily life.
“Fear is false evidence appearing real,” said Cox. “If we make up our fear then we can also defeat it.” She added, “Desire is 80 percent of success.”
Cox spoke about growing up without arms and having to come to grips with her differences. She wore prosthetic arms until eighth grade before deciding to take them off and go without. Cox said, “I wore fake arms for superficial reasons…just to look like I fit in.”
Once she accepted it, she noted, then she had the confidence to deal with anyone who may try to make fun of or bully her. Cox said that she felt free without her fake arms, finally showing off her “real” self.
Following her presentation, Cox signed copies of her book, “Disarm Your Limits,” and took photographs with the audience members, who had all been inspired by her story and her message of overcoming differences through will and confidence.
See more photos from the presentation at
https://hometownweekly.smugmug.com/Medfield/Events/Jessica-Cox-at-Blake-in.
Josh Perry is an Editor at Hometown Weekly. He can be reached at news@hometownweekly.net and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.
