Inspiring Teen With No Arms or Legs Dances Up a Storm
No arms. No legs. No problem.
Seventeen-year-old Gabe Adams has no arms or legs, but that hasn't prevented him from dancing.
In fact, Adams, of Kaysville, Utah, can be seen in this video with the dance team at Adams High, of which he was a member until he moved a few weeks ago and enrolled in a new school.
Adams says dancing is a way for him to show he can be like everyone else:
I got into dancing because I wanted to prove to myself and other people around me that there was more to me than the kid that was in the wheelchair or the kid who didn't have an extra activity to do and stuff like that."
Adams knows he may look different, but says, "My teammates treated me like a normal person and didn't look at my disability, just my ability to dance and be part of a team."
According to TODAY, Adams "was born with Hanhart syndrome, a congenital defect that causes malformed arms and legs." A native of Brazil, his birth mother didn't think she could adequately take care of him, so he wound up being adopted by a couple from Kaysville who have 13 biological children.
His mother says, "When we adopted Gabe, we seriously had no clue that he would ever be able to walk, let alone dance. I'm so proud of him and his bravery and willingness to try new things."
Adams has left Davis High and enrolled in a school which does not have a dance team, so he hopes to continue to pursue his interest through other classes and a nearby studio.
As he says, "I love the feel that I get from (dancing) ... I can be free and be who I am and express my emotions and feelings through it all and come out as a completely different person after the performance."