Mom Stages Stunning Photoshoot After Realizing Disability Isn't Represented in Maternity Photos
With Mother’s Day coming up, commercials and other advertisements are filled with mothers caressing their baby bumps, celebrating life and motherhood. Chances are none of these will show a mother with a disability. But representation matters, Christa Couture, will tell you. That was one of her reasons for taking maternity photos with her prosthetic leg.
Couture lost her leg 25 years ago, but she’s just becoming comfortable in her body, she told The Mighty. Now, she wants to help others feel comfortable in their bodies by sharing her photos.
“I wanted to make them public because I know for me, anytime I see any kind of difference represented that I feel better about my own,” she said. “The more often diverse bodies are normalized the more we can all, hopefully, feel good in our own skin.”
Her photoshoot, which was shot with photographer Jen Squires, was also a way for her to challenge her perception of being disabled and what it means to be a mother with a disability.
“It took me a long time to believe I could be a disabled parent in part because I found so few examples of other people doing it,” Couture said. “Disabled people are constantly told they can’t do things — either directly or indirectly in the narratives in movies, sitcoms, advertising etc. This is my one tiny way of combating that.”
Couture said she hopes other mothers, disabled or not, will see her photos and celebrate themselves and the incredible jobs their bodies are doing. There’s beauty in the ways mothers make motherhood work for them.
“Being pregnant was the impetus and added motivation to do it, and it felt great to capture all of that in the pictures,” she said. “It gave me a chance to study myself at that moment in time, and to really celebrate everything my body was doing in growing a baby and in just being resilient and adaptive.”
Photos via Instagram/jensquiresphotographer
Elizabeth is the reporter at The Mighty. Elizabeth also runs the Elizabeth Explains column of Mighty Brief, The Mighty's daily newsletter. Follow her on twitter @ekcassidy4 or send an email to elizabeth@themighty.com.
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