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These poignant cartoons show what it's like living with a disability

Picture: Jess and Li
Picture: Jess and Li

Canadian sisters and digital artists Jessica and Lianna Oddi have physical disabilities that leave them wheelchair bound.

They created The Disabled Life, a Tumblr page for cartoons with quirky captions, about the everyday reality of spending a large portion of your life in a wheelchair.

indy100 caught up with the pair to ask a few questions:

Why did you start the comics?

[We] started the Twitter account just to post funny things that have happened to us over the years. Then a little while back, I was looking through funny comic blogs, and I thought we should do something relatable to our disability. I hadn't seen too much of it around, and thought it was time to put our art with our humour. And obviously we wanted to do it together!

When your hand strength is absolute garbage #thisiswhyineededbraces #thedisabledlife

Mama always said we’re beautiful, but our chairs are real show stoppers!

What are some difficulties you have both encountered, having disabilities?

The number one difficulty we both have faced is assumptions or judgements from complete strangers. People either treat us differently, or with pity (which drives us crazy). On the other side of things, people assume they know everything about you because they met another person in a wheelchair once before.

In one way, at least they're trying to relate, but on the other hand, no two people in this world are alike, and that goes for us disabled folk as well!

How we feel almost every time using the lift

Don’t you just HATE it when scoliosis gives you absolutely no waist? Crop tops are never crop tops, and never fit right in the boob area either!

Second biggest difficulty would have to be accessibility. We've come a long way, but it's kind of ridiculous to see how many buildings are still not accessible. We mean, when all you 'normies' are older and require assertive devices; you're going to need accessibility too. So why not start now?

It's 2016 people, we would like to be able to go places too!

Don’t get us wrong, we love hitting up the bars once in a while, but sometimes the club just isn’t our scene!

Places that say they’re accessible but aren’t, are the reason we have trust issues!

A couple of weekends ago a bunch of us went to the casino, and this total stranger puts his arm on my arm rest. NOT cool man! I just put my elbow on top of his, and he slid off pretty quick

Seriously, this is how men have reacted to me on dating apps

The pair said that most of the feedback they've had has been "overwhelmingly positive."

All images are courtesy of Jessica and Lianna, and you can find their artwork on Tumblr.

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