“My disability makes me strong”

Have you seen all those strong women on Amayzine.com this month? It can hardly be otherwise. But I know a woman you should also know. Elianne (27) struggled for thirteen years with Lyme disease and her disability, but she came out of the closet with her wheelchair on the catwalk of Amsterdam Fashion Week.

And now she is simply a finalist in the Mis(s) election. And that’s why we’re having a conversation with this beauty, brains, and wheels.

You went from a reclusive existence to a show on the catwalk, quite a shift?

“My illness and wheelchair made me very insecure in the past, but now it’s actually the wheelchair that gives me confidence. If I had walked on two legs instead of on two wheels, I would never have ended up in the modeling world at my one meter fifty-nine. Now there’s a contract from an Italian agency waiting for me. And not only that, I’m in the finals of the Mis(s) election. If I win, I will become an ambassador for Lucille Werner’s foundation. Sometimes it’s still hard to grasp, but this is proof that I am allowed to be here. When you have a disability, it’s always about what you can’t do. I want to build a bridge between the disabled scene and the rest of the world. That’s why I make the first joke myself, it takes away the awkwardness. You always get back the mentality you give.”

That doesn’t sound easy. Did your life look very different back then than it does now?

“Yes… In the beginning, no one knew what I had, after eight years of research it turned out to be Lyme. During that time, I developed an eating disorder that seemed untreatable, had epileptic seizures, could walk less and less, and was afraid to leave the house. I had to build that up meter by meter. Just recently, I was in the hospital because I suddenly had many seizures. And when I got home, I noticed that I had become more anxious because of that. At such a point, I go to the hardest place I know, which is IKEA for me. It’s super big, you have stimuli everywhere, people, a lot of information, and you can’t just go outside. Then I think: shit happens and I make sure it goes well. I won’t let myself be scared and I won’t stay at home.”

“By the way, in public transport, it’s always the nice guys who ask if they should lift me out of the train with my wheelchair. Look, then you won’t hear me, haha.”

And how do people treat you?

“Sometimes someone still talks over me with my father or mother. Then I think: hello, I’m here. That hardly happens to me anymore, you know. People think my wheelchair is cool, but I also get some misunderstanding. On my better days, I can still walk a few meters. Lyme is a strange disease, it’s not like a leg that you no longer have. One day I can take a few steps and the next day I have no leg function anymore. People don’t understand that, then they call you a faker. I don’t get that. Just come to me if you don’t understand, then I’ll explain it. But if I’m approached by strangers because I go to the disabled toilet without a wheelchair, then I don’t put any more energy into it. And by the way, in public transport, it’s always the nice guys who ask if they should lift me out of the train with my wheelchair. Look, then you won’t hear me, haha.”

How come you can handle this so well now?

“Because I let everything go a year and a half ago. I was in such a shitty situation. I couldn’t see it anymore and gave myself one more year, but then I had to live as if it were my last. That’s why I also reacted when they were looking for wheelchair models; I had no idea it was for Fashion Week. My health declined when I was twenty-three, but my little dog Thyro only learned more. He started as a buddy for my eating disorder, but he was such a sensitive dog that he turned into a service dog. Now I have Skylar, a puppy that I am also training. Those two are my walking reminders. I also get thank yous from people with disabilities because actually, no one talks about it. With my Instagram, I try to show that a wheelchair is cool.”

Your dreams are coming true, what else is on your bucket list?

“Last year I was having coffee with an acquaintance and I said: ‘I don’t want my illness to have been for nothing.’ The dreams I expressed then were not modest and so far they have all come true. Except for the dream that I want to sit at the table with Humberto Tan.”