I was never embarrassed or scared to have braces, in fact, I was happy to get them. Everybody else had metal squares on their teeth, they all looked okay so why shouldn’t I? Finding out I needed braces for my teeth was just another excuse to get an afternoon off school when I finally got an orthodontist appointment. They were chunky, ugly, and completely visible yet I didn’t seem to care. I continued to smile.

Then came my second brace, one that was practically invisible, only known if I told people and rare amongst the vast majority I knew. Somehow that was the embarrassing one. I was always aware of scoliosis. My mother, having at the time had two operations, never stopped going on about it, always stopping me when I was topless to check my spine, in truth it drove me insane. She was cautious like any parent that her problems would become mine.

The day I got told I needed a brace a million thoughts ran through my head. The main one being, will it make me look fat? As a teenager, already being faced with bloating and body worries, the last thing I needed was extra inches tied around my waist. I only knew a brace as metal things that went in your mouth or that awful thing Charlie wore on his head in Charlie and the chocolate factory. I had no idea what to expect.

Fast forward a week, the brace arrives. Thick, white, plastic. It was gross, looked like something out of the Victorian days. I think I cried for the first month every time I had to wear it, but then, like everything, it got easier. I know how this sounds, very negative, I’m just setting the scene. I don’t think it would be normal if I told you all I got a back brace and I loved wearing it, who would?

‘The girl with the brace’, ‘screwed up back girl’, ‘hunchback’ – these are the names I thought my friends would come up with for me, the scenarios I created for myself. That never happened. At school I had a big group of friends, guys and girls and I couldn’t have had more support. It was amazing. This thing, this brace that I was so embarrassed about, so nervous to show anyone or tell anyone actually became a reason I got closer to people. No one laughed at me or made me feel weird, they just accepted I had a problem that needed fixing. They had more acceptance for it than I did.

I think sometimes we doubt people more than we should, the brace not only fixed my curve which of course is the main positive of this entire story, but it showed me that people are way better than you think they are.

One thing that I found really hard was telling my boyfriend about my brace and I haven’t even worn it for 10 years. How ridiculous is that. We were on holiday and talking about braces, the dental ones of course. Nervous little me used it as a way to mention the thick, white clump of plastic, and he had no reaction. The lack of reaction clarified for me all those years ago that having a disability like scoliosis is nothing to be ashamed of.

There is also hope in talking about something that others may feel comfortable to come forward too. Isn’t there that saying, ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’. I don’t see my brace as a negative anymore, it’s part of my story, my back story.