Doctors still aren’t sure why Jessica Cox was born without arms. The rare congenital condition wasn’t discovered during prenatal tests or sonograms. Prosthetics were available to her as a child, but she hated wearing them. Instead, Jessica decided to tackle the world with two limbs, foregoing self pity for an attitude of optimism. “For the most part I don’t think about the restrictions, or how I can’t do something,” she says. “I think about how I can make it happen.” [1]

As a child, she was active with gymnastics, tap dancing and swimming. She taught herself how to drive with her feet, and type at 25 words per minute.

Jessica was also the first armless person to get a black belt in Tae Kwon-Do, and the first woman in the history of aviation to fly with her feet.

After graduating from the University of Arizona with a degree in psychology, she founded RightFooted.com and travels around the country as a motivational keynote speaker. Employers and educational professionals laud Cox for her ability to spread optimism and a “can-do attitude” to anyone in any stage of life. [2]

Sources:

[1] “Young People Who Rock: Jessica Cox” // CNN.com. February 22, 2009

[2] RightFooted.com: Jessica Cox Motivational Services

On September 17, 2009, a couple from Kansas pled guilty to sex trafficking the woman’s daughter. When the charges were filed last year, it was the first parent/child human trafficking case in the United States.

Todd Barkau, 37, started training the daughter at age 12 to engage in acts of sexual bondage, domination, sadism and masochism with him and others. When she turned 14, he set up an online business, marketing her as Mistress Alisha in both online and in-person sexual encounters. The girl’s mother, who is not named to protect the identity of the victim, assisted in the business and received financial compensation, prosecutors said.

In the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Barkau and the victim’s mother pled guilty to commercial sex trafficking of a minor. He will be sentenced to 25 years in prison, and she will get 15. It’s likely he was hit with a longer sentence because he participated in the molestation.

The victim, who is now 22, attended the plea hearings and told the judge that she approved of the plea agreements. Barkau and the woman will be sentenced after pre-sentence investigations are completed.

Source:

Thanks to Tina from New Hampshire for this article.

“Former Blue Springs Pair Admit Guilt in Case of 12-Year-Old Dominatrix” (Tony Rizzo) The Kansas City Star. September 24, 2009

On Friday in San’a,Yemen, a twelve year old girl died trying to give birth to a still-born. Fawziya Abdullah Youssef was in labor for three days before she ultimately died of severe bleeding.

Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, has a society based on Muslim tribal customs.  It’s common for poor Yemeni families to give away their young daughters in exchange for large dowries. The Social Affairs Ministry reports that roughly 1 in 4 Yemeni girls get married before the age of 15. Youssef was only 11 when her father married her to a 24-year-old man from Saudi Arabia.

“The reason behind it is the lack of education and awareness,” says Ahmed al-Quraishi, chairman of Siyaj human rights organization, which promotes the rights of children in Yemen. There are no statistics to show how many children are married every year.

The issue also made headlines two years ago, when an 8-year-old Yemeni girl went to a courthouse by herself, demanding a divorce from a man in his 30’s. She was eventually granted the divorce, and it prompted legislators to question the practice of marrying children.

Then in February of this year, Yemeni parliament passed a law that would make the minimum age to wed 17. Before the president could sign off on it, however, some lawmakers requested it be reevaluated by the parliament’s constitutional committee. They claimed the measure was potentially un-Islamic.

Other Middle Eastern countries have been known to permit child brides, but it’s believed to be the most widespread in Yemen.

Source:

“12-Year-Old Girl Dies While Giving Birth in Yemen” (Ahmed Al-Haj) The Huffington Post. September 12, 2009