Never wanting to minimize the seriousness or difficulties of SMA< but for me, a sense of humor is necessary and as Alyssa said, we have to be able to laugh. Finding humor is a way of finding grace, for me, as well as others. It also can help break the ice with someone having difficulty interacting with someone in our situation.
My favorite joke stems from me needing to use a power wheelchair fulltime starting about 10 years ago. Before that, I rarely drank because I needed all of my faculties and remaining physical skills to be focused and sharp to help navigate and reduce the chance of falling. So, now that I’m in a chair, I still don’t drink alcohol, but I like to joke about that. I was at lunch with a friend and his wife, and the waiter was outgoing, albeit a little tentative with me. He came to the table asking if any of us wanted the “drink special of the day” and described it. My friend and his wife both said yes. The waiter looked at me, “Sir?” I replied, “No, I better not as I might not be able to walk out of here.” My friend and his wife, both knowing my sense of humor, started laughing. The waiter was clearly struggling to not laugh. I said, “Dude, that’s some of my best stuff – you have to laugh!” To which he responded with a huge sigh and then started a warm laugh. He actually thanked me for helping him to feel more comfortable around me. I’ll use variations of that periodically when the topic of drinking comes up or one is offered. Okay, admittedly a little warped, but it is my humor about me.