By June Price

TatGrrrl. Her AOL screen name says it all. Jo Ann Price, AKA TatGrrrl, is bold and sassy and has proudly earned her moniker–and her many tattoos–through blood, sweat and even a few tears. Price is among a growing number of women and men–to say nothing of people with disabilities–embracing a broad resurgence of the ancient art of tattooing.

Why would anyone want to decorate–some say deface–their body with permanent, yours-for-life tattoos? Price, 41, who has spinal muscular atrophy, says her body art is an outward expression of her inner self.

“Our bodies,” she says, “are just vessels, shells that cover our true essence–our souls. I want to paint my vessel with images of my life’s enjoyments, images that express my true spirit.”

Price may sound very New Age, but her reasons are actually quite in tune with those of our ancestors. Remarkably, tattooing dates back more than 6,000 years to early Egypt, where tattoos found on the mummified remains of both men and women suggest they had great spiritual and social significance.

Today, most tattoo studios look like a cross between a medical clinic and an upscale beauty salon, and people from soccer moms to CEOs are getting “tats,” a.k.a. “colors” or “ink.” It’s said that middle-class women have fueled the present revival–they’re now the recipients of about 50 percent of all tattoos.

Not long ago, it was disability–not one’s sexual preference–that was hidden in the closet. Tattoos drawing extra attention were the last thing any of us thought we needed.

But not anymore. There is no better example of how attitudes have changed than the many women who have lost their breasts to cancer and opted for a tattoo instead of reconstructive surgery. Madame Chinchilla’s book, Stewed, Screwed and Tattooed, examines this phenomenon. “Tattoos, wrinkles and scars are external marks of our life experience,” says one woman quoted. “The feelings which accompany them vary from a sense of pride to a feeling of aversion. Transformation through tattooing over a scar can have a powerful effect.”

Outside the Stereotype
This rationale serves people with disabilities just as well, and many have chosen to flaunt their differences, not hide them.

John Lopez, a C7 quad from San Diego, did not take lightly his tattoo’s subject matter or its placement. He intentionally aligned a bat ray tattoo with a surgical scar on his spine, though he can’t recall the specifics of his thinking at the time. “Perhaps,” he says, “a crooked body seeking some type of symmetry.” And it was partly a matter of affinity. “I work with marine animals daily at my job. The bat ray has a streamlined beauty and fluid grace as a swimmer that is unmatched.”

Lopez, 43, put the ray in the upper center of his back with most of it on the unaffected area between his shoulders and a small portion below the line where he has no sensation. “I thought it would be interesting to experience it on both areas,” he says.

Most people, like Lopez, feel their body image and self-confidence is affected in a positive way. “I read somewhere that a tattoo is a message to yourself in the future,” he notes. “Somehow, perhaps just in my mind, knowing it’s there seems to give me an intangible power. I don’t show the tattoo very much because most of the time I’m wearing a shirt, but when someone does see it, I invariably get positive feedback.”

It’s the positive feedback that many tattoo owners enjoy. Michele Phillips, a T12/L11 para from Columbus, S.C., loves to go barefoot and show off the tree frog she has tattooed on the top of her foot. “It makes people realize that I don’t necessarily fit the stereotype of what a person in a wheelchair is like,” says Phillips, 27. “It seems to take peoples’ minds off the obvious.”

Price, a resident of Madison, Wis., takes her social statement a step further. “People are more afraid of the tattoos than of the wheelchair,” she says. “I like that.”

And tattoos are, after all, art. Price designed all of her tattoos herself. “They’re a personal collection of my own artwork,” she says. She wants people to look at that work–realizing they may love or hate it, as they might any art–and know that it’s all hers.

For some, tattoos bridge their preinjury and postinjury days. W. Justin Martin, 32, got his first tattoo eight years ago, long before an injury that left him a T12 para. He plans to get more. “I believe that some people, such as myself, get tattoos so people will look and point and compliment them,” he says. “I still like that, so being in a wheelchair is a plus. I still get full attention when I enter a room.”

The Nashville man has two large tats on one calf and two small ones on his right arm. How has it affected his self-esteem? “It hasn’t,” he says. “I already had a huge ego before the tattoos!”

Identity and Pain
Doug Champa, now living in Norwood, Mass., got his first tattoo when he was only 17, before his T12 injury in 1986. One could guess this youthful action might come back to haunt him, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Champa, now 33, is in his 16th year on a journey to what is called a “full-body suit.” He is close to his goal of 80 percent upper-body coverage, a mission that has required more than 270 hours under the hot sting of tattoo needles. He says that while people sometimes think his tattoos suggest he doesn’t respect his body, his muscular frame and proud self-image prove otherwise. Tattoos, he says, “have become more and more of my identity.”

Personal expression is all fine and good, some would say, but is it going to land you a job?

“Any job that doesn’t allow someone with a tat isn’t a job for me,” says Champa. “I’ve created a strong foundation for myself through my look that has been great for promotional and marketing purposes.”

Champa is Eastern regional sales representative for wheelchair maker Colours by Permobil. “I’ve gotten a lot of compliments from people who had a negative stereotype about people with tattoos,” he notes, “but after meeting me they realize it was a fallacy.” After all, he says, doctors, lawyers and judges have tattoos, too. “You just can’t see them under the cloak or suit.”

What about pain? Lopez thinks we have it all over our nondisabled peers in dealing with pain. “I assumed correctly that my experience with the pain that we crips deal with every day would make the pain of getting tattooed seem like a walk in the park,” he says. “I realize everyone has a far different capacity for tolerating pain and some areas of the body are much more sensitive than others, but for me the pain involved in the process was nothing. The artist worked the needles on my back for two hours, and I never even winced.”

Price calls it “good pain,” more a positive than a negative. “I got my chest tattooed following a horrific personal trauma,” she says. “When I was being tattooed, I finally stopped shaking, found peace, comfort and inner strength. I felt like I had even gained strength, both physically and mentally. I think that sometimes the process or circumstance of the tattooing may be more important than the image itself.”

What about people who are put off by tattoos? “People should consider what I have to offer,” says Champa. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Tattoos by Taki

“Place tag here.”

That’s the tattoo Takiichi Kuohujoki has on the bottom of his right big toe. “I like to think of it as my last joke,” he says.

taki, as he prefers to be called, is a T2-6 paraplegic, an accomplished tattoo artist and the owner of six tattoos of his own. A former free-lance illustrator, he started designing tattoos at the request of the owner of a local tattoo studio. So why not actually do the tattoos?

“The concept of marking someone’s body for the rest of their lives was a pretty heavy thing to me,” he says. But he eventually did his first tattoo in 1995 and hasn’t stopped since.

Here’s taki’s FAQ (frequently asked questions) list for tattooing:

Will a tattoo change my self-image?

“I believe that each and every tattoo anyone gets changes their self-image, as you’ve just permanently, purposely and personally altered–‘customized’–yourself. Whether it’s seen or unseen, you still know it’s there and that changes how you see yourself.”

How do you find a good tattooist?

“Don’t limit yourself to the first studio you find. Tattooists have their own style of tattooing, so find someone who can do what you want, how you want it done. Ask to see their portfolio. If possible, look for photos of their work healed so you can see how well the ink and colors stay in once the tattoo has set.”

How about sanitation?

“Ask questions! Don’t just assume everything is clean and sterile. A safe studio should openly display copies of licenses and permits for the studio and each tattooist. Be sure they use new needles for each tattoo.”

Does it hurt?

“Lessee, a group of three to 14 needles embedding a pigmented suspension several hundreds of thousands of times in your skin … uh, yes. But it’s more irritating than painful. Some people find it rather pleasant, even ticklish.  It may be sore and itch as it heals, but not any worse than an equivalent-sized scrape.”

Where’s the least painful place to get a tattoo?

“On someone else. But seriously, get it where you want because it’s gonna hurt no matter where you get it.”

What’s it feel like to get a tattoo?

“Describe what a banana tastes like first.”

Health Risks

The two most significant health risks associated with tattooing, according to the National Institutes of Health, are allergic reactions to the pigments and exposure to blood-borne pathogens.

Hepatitis B and C, along with the AIDS virus to a much lesser degree, remain concerns, although the Centers for Disease Control report no cases of HIV transmission through tattooing anywhere in the country since it began tracking such data in 1985. And you’re way less likely to contract hepatitis from your tattooist than from your dentist, according to CDC statistics.

Government regulations requiring the sterilization of tubes and needles in an autoclave and the use of disposable gloves have greatly reduced disease transmission in tattoo studios. Most infectious disease results from people who do their own tattoos or use unsanitary instruments, especially when drunk or high. Keloid scarring–when the body produces too much tissue to compensate for the “injury” of the tattoo by creating a raised scar–is also associated with inexperienced tattooists.

Choosing Your Tattooist

It’s easy to be taken in by the colorful designs–the “flash”–on the walls of a tattoo studio, by the discount rates for first-timers, by the great music and by the goodlooking tattooist ready to work on you. But consider what’s really important when choosing who will do your tats.

Sanitary conditions. Ask what sterilization procedures are followed. Although there are some acceptable alternatives to the autoclave, boiling or immersion in chemical disinfectants are not among them and do not kill the hepatitis virus. Make sure that gloves and new needles are always used, and that colors are put in disposable cups.

Experience. Good tattooists apprentice for years under a master tattoo artist. Unfortunately, because of the boom in this lucrative business, an increasing number of “scratchers”–self-taught tattooists–are setting up shop. “I won’t get a tattoo by an artist whose work hasn’t been published in a national tattoo magazine such as Easyriders or Tattoo,” says W. Justin Martin. “Good artists do good, safe work.”

Licensing. Although state and local health departments regulate tattooing facilities and federal guidelines do exist, the industry remains, for the most part, self-regulated. Don’t be misled by the certificates on the wall–you can get them by mail order–but some certification does have merit. The Alliance for Professional Tattooists (APT) is a nonprofit, professional organization that has developed infection control guidelines in association with the FDA for its members to follow.

Visit the studio and talk to the artist long before making a decision to get a tattoo. “Don’t do it on a whim,” says Jo Ann Price, owner of many tattoos. “Getting a tattoo is a lifelong commitment. And don’t get a tat of your favorite team just because they won the Super Bowl. Next year they may really disappoint you. Same for the names of lovers.”