Happy b day Book gal

 Love  u  sooooooo  Much. I  can not  belive  u  are  19  today   happy  b day


 love

 AZ

Talking and understanding are not mutally exculsive

                        Lets  say  a genius  who  spoke  Latin  were to come to  the United States.  Now  lets   just say  for the sake of the argument that  there was  no one elese  who spoke  Latin.    Is the  genius  still a  genius.    Of  course  many  people would say   he just  needs    needs to  learn  English.       Well  what if there was  a  person  who  could not speak  at all  and  had  no device,  could he  be  a genius?
`  
It  angers  me as a person living with a speech  delay  when  I hear  someone  who has  no  speech  due to  disabilities,  especially  CP,  and do not have any  device  and  are  placed   as  limited  intellecual  ability.  It  really   angers me    because   the person does not have a  opportunity to  prove  there intellengence one way or the other.  Why am  I pissed  off  let   me  tell you  my story.

 bookgal  princess  and  az We were so cute 

          I was  born   September   1991   a month  prematurely   resulting in mild Cerebral Palsey.  As  a newborn  I could not suck  from a bottle  to well  a feeding tube was  placed  though my thoat so  I could  eat.   When  my parents  took me   home  I  had a  hard  time  breast feeding and my  mom had to pump her milk out  and put it in a bottle.  My  mussles  were soo  weak that   feeding took  forever.




 When  I was a  toddler   I had diffculty communicating. I leaned sign langue  to comincate. I  remeber saying and  signing  craker  in the kitchen.  Useing  signing  I was  able to  express  my wants  and  needs  until my speech   came  along.




 With me and  my  speech  imparment  repeating  words  is   frustrating  espacaly when  no one  understands  me.    I  hear myslef  specaking clearly, My  mind   makes  the ideas  and  the words   that come out   are   fuzzy.   I  rember  saying answers  in class being  told  I was  wrong and   someone said the  same thing  and got it right.      That means that I  got  the anser  right.  


  Now  for me  I have a voice . Its  not  the best  but its  a  voice. As  frustrated  as I must  feel  it must be  ten  times more frustrating  for  people  without a voice.  I feel for those  people  and   can not igmane  being inside  and  not having  a  way to  commicate  and   because of  not being able to comincate  getting  llabled as  worthless.    Having the school system  write  you  off being  isolated  from your peers.  Being  talked to in a high  pitch  voice  every day when  you  are not a  kid. Then  because of  your phiscal limitations  being  labled   as  being as  smart as a  toddler.  That is not  fair  nor is it  right.  I  know  all about  history   understand  spainsh and  english  have a  talent for writing   can  play chess    yet I can not  say the  L  R   K   G sound   esaly.  Does  that  me   not smart  no. Now  igmane   if  i could not talk or  had a device yes  I would not be able  to   write  read and play chess  not because  I   was  not smart  but because i  had  not had  the oppertunites  to  learn.     If  you are reading this and have a child  who can not communicate  my  advice  is   to  go to the ends of the  earth  for your kid, Buy the i pads   the dynvoxs help your  child  find their voice.   If your  the  parent   or  know  someone  whoes  older  who can not commmicate   do the same thing.  The sonner  you  get it the better but do not give up on an older   person in fact you need to get  the information them faster to make up for loss time. In the  meantime  contiue talking to   the person   as  would with   a person as  there  cronolical  age. ( So obsouly  talk  to a baby  like  a baby
 All pepole deves  a chance to connect with others.  It  does not  matter how smart they are everyone  wants  to connect  with  others.    Think about  it  this way   if the person  is  said  to have an intellecual disablity  and you  talk to them about  stuff that  is  to hard for them  then  they it will be  to hard, but if   the child is smart  but has not fond their  voice they will  obseve  it like a sponge.  Please  remeber  speech  is  very  conplex  and hard but   the   spoken word  is   the end result.   The  process  may still be in place.








 

My sister is going here

  Congrats   princess  of the ducks 

an essay I wrote for class on my mom

 Shortly after Rosa Parks gave up her seat,  a vice chancellor was  born; however,  when she was younger   no one could have  imagined it because   they were female, African American  and lived in  the same state that the Boycott took place in, Alabama.  This is my own mother who  had  to overcome insurmountable odds to get to where she is today  and this is her story.
            My mom was born on a June day.  She is  daughter of  .   My  grandmother was a country girl  who was the daughter of sharecroppers,  a system   developed by former slave owners  in which black people who   got  very little money for the crops they  produced and  were trapped on the land.    My grandma  was born  in the 30’s  during the  depression which made it  especially hard for her  family to get ahead.  My Grandfather lived  on the farm in Alabama which  his  grandfather, who was freed by the slaves as a  had bought.
              My  mom was brown in  a time period where  her mom was inevitably  referred to as a girl and her dad was  always a boy. Because of the color of their skin, my  grandparents endured   segregation.   In  my mom’s neighborhood was all black  and whenever  my mom went to town with  her mom she was  exposed to the bomb mine  of the ways of white people.  My mom remembers   asking  my grandmother  why she had to cross the street for white people. My mom remembers   hearing my grandmother  telling her about  that at work, as a cook she  was forced to go through the back door.  her job as a cook for white people, yet home was   still  home for  my mother.    When she was born  she already had four siblings, that all attended segregated schools, to look out for her.  My mom also grew up with both set of grandparents to look out for her.
            The  pivotal movement that would allow my mom and her siblings to reach their fullest potential came when my grandpa   moved the family to California.   It came shortly after  my mom  turned  five.  My  grandpa moved the family because he was  in the military and  had  to pick between Texas  and California.  He chose California because he had already had relatives  there.  I am  forever grateful that my grandpa chose California because without that choice I would not be here.
            One day when my grandma  was helping my mom study she  told her that she could be a doctor because she was so smart. My mom did not  actually believe her.  Even though my mom could attend the public school in California she had never thought  that she could be a doctor because   there were no African American doctors in Sacramento.  Still life was good in the state capital.  My grandma and grandpa became  really busy when they  moved to California.  Grandpa continued to work at McClellan Air Force Base in  North Highlands. My grandmother, who  knew that education was the key to a better future,  got her teaching credential  while raising her five kids  and working.  By the  time  my mom  graduated from high school after three years she  already had  siblings that had been in the college system.  My mom decided to go to  University of the Pacific in Stockton which was  close to her  parents and little brother,  who is  a decade younger than she.

            The future vice chancellor of diversity  for UCSF graduated  from UOP she went to medical  school  at UCSF.  She  spent a year in Los Angles, yet  she would return to UCSF for her residency. In residency one of  her black professors encourage her to go into academic medicine.  This choice would  ground her for  a very long time.
            In residency my mom met a handsome   half white half Mexican  man who was the eldest of  six children.  He also had an interesting story. This man, my father, was a wise  soul who loved to read.  He was  from a poor family and was born in Oregon. He was the only person to graduate from high school.  He  also came with a little  boy, from his first marriage, who was cute funny and enjoyed Ninja Turtles and baseball. Although    my father was a different race   and had a kid, she  fell in love  and the couple soon got married.
            Shortly after my parents  married. The best thing that happened to them was born.  I was born a few months shy of their one year anniversary.  I was  the first child that my mother had actually carried around  for  eight months, I was born  prematurely.  When I was born    Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable”  was playing in the delivery room. My mom had thought that that song was  predicting the unforgettable stuff that I would do. It  turned out that it was the song  both mother and daughter  would live up to.
            A year after  I was born  doctors  told my parents that I had Cerebral Palsy. My mom  got me all the help I needed, yet  she never gave up her work.   I was joined by two little sisters that would serve as  good teachers  for me as I got older,  but until then  that meant she had three little kids at home the eldest had disabilities. Most people would have given up their jobs to care for their disabled   toddler, but my mom never  did  take off more than she had . During this time my mom  worked  at two sites, taking care of patients and  doing research,  Mymom and  dad found the best nanny’s to care for us  and they would assume all parental duties during the day.  Growing up  I wished that my mom had  been a Stay at home mom, yet  I am  glad she did not because  America needed her to work.
              When I was  seven years old  it was the down of a new  millennium and  the first time  that my mother would become  a leader who championed the  rights of minorities, That year she would become chief of staff  at UCSF.   Soon after that she was promoted to associate dean of the medical  school.  She would be a there   for a while. She also became  involved  in her community outside the hospital.  She joined  the Commission on disabilities and  the compassion  on the status of women.  She also started began to travel a lot.   When I was in middle school my mom began traveling to Washington DC to be on the board  on women in medicine and science, The  national board challenges the  fact that  not a lot of women are in leadership roles  yet they were more women in medicine.  All of this meant travelling  advocating and doing countless  hours  of writing  and practicing  long into the night.
             In  the fall of  2010 my mom  interviewed  for the vice chancellor of diversity. She  got the position. My family and I were so excited.  Last  January we went to  a ceremony honoring her work.  Going to the event made me realize her impact  that she had  in her  professional life. She became the  first female  African American vice chancellor  in the University of California system.     During that time my mom has  implemented  programs that improve the diversity at UCSF .
             Mom  is a hard worker, She began working at the age of 16  and has not looked back since. Renee is so  wonderful and amazing.  She has won numerous of awards and recognition .  My mom  has shown me that   with hard work anything is possible.  She has shown me the  racism  can be overcome and   we must keep fighting until everyone has a fair shot at life.  She is my mom  and  I am  so honored that  her blood   runs through my veins.   When  I think  of  her accomplishments I   feel  proud to call her my  mom.    She has showed me    through her actions, those  are  bigger than words,  anyone can make a  difference in the lives of others.




Happy mothers day to al the mom's out there

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