Cerebral Palsy Party Day 18 : National Cerebral Palsy Day 2015 - Please don't blow the candle out - A Ceep view on curing disabilities

         

  Happy   National  Cerebral Palsy   Day  everyone and the last day of  theCerebral Palsy  Party.   I hope  you are all  wearing green  today.
   Today is the  national day for Cerebral  Palsy Awareness. The history behind this is  Reaching for the stars.  These  guys are  trying to eventually find a cure for CP.

             Hay  guys  I want to let  you in on a secret. We don't  need a cure,  Now  at this point you may be thinking that this   person is  crazy and  doesn't make sense.   So on this day  I want to  share my feelings with you about why   as a person with Cerebral Palsy. The idea of a cure is treating to me.   I hope that there will not be a  cure  for CP or any other disability we are meant to be here.  

Keep the  candle  burning  people with CP are not  mistakes

        Now  there are two ways to look at disability.  One  way is to  say that disability is mistake,  a  mutation, damaged  broken. Disability is seen as a flaw.  This view  makes it easier to  separate  people with disabilities because  after all they are broken people who need to be fixed. This is known as the medical modal.   This is the dominate view  of disabilities that is  deeply imbedded into society. 

   Some  people with disabilities   see that   the world has it wrong.  Instead of believing that  people with disabilities are flawed   the society is at fault for denying us  rights.    I mean  the ADA  is  only 25    this  year .     Low expectations rule supreme  and segregation is still  practiced  under the name special.  That is far more disabling then  the disability.  I have  a personal experience with this.

   I come  from  a big sport family.    Both my parents played sports in their youth.   My brother played baseball for a number of years  and I spent saturdays at baseball games supporting him.  When  the fine motor challenges of playing with dolls  became too much for me I  turned to sports  where I was   able to join community team and recess.  I was a  true tom boy.  Did CP make it hard for me to play you  bet  but  I  really liked playing.

 In  eighth grade  I came to the realization that I probably  would not  continue to play  on inclusive teams.   IT WAS THEN THAT I LONGED TO BE NORMAL.   It was not  that I couldn't  talk clearly,  or   use my hands.  IT  WAS THAT I WAS NOT  GOING TO BE ABLE TO BE INCLUDED ON  A SPORT TEAM. 

 Now  if  there was a inclusion basketball team  I would not  have  yearned to be normal because  I  still would have been included on  a  sport team like I always  wanted to do.  If there were  the same opportunities offered to me  as my parents and siblings and to all  citizens  then    there  wouldn't need to be a cure because we  would be able to contribute to society.   

    Its like this, think of    life as a movie theater, now imagined   instead of seeing the movie  in two d  and  3d   You  saw it  through color lens.     These lenses  tint what  you see and how you  view    them.   A lot of factors go through  these color lenses including  race, gender,  economic status  ,family , political  ideation,and  disability.  In short the thing that you  are trying to cure has shaped how  I see the world around me.   I have lived with it my  entire life and will continue to live with it til  I  die.   If  disabilities were not suppose to exist   then they  would not  exist.  They have always been around .   It is  a part of diversity. One that I hope will always  be  included in every aspect of life.

  Happy  Cerebral Palsy   Awareness   Day.





    I am  disabled  and  proud

    There are no  new post   tomorrow but be sure  to   check out my other  post from CP month.