Year in Review

  Hay  guys  it seems like the year  was  just started  yesterday but as I  write this its the day before  New Years eve. 2014 has  flown by  and it was a  great  year . I hope that I can  have   a  great  year   in 2015.  

  Now there is  a lot of  great stuff that happened in 2014  here are the monthly  highlights  complete with pictures.

 Let's Go  Niners

 January 2014 :  Took  my  mom out to dinner and  paid for it making me the first child to do that. I got a new basketball and a nice 49 sweatshirt and hat,
 February 2014 :   Watched   the  Superbowl  with  Mexican  Food .   My  old b ball coach came to see me  play in a tournament.








 March 2014:    Had the  best weekend ever at the  TASH  Conference a
nd  got a   cool t shirt to celebrate  World  CP  Day.

March 2014 

April 2014 : Celebrated  Easter by   going to Cream. Competed in Shot Put for the  first time  ever with the special olympics.  I also  went to the beach,

May 2014:  Celebrated  my sister's  b day  by  hanging in  SF

June 2014: Started summer  school and  learned  that "Individual differences  reign
 supreme.  Saw the para olympics at my  jc.

July2014:     I cut my  hair on the fourth of July.  Celebrated my  Dad's b day by  going out  for  lunch and  feeding  the ducks.  Watched the World Cup  and  chugged a shot of  alcohol before  throwing it up.  I also  went to the movies with  LM

August 2014 :    Went to a giants  game.  Took a final   while my mom was away and aced it. I  attended  Motown the musical with my sister and  my mother.   I     also  played in my first Unified  golf  game hosted  by Special Olympics. My  team mate and I  got  sliver

Halloween 2014

September  2014:   I turned 23   and took the  ALS  Ice bucket challenge.


October 2014:      I had a blast at  Big  Wave  and helped make the day  fun.  I  was  paid in two  free spray painted  pumpkins .  I  won the JC  costume contest as an orange crayon and  went to two special needs Halloween Parties. The  Giants won the World Series

 November  2014: I got my first  job at the bookstore.  Had a wonderful Thanksgiving  at  my house My   Aunt L  Uncle M  C and R  came down.

 I beat  C in a game of Parcheesi 

December2014:   My  grandma comes to visit.  I get  my first pay check and use it to buy a golf  bag  and I gave my mom 200 dollars for being my mother.I MET TIM SHRIVER.  I had an awesome christmas  week with my grandma and cousins and had a X - Men Movie Marathon . .


Over all its  been a great  year.

 Here are some  post that are worth looking  at  from  2014



  The  Solution is Inclusion
 The  Power of Choice
 Inclusion Matters because

Once upon a time

Hay guys this is a good post , but spelling may b bad as I typed on my iPhone, internet is down at my place school starts tomorrow . I still need photo for the CP montage.

Once upon a time in the fall of1997 a little black and hispanch girl started kindergarten.Not only was this girl a  minority  she also had CerebralPalsy    She hated phonics because she did not havethe ability    to make the sounds, yet she loved words and was reading by the end of the year.

By first grade this girl had really bad behavior she was diagnosed with  nld . But that spring she participated in field day and got awards 

  

In second grade she attended a new school  they were able to help her and she got an   Award   for a nature project.  

 

Throughout her elementary school career she won 

 

 Life skills  awards 

 Bike rider award in third grade for particpating in sunday bike rides  with her teacher, dad, and siblings. 

a science fair ribbon in 5th  grade 

Along with trophiesand awards    for neighborhood kids sports one year she won a good  award from her local ayso 

In middle school the student still had behavior problems but still managed to get on honor  role.

 She joined special olympics and began to win lots of medals over the l next  eight years .

In high school she got awards as well but also developed OCD  she did not want to leave high school and acted out so bad that many people did not  not want her to visit she accepts full responsibility for this by the way.

 She missed a lot of class her first semester of college but when she   Started going to school she improved her behavior and  picked up a medal that said that she graduated with honors. Out of all the awards she has received this one means the most to her.

Turning pain into power

 The  Saga  continues  read part one  before    this  part  


 So  today  I left my   History of Western Civ  class   as we were taking role.    I was not  feeling like  I should stay in college.    I mean  if  I can not  order a cheeseburger  how  I am I  going to  get a job  teaching .  I went to visit some of my  professors that  I have had   over the  years . (  Math   BIo  and  tried to  talk to my American Lit teacher  from  last semester but she was not there .      I also went to  DSPS and talked to them,   I   talked to  Ms, Super, not  real  name,   who  has  helped  me  for the past three years ,  and    Consular   J   who   has   also  helped me all three  year  I toldl  them  I wanted to drop out of school  because of the incident.

       My thinking was if I can not  get a good  job   because of  my  disabilities. Why  stay  in  college and  try to be intellecual   when  everyone thinks  i am  dumb  , or  worse , but  that   is  later   I  should be trying to  find a job now that  will  last me  the rest of my life  like    bagging  or something  else.

 Well  they  said  I had  to promise them to   wait til  monday   before dropping classes.

 Well  I  went to my  bio teacher and he   found this video  on  youtube so  that was  making me feel  better

             


 i  resolved to  confront   A  about the   incident.

So  A  says  ,"  I   am sorry  if you felt that  way   I thought it was cute that you wanted to make sure you  had  your cheese."

 
AZ:Cute  I am  21 years  old  I am not  cute.

  AZ thinking back on it :  I  am not  cute because  I was trying to communicate . I looked  to  make sure  because  I have  a speech  problem  and wanted to make sure it was done  right   oh  but  it gets  worse

  A :   Well   we don't see you  like that we see you  as a little princess  a little  girl.

  So  I went to  talk to the president and instead found an assistant  who gave me    the contact information for   the head  of the food court  and   we are  having a meeting    tomorrow  in  DSPS with  Ms, Super  I hope all  goes well.

Crappy Cheeseburgers

                   Let me just say that I hate  my voice.   Yeah  I am  in  ST  but  it still hard.  I am  21 years old ( Age wise)  but   I can not say my own  name its a  struggle  and  no  I       can not  do phonics.       Despite all  of this  I  understand everything,  ok  so not  chemistry but  not everyone  understands it,    what that means  is that I do not have an intellectual  disability.  Its like  an  invisible  brick  wall ,  yeah  I  know    walls  can not be invisible  but its a metaphor  with a  fantasy twist .  I  know what I  want  but   when  I try to  get it  I  hit   my head on a brick  wall.   Totally  not fun:( .

      This makes  ordering  food   really  hard  sometimes  people can  understand my     speech and   either  make the food or  help  me   tell the person . Well   the past few days at my college  dinning hall   the  chiefs have not been understanding me that well.      Earlier today I had speech   and we came up  with writing  the word down   on the notes feature of my I-Phone   .  Well , as  I went back to the dinning room   after speech  for a evening class  ,  I  wrote  down  Cheese burger  and  garlic fries  as a back up  plain.     There was a  severe  there  lets  call   them  A.  It was fairly  busy   so they called another person  to help    B.  Well    I  have worked with  A    before but   she was having a  hard time understanding me   I'd  say  she   understands about 70% of what  I say; however,  I  had never  met    B  before.    B ends up  helping me.    Between the two of them they  understand that I want  a Cheeseburger and  B    starts one on the  grill,  I tried  to tell them I wanted   American Cheese  but  neither one understands me. So  I write it on my phone  and show B  he calls    A  over and  A  helps  him I look over   and sure enough there is some American cheese on the grill.  I look down and hear a smirk.    I    think that someone   made fun of my speech the worst part is  A  is the manager. 


 Told my  parents and   they did not  seem to see why I was so  mad.     I am  mad because  I think they made fun of my speech.  I  am   mad because   I want to be able to  say what I want   and  have people understand the first time.  I am  mad  because    sometimes I  am  so    Frigen tired  of   repeating and  trying   to be understood.  I am  mad because  I hate  when  people   think  that I am too dumb to  notice if they  laugh.  Good  think  book  girl and Soccer  man   understand. 

Soaring to new heights

  Hay  guys  so  today  I   am  not   going to be blogging because  I  am  doing a  guest posts at  Think  Inclusive .  Check it out 

A do- over day

          So  today  is the  national youth inclusion conference for I am  norm.  I wish  I  could be telling you guys about   all the fun   things that are happening.  All the  people  I am  meeting   that also believe in inclusion.   I was  soo excited  earlier in the week  I  warned my teachers that I would be hyper  on friday  from all the  excitement. 


  That was   Monday.

 The fear set in  on Tuesday night  when  I  realized that  it would be storming in the  bay area.

 Wednesday    talked to a physics  teacher  about  what would happend  if  a plane got stuck by lighting,

Thursday       warend  my group that I would not attend.  Talked to my old  aid  went to see Lincoln  which was a great movie 

 Friday

  Went to class  was not hyper more scared   it did not help that   we read a poem about death. ( no  i do not blame  my  american  Lit teacher) 

 Talked to my  astronomy teacher asking him about   any metros, like the one  he told us about on Wednesday, 

  Went to the  airport and  could not decide  to  go or stay.     Went to security twice.   My  mom  got embarrassed,  It did not help that my  mom   had to get padded down  because  the machine kept going off which  freaked me out .    We  made it to the gate as the plane was  taking off.

      Today I  feel soo sad and  ashamed of myself.    Everyone has been so  supportive  and   I  got to  Facebook some of the girls  who are on the youth summit on Thursday    I  can not believe that   I did not get on the plane.    When  I woke up today    and   knew that today  was  Saturday  and not another Friday   I  was  soo  angry  because  I  was supposed to   be  in  Long Beach, yet I missed my plane.    I wish  I could have a do over day.
  I hate  OCD 

Birthday Blues

  So  today is my 21st  b day.  I live in the US which  means that at 21  I could go to  a bar  and  get achole  and   maybe a little  tipsy

  But because I have no friends   it  makes  it  impossible   of course having Facebook  helps  a ton  people from  all over   wishing  me  happy  b day   yet    no one  is  coming later to celebrate  and at  21   family  just   doesn't cut  it.   Oh   Well.... 


 My dream for my  next b day is  having a group  of really  good friends to celebrate  with possibly  a  bf   but   i  think   that is  asking to much.

 Happy  b  Day to me  

Able to go to college episode five: Test Time

           So this was the first test  of the semester ( which is  ironic  considering   next week  is  my  first day  back)



 Anyway

  In  college  I am in   regular  classes( of course)  but because of my disability  I  get to take  my take in a special   place  called   DSPS.

 DSPS  is   a resource  for college students  with disabilities almost every college  has  one.    In my college  I  have  an accommodation form that I  give to the teachers that basically says that I   have a disability and   need  accommodations.  Accommodations  vary   from  person  to person but   for the most part  every student with  a disability will need extended time on test.       At my college extend time on test  comes   with double  time (   a  30 minute test = 1 hour)    or time and a half      does  anyone  know?    I think  I  have double  time. This does not mean that   I  have unlimited  time  cuz  i do not I just have more time to think about  the  test material.  And    there is no cheating allowed







 For this test  I t was on  the human  cell   which    was a hard test but  luckily  I had a study  group meeting at my house so  I studied well. I  got a  B.

 Do you  know the  parts of  our cells 

 images
 video  pic from goggle
 test http://www.bestmastersineducation.com/teaching-to-tests/standardized-tests.jpg
cell http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/cell1.gif

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.








 

Raiseing a disabled child is sometimes easier than rasing a adverage child

My mom   my sisters and  me spring 2005

1   I do not need a curfew.  I do not go out that much and if  I  do  its with my parents  so  they do not need  to stay up worrying  when I will be home  on weekends. 

2  There are a lot of people that have helped me  over the years. OT  Therapist PT ST they  have wondered though my life  helping me and  my parents. 

3 Most of the  things I do outside of  the home are  supervised  thus  they  do not have to worry.

4    Sometimes  my sisters tend to think that they  know everything.  I know  I  don't.

 

5 I have never been  to  a house party therefore  I  have never   been around  drugs  

 6 I have  yet to have a boyfriend  so    my dad does not have to worry.

 

 Got  any other ideas? I  want to hear  them  comment below 

Thanks for stopping by but please stick around

  Today is  the  annual  Cerebral  Palsy  Connection.     I am  here to tell you  that     instead  of   getting  one day  of  stuff  on  CP. I  will be  posting  four  weeks worth  of  Cerebral  Palsy  information  about  my  life.  I will  be   posting about my  middle school  Memories    some  video    from  life as a college  , and  some  flashbacks     from the   past    20 years.  In case  you are  wondering  why      four weeks worth  March  is  Cerebral  Palsy  Awairness   Month   along with  the  all to  important  Spread the  word  to end the word. So  please  book  this  page  susbie   and do  whatever you need to do  so  you can  get   to this  page for the next  four weeks Mon-Fri.   I will not post  on  the  weekend. 

Why I am supporting the Patriots

 he grew up in San Mateo CA and went to the same church that I went to for CCD and basketball. I played on a inclusive basketball team there and now a little guy with DS plays there because I recommend it to them when he played soccer on our county special olympics team

2011 Year in Review

 

   It seems  like  yesterday I  did a  2010  year   in  review  now it is  time to  do  it for  2011  and  before you  know it  will  be time  for a 2012  year in  review.  I  honestly love  doing these it is  a chance to  reflect on all the  great  things  that  happend    during the  year  so  without  further  delay  here  it is.


 January 2011:   I  had a   my  first  long  winter break  and  started taking college level  classes   at  my local  community college .  Book gal   started  her last semester  of high school.

 C, me and R  2/2011

February 2011 :    I  made  a  buzzer  short  my  cousin  came to vist
 March  2011:    The  college  thing  just  clicked  for me.   It  took long enough


 April 2011:       I   actually  aced  a  college   essay.   I     competed  in the Menlo  Games .Book Gal gets  accepted  to UMass Boston.


May  2011:  Book Gal  turns   18. I  go to a job   intake  but  it did not work  out  yet I  had  fun  in the process. .

My  Dad and I  fourth of  July 2011

June 2011:  Book Gal  graduates  high school  we  celebrate with  friends and  family,.  My grandma comes   up and  My  parents  grandma and  me    take a  day  trip to   Monterey.  I    became a  Hope Solo  fan   watching the Women's world Cup.


July 2011; Celebrated    our country  independence   day  in  sacramento  with my   mom's   family Book  gal  leaves  for  college .  My  big  brother turned  27  and my  dad  had  his  b day as well

   "Sexy" minni mouse Halloween  2011  

 August 2011:   I  saw  my  old aid in the park,  Princess turns   17 and starts her senior year .   I    begin my  second year  of  college.
  September 2011:  I turn   two  decades   old   how   did that  happend


 October 2011 :   I  met  Steve  Wampler and   rocked out at  the 25 annual  bridge school   concert.     I also attended  my  first buddy walk


  November2011:      I  got  to be a goalie in  the  special olympics  tournament   and watch   power soccer at the Ability  expo  in  san  jose .  Princess   became  the  first     African  american   to win  homecoming    at  her high school


December   2011 :  My parents  celebrate 21 years  of  marriage . My  dog has been  in our family for seven  years  Christmass  eve   I enjoy  Mario  games on my  three Ds.  My mom and I had   a Comical  Costco  trip.


 

  Me and  Santa  at the Christmass  tree farm   December 2011 

Disability Awareness  post  that  you  do not want to miss

   Having  CP  is not the end  of the world
    Value of  my  Life 
    My  name is  AZ not  az








 Happy New Year  Everyone
   



 Got  image  from :
ehttp://www.2dolphins.com/images/blogpix/snoopy_happy_new_year.png

A Comical Casco trip

   It all started   earlier today  my mom and I  were   in  Costco  we are having a New Years Day party at our house sunday   so   we need  some  Sparkling apple cider.    My  mom    needed  this  drink and  had been  looking all  over  for  it   no   luck.  i ask someone  he  tells me it is  in the  asile  we come to this  

 it is  up  high   we    get  it  down  After  we  got  it done someone  told us it was   here

  behind    us  on the  table


      Other things that made me laugh   on the Cosco  trip
 The jacket   we  wanted to buy  did not have a tag in it

and   my mom left  her  card    at the cash regster
Costco
  will never be the  same

  Any  Funny things happend to you  guys  today


   Stick  around   for   year in  review  coming  soon

Let's chat

  hay blog  readers   AZ here  i have a  question for you guys that  is school  related Finals  are coming up  and  I have  a question  for those of  you what  do  you  guys  do  to help  you  not feel overwhelmed

Finally

So   I was  working with boy on a film project.  It is all about  zombies.  In the film  there is a voice over.    I thought  because of the voice over was   the host   who  asked an  question then  answered it  I   thought it be better to have a different   voice   and scene no one was there I  volunteered.   I used Audacity to  record  it but he  thought we  needed  a ' normal  voice aka  not  A  Cerebral Palsy  voice,

  In  class  that day   I  told my  suggestion and the teacher  agreed  but said maybe I could do the lines on  camera. Now let me tell you about this teacher,  They do voice over for a living. They  can do cool things  with  there voice and  have done numerous  voice  over,  Now  for me    with me speaking  gibberish and  all  I get jealous really  jealous.  I  wish  I  could speak as well as they do. 

     Our  film class  is not  specific   special need class, yet for some strange reason we have a  bunch of students with  disabilities. Some of my fellow classmates  are  on the Autism   Spectrum disorder  some have  learning differences  and  one  has Down Syndrome, she is  a funny one  in class and   both  the student and this professor get along  really well.

  Then  there's  me     

    Me  with some  video class  last semester February  2011

  back to the  class.  The  teacher was  talking about  next week.  Now  this  is a media class  so we do not have class every week.   So  I asked  her  something along the lines of   do we  have  a mandatory class next week? 

She did not know what I was saying   none of the other students  knew what I was  saying.    Its  like  running into  a  invisible wall and not  being able to  figure out  whats  blocking it.   I  deiced to leave the class room  cool off and try again.   I talk to the teacher does not   get  it  right away. When she finally  gets it  I say finally  and  she  heard me  correctly and walked off. She thought I was being disrespectful. I was  saying  Finally for me  not  for her

     I  have  been  in school  since August and  the teacher still has a  hard time understanding me.    Yes  I have  CP    NO  it is not her  fault but there  comes a time  when I  know  someone a while  I  kinda hope   I can be  understood.  I  i am looking ahead  to next semester where  I have a professor  who  understands me a little better.  

     If  my  professor  actually end up reading this  ( or anyone dealing with  CP) 

 Understand that   I  want to be able to  speak  clearly

 Not   your  fault  nor  is it mine 

Once  I  get the message  across  I  feel  better  and   may say finally   it is not meant to  be sarcastic.  In  fact if  I   offer to help me  say it  clearly its  in the  moment  Speech  Theaphy.

 This is the first  post  apart of  CP  connection go here to find  out more about  CP and tune   in for the next blog post 

The value of my life

   It all started   on  Monday  night which  is my English  class. Now  i   want to say  i really like this teacher  she is  nice and has  tolerated   taught me two  semesters now. 

  We  are  reading a book  by Toni  Morison called Sula  in the book  a mother  kills  her  son  after  he  comes back  after  fighting  in the  war and  has  a addiction   to  drugs.   After  discussing this  fact   the  teacher asked us  to  write of all the ways  it was  moral  or immoral  for  the character to kill her son.   After writing stuff down   we discussed it  and  someone said  it was  ok to kill  her  son  because   he can not  take  care of himself.


    It  hit me like a fist   I am   20 years old and  still live at home.  Many  people with disabilities  spend their  adult lives  under supervision of  others.      Dose  this mean that  we all  should die.   I asked the teacher and told her  to  erase the  point that  it was invalid  yet  she left it  up there.     I  know  the character was once  able bodied  and    had  regressed to  a infant level but   that sould not mean death  right.   I  voiced  my option  and ended class on a high  note with laughter



 Tuesday:  I  went   to an  online  support group for people with CP. ( IF  you  want to know  what group   message me  below)  I  then saw this  link to a research  of  scientist  trying to stop  brain damage  which results in  CP.    Now  i am  100 percent  against that  abortion  because  of  disabilities is wrong and   i am not supper religious.  This  is  not  right  what  they are trying to do to my disability.    Why  used the word  damage  or  broken.    I am not broken  because   of my disabilities.  I  have speech  differences  and  movement differences and   behavior differences, yet  i am not  broken  far  from it. 
  As a  young person  i am   trying to find  my place in the world and   how  is  anyone with disabilities   supposed to develop  good self  esteem  if   scientist  are  saying that   I   was a mistake that   should   be  avoidable with science .  Having a disability  is  a part  of me  I do not  know differently.  Do  I  wonder what its like  not to have a disability?    sometimes  yes.   Would  I  want a cure for  CP?No  way.   I know  I do not  know what it feels   like not to have a disability but  come  on  guys  you  mean to tell me that it the best thing in the world doesn't   everyone have problems.  struggles. 
I wish  if science was  being done to help  people with disabilities   speak, move  learn   easier instead  of  abortion.    I wish people  without  disabilities  would stop lowing  the achievement  bar  for us.     that would make a  bigger difference.

      What do u all think

Having Cerebral Palsy is not the end of the world

         

Me at  the Bridge School concert 

      I  have lived  with  CP for  two decades  now.    It was  something I   was born  with.      When  I was diagnosed  as a toddler  with  it  my life did not end.      My  mom sometimes wonders   what  i be doing  if  I did not have  CP collage wise  and  I  told  her   I  might  have still  wound  up in  Community  collage  nothing wrong with that.     Someone apologized  to me   when  I  told her I have  CP. There is nothing to feel sorry  for  I am  not  broken  I  still have  feelings /fears. (No    I am not always  happy   )   Having  CP  does not make me less  of a person.     




  Does  CP  make it hard for me to talk  yes   Does it make   hard   for me  to play sports?  yes.  Does it make my handwriting  bad  yes .    Is it frustrating  at  times  yes.    Isn't  frustration apart of  life  yes.


 I think  having  CP has  made  me appreciate the little things in life. For example  if  I see a dragonfly  I  will watch  it for a while  I  took this pic last fall  of a inchworm.     This does not mean  I have a  intellectual disablity, I  did  get an  88 on  a statics test.  Things come a lot harder  for me   simply  means  that i get to  celebrate  things  more.  I am not a optimistic  person, yet  when it comes to  CP   I  do not feel  like it is the worst thing that has  happend to me ( in fact it is the easier then   OCD which  is  not lifelong)  My  view on life  may be different  then others peoples  but     all I know   is this  if  I had a chance to  be average I would do it for a day, yet I would want to go back to being me  Cp  and all.    










   A  penny for your thoughts 

A revist of church basketball

  For anyone  reading a long time  you  may  remeber  that  from  fifth  thew  eight   grade  I  played in   Church  basketball.  I really  liked   it.  I  was a die hard basketball  fan   so  putting me on an  inculsive   basketball team  seemed right.   I was the only  phiscaly disabled  kid on  the church  team.   The team taught  me good values  such  as  working hard   listening and minding and other things.    All three  years  I  was  on  the   B  team, and  yes  every year  I  tried to   make  the  A  team  at  tryouts.       I  am  reminded  of    chruch  basketball  because  a kid  with   unique  needs   has  a twin  that  will be  playing  on said  team   but  the kid well  was not  going to  try.      This  is a ashamed because  really  ought to try  because    as  you can see  from the photos   I wasn't a disabled  basketball  player   I  was  a  basktball  player   just like my  peers  plane and  simple.

Guess who i met

 Me on the way up  on Mount Tam  Summer 2010

         Late breking news   From  today  but first a pre story


  A  few months  ago
           Mom: AZ   do you  know who    S  W is 
               AZ: No
                 Mom:  He has  CP and the speaker  at  the  annual breakfast  for   Community Gatepath"


 Cool
     A couple weeks later  I saw this.













 and i  asked  "Mom  are we going to Gatepath  so i can  meet him.




  Mom:  no  i have to present  far away


  These past two  weeks


  AZ:  I  have to go to the breakfast  I  have  to  go  to  the breakfast


    Last night


  Dad:  AZ you  can go to the breakfast.   Your mom will   drop you off and I  will  pick you up.


 Today


  MOm  and  i got there late but i was able to get a ticket  and  a seat at  a table in the back and I heard  Steve Wampler  speak.  He is the first person  with CP  to  climb   El Captin in  Yosimitee.    This is not an esay task  for anyone  but   get this    he  only  has  use of  one  hand .    He was able to  grip on with both hands  and  pull up in a  chair.     It took him  six days  but  he made it.     Off the moutian  he  is a husband and  a father  to two  kids.    It  was soo nice for me to meet someone  else with CP  that I can look up to.  He has a new  movie  coming out  next year  and I  told him  he should  come back to the area to screen it.  I really  enjoyed   meeting him and hearing  his story.  I do not  know what my life will be like as I  get older  but    meeting   Steve shows me that    i may  end up  leading  an  adverage life( married , kids,  a career) and  a chance to inspire others