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.
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.