Spread the word My Story

          This is an old post that   I wrote a few years ago on the R word.   This was originally published on my old blog  Amazing AZ.   Hope you  enjoy

 signing the pledge 3-3-2010

     Back in high school I  spear headed   a new  club  called  Dons Disability Awareness  Club. One  of the  events  we did was a Spread the word to end the word .  It was a great  event and many people signed the  pledge  and  I still have  numerous  wristbands  lying around the house.

   People  might ask  me  why I care so much  about the use of the  the  word   retarded.  I  mean I  do not  have   a intellectual disability.  I have  a physical disability   and a speech  disability but  not a intellectual disability so the  word is  just a word to me  right  wrong

     When I was ten  years  old my parents  signed me up  for judo at the local rec center, The  class  met  Tuesdays and  Thursdays  in the  gym  for an hour.  I  signed  up in February and  before long   my  friend ,she  is no longer my friend,joined shortly after   lets call her  B. She  was deaf and had  NVLD, like me, but she  was  in inclusive education  at the local elementary school which  was connected  to the  rec.  As  faith would have it her  new neighbors  would  move  in and they had  kids around   our age.  A fifth  grader,  a  year ahead of us, a third  grader and  a  four year old who was the only girl in the bunch.  The  third  grader  who we will call LM  happened to have Down Syndrome.   I met them  when  LM came to  join a judo class after  my friends mom  told  her new neighbor about the class  and  shortly there after   LM and I became friends.

   A  few years later LM was  at our same school  in middle school and the three of us always hung out together,. At the  time LM was  into  basketball so every lunch hour   LM and I would gobble down our lunches and  race to  the blacktop to play  in pickup games on one such  occasion we were  playing  with  a  other kids  in my grade, so  older then LM ,  and  LM was doing the best he could.  He  did not have  dribbling down,  needed  reminders of what basket to shoot  at, and  got too close  to the defender.   Most of the  other kids were vary nice to him and  gave him  the ball and  not block him and let him shoot but  on one  occasion a kid  who was  dribbling the ball  and  LM was  trying to steal it from  her she  said.

"GET AWAY YOU RETARD ."

LM  sat down  on the side of the  court  and  I fallowed  him.  I was  stunned.  B's mom had told me not to say that word to  LM and  now i knew  why. LM    was a charming fellow. He loved basketball and Disney movies and did  judo.  He was  full of life   but   the person who called him the R word had  taken all that away from him as if  she  had  popped a balloon that was LM's spirit.    

.

To this day the memory of that  day  is  vivid and  runs deep.  He  is the  reason why  I  started   Spread the word to end the word  at my high school last year. He is the reason why  Spread the word to end the word   will be there  this year  even though I  no longer   attend.   LM  was the first person I  really got to know   with a intellectual disability but he was not the last. B encourage  me  to become a special Olympics  athlete and  I now  know many people  in my area wit intellectual disabilities. People with  Intellectual disabilities are  people   who have  different personalities.    These people can be cliquish while others can be vary sweet and accept everyone.   But when   people  use the R word  they lump them all  together  in to a group that is beneath  the speak.  

 Having CP  which results in unclear s speech I  sometimes  get  treated as  though I have  a intellectual disability  due to my speech.  I know  the feeling  and it is not a good one. i  see  the  mindset  of thinking that  they are above me  and it does not feel right. I am  intelligent  but  even if i wasn't  I still would want to be treated with respect:Learning is  not everything   everyone needs to  realize  that a person is a person   who has  feelings  we  all   cry the  same tears. We all  feel sadness.  It is  what makes  us  human  so  think about that the  next time  before  use the  R word,

  Words DO Hurt

 Spread the word to end the word

Its Supper C and W

     
This is the first story that I  have for CP awareness  month it. It is so cool because I  just met this blogger  through   email with their story and blog post.  C and W are Ail's sons  she blogs at Super Mario  Twins. I love   supper Mario  and all nintendo games  so  needless to say I   love the blog title.
 Here  is Ali's story.

 These guys are soo cute  used with  permission  

My name is Ali and I'm the mom to twin boys, C & W. They were born in June of 2011 at 33 weeks. They spent a couple of weeks in the NICU just for growing and feeding and never had any major issues. When they were about 10 months old, we realized that C still had not met some basic milestones like sitting and rolling. After an evaluation by the infants and toddlers program and then a neurologist we found out that C has cerebral palsy. He has spastic diplegia and struggles with his gross motor skills. It's been almost a year since we've received the diagnosis and C receives lots of physical and occupational therapy. He has been making wonderful progress and can now roll, sit, crawl and even pull to stand! He's able to walk around with our help or with the assistance of a walker. He has always been our sweet and smiley little boy who is the absolute best cuddler in the whole world. A snuggle from C will truly make your day! I really admire his spirit and laid back attitude. He's really developed a sense of independence now that he can crawl all around. When we first found out about his CP, I felt very sorry for myself and sorry for C because I knew he'd have to work so hard to do simple things that come naturally to others, but now I'm just so proud of the little boy that he's becoming and all that he's been able to accomplish already. He inspires me to push myself and do hard things. We love both he and his brother so much and there's not a thing I would change about our family since being a special needs parent has made me such a better person. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my story with you, AZ! 

Thanks Ali  for sharking your story with me  look forward to reading your blog

 have a story about someone with CP send it to me  AZChapman1991@gmail.com and  it will be posted this month 

"Its not El Captain"

Steve on stage  he received  the  Kaiser ThriveAward  

  So last  Friday I went to see   Wampler's Ascent.  Its about Steve Wampler's climb   of El Captain in Yosemite  CA.

 Nice to see you again Mr. Wampler. 

 Wampler is not your average mountain climber  he has  CP and uses a wheelchair to get around. In order to climb the mountain he  was sitting in a chair and had to do pull ups. He was  pulling to raise money for   a summer camp that he help restart  after it got closed down.  He had attend that camp  as a kid and it was  the turning point in his life where  he realized  that he  can do anything.  He went on to UC Berkley.  It was very exciting to watch.  My mom and I  went to see the movie  My  mom  usually  fall asleep during movies and i thought  that  she would  have  fallen asleep during this one as well, she did not sleep well  Thursday night but she did not; however, she  did not That how exciting it was.

My Mom said, " Aw what a beautiful family" as she took this photo    

   But that is not the best part  The best part was that I got to meet Wampler's children.  That's right Wampler is father to two beautiful  kids and along with his wife Elizabeth they have a beautiful family.

 Meeting Wampler's son , Joe  He was ten when his dad climbed El Captain 

Wampler gives me hope for a future. I want to be a mother  and wife to a caring husband. I want to  have my own family and  Wampler gives me hope it can happend. I can become a mother and have a  typical American  Family.

AZ and Steve Wampler

 After  the movie  we were going  home but then  I  spotted  Johnny Rockets   and I  had to have a Strawberry milkshake  before  we went home.  As we were driving home, my mom said that I have no excuse  because  anything that  I do that is challenging is  not  EL Captain,

   Great Milkshake to end a great night  

 For those of you who are reading and  live in the Bay  Area  Wampler will be screening his flim Thursday night.   I  highly recommend going. For more information click here 

March Palsy Party

  Hay guys so today is March First which means it is  CP Awareness month  2013. I have  so much to share with you guys  over the next four weeks.    For me I am  kicking off CP month by  going to visit my friend Steve Wampler he  is showing his movie  near by and  tonight he will be attending should be a fun night.  Tune  in Monday for pics from tonight.

 Here is the  trailer







 PS  if u want to be in on the action is is not to late to submit  a story  for the blog  see below  for more details.



got image from http://www.pagecovers.com/covers/causes/cerebral_palsy_awareness.jpg

Help Wanted

   Hay guys so in a few weeks it will be   March  and you know what that means?  Its CP Awareness Month   month.  Last year I was able to blog about CP  all day in march : however, this  year  I have a full load of classes and tons of reading  so  I  need your help.




     Do you know someone with Cerebral Palsy?    Have they change   you somehow?   Whats  one thing you wish  that everyone knew about them?     How  are they  awesome?   You  can answer any of these  questions and more.    With their permission  share  some photos with us  and   then  stick around during March to  see   the post  come up on  the blog .

 There is no age limit  and anyone can write   something. It can also be fellow self advocates 

  Ok  so   I   am not  going to lie it wou  ld be cool if people who know me  in real  life were willing to write about  their experiences with me.   So  the readers  can  get an  glimpse of  what I am  like outside   of the internet.



   So   once you are done writing  please  send  it  to  azchapman1991@gmail.com.   then  stay  tune  in march for all the stories.

The wrap up

  Hay guys  sorry to keep you hanging I had a meeting with the head of the   food department and  it turns out it was a misunderstanding.

 Turns out that they are sweet people   and see  ALL students like that  so I am  back to eating and attending  college.


 In other news    I  got new  glasses  today  so  I am seeing  much  clearer.

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.