Finding a balance: Friendships among abilities

             Friendship  is a   long word- a  wooping ten letters. For some  friendships come easy.  Two  kids   meet t
hey  like  Angry  Birds and   Mario and  Legos and  bam they  become  friends its that easy. For others  it is  really hard they  might  be shy  interverted or a little  nerdy,




  Enter a child with a pretty sigficant disabilities




           I should propise by saying that  I do have special needs and sigficant social issues and  do not have a lot  of friends, nor have I  ever had solid firendships.  I have tried   befriending those with special needs and adverage  people with some success, not much but some aquences and some  firendships past.  In  lainmans terms, I may not be the best person to  give advice here  but this is  just  my  own   oppion,  which.


     I think kids with special needs need to have a mixture of firneds.     They should have  peers  that also have disabilities  if possable  with the same dignoses.  I have seen the  special  connection that others have made   with those with disabilties. For example,   I have witnessed   two  young people with  the same disabilities as  "brothers"  even though they are not related, good luck convinceing them  though.  I have witnessed a group of young kids rally  together to support another  kid  when they  had a  meltdown and  all three kids  shared the same  disability. As for me  I do  feel a special connection to others with CP. Which is why  I  love doing the World  CP montage,  and online  I  read stuff by fellow  CPers and  I  think,  "Man  I could have   written that."   But  I do not have a close  friend   with CP   but I  think  I  would enjoy that.  In the meantime I have friends with  disablties   over the past 21 years of my life.

      I also believe  that kids with special needs need to have  average  (ie  people without disabilities ).   I  am not going to lie  I had a lot of help  from my mom and book gal  on this subject

  I  think  my mom put it best in that    interacting with different types of people allows you to  break down stereotypes of that person and  allows  people to see  that when the day is done   we are all just people.  Book gal  agrees ,her best friend is different  from her but  what makes them  best friends  is knowing that they  have each others back.  

   Another reason that  interacting among abilities is  that  those with special needs will need to interact with the general population  for the rest of their lives.  99 percent of the time   I need to  interact with the people   at the store in  restaurants and  college.    Most of these people  do not have disabilties therefore  those with disabilities need to learn how to   behave  with average people.  The social skills  I do  have I had to learn  in the world. I could not have learned them in  amongst my peers with disabilities because  some of them   are trying to learn  them  themselves.  In  first grade I had  to learn about personal space  because  when  I  got too close to my classmates  they did not like  it.

 It a nut shell  those with  special needs  need a balance of  friendships.   It is nice to be amongst people that understand what you are going through, yet   by isolating one self   people with special needs  do not get a chance to  bridge the gap  and gain the social skills needed for  success.  What are your thoughts.


  If you  know  someone with Cerebral Palsy  click here to learn more about a photo montage  that
AZ is hosting for World CP Day.








Got image from http://theadaptables.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Children-with-disabilities.jpg

   

Invasion of the Super heroes: A call for pictures for World CP Day to honor Gavin

                       So  remember how I said last year that  the World CP  day   montage will be something  I will do   next year Well

 Its  back and  this year its bigger then ever.  Now self advocates, parents  will be able to join in the fun for World  CP  day which  is  on October 2  this year.  Its  going to be twice as fun because now  people  can submit two photos  and they will both be in the montage. but  before I tell you  the details  its  time for a story,


       Meet  Gavin 

 He was a five and half  little boy who  had CP and a unknown  genetic condition. I  say was because  last April, on his  mother's birthday, Gavin  left the earth.   His family misses him very much.

Gavin's family with their supper G  t shirts on the fire truck that was named after him,
 Proof that Gavin is  a supper hero

 Gavin loved the water and charmed everyone he met.  He was  a supper hero  to his mom  dad and little brother  Brain.

 Gavin was supper happy in water 

 So  a few weeks ago I was thinking about  having a world CP  video that would  honor Gavin   I talked to his mom  Kate  via  Facebook and  she  thought that  having a supper hero photo would be good.   So that is exactly  how  you can  enter  two photos,
  One   can be of anything  like  last year while  another  is a   photo  that has words on it  that say 


 Supper   (       )

 or  

 ( Name) is a  supper  blank.   

  EX :                                    Do not put a copy wright symbol  on your photograph

  You  do not need  a copyright symbol  

      If you have  fb   Pic monkey  is  an easy app for this.   Let me know if you need help with this and I will try to  walk  you through it; however  I  will not have time to  put words on the pictures so you need  to do it 

 Once you have  done this  email me  at azchapman1991@gmail.com  and  check back  October second for the  video montage featueing   Supper amazing  people  with Cerebral Palsy 




     Updated  August first 

   I have only  gotten two pics  so   I am  going to make it easy on you  guys  Here are your instructions

1 Send me  two different pics 


2Tell me what the text should say   and what picture it goes with 
3Make  sure the text is spelled correctly

23 years ago

23 years ago America was getting ready for me. The ADA was passed which gave me and my fellow disabled people civil rights there is still a ton of work to do to ensure that those with disables have a full life but ADA was definitely a step in the right direction happy ADA day,



















 Sorry  guys  I have been  MIA , Its been a rough summer for me,  Hope to be back  blogging   soon.

Today is my dad birthday

 My  Dad's new bike   summer 2013

  


         So  I  do not mean to make anyone jealous but I  relly  believe that  I hit the jackpot when it comes to Parents they are awesome   They  don't  baby  me and they are  still  together after   having me  and believe  me I am not the easiest person to deal with  here are some reason my DAd rocks  because today is  his birthday,



1.  He knows everything.    He is the walking encyclopedia.   He  has  a deep depth of knowledge from   United States  History to  Biology.  He   does not have   just a math or just a reading brain  he  knows   everything.  People  used to call  him the wizard.   

2  He   is  present in my  life   both physically and emotionally.   He  picks me up from school   talks to me if i have a problem and  goes  to consoling appointments with me to help me
.  My favorite memory of  him from my childhood is  him  reading  stories to  me and my sisters.

3  He  loves me.

 Happy Birthday dad  I love  u 

Mi abuelo se murió My Grandpa died.

 Hay guys. So  this Father's Day was really hard because my  Dad's father  passed away a few weeks ago. This is the first grandparent that I have lossed and its hard.    I  ment to publish this  a while ago,yet  I did not have a picture tonight  I  found a picture of     me and my grandad. So  I will share the poem with you guys. 

 The words underneath the Spanish words are the  English translation, Hope you enjoy.

 AZ and Grandpa    

Mi abuelo se murió

 My  grandfather died 

 I feel so sad 

 that he is no longer here 

 My  grandpa was born in mexico

 in the year 1934

 He  came to The United States 

 to make  a better life for himself

Mi abuelo trabajó duro

My grandpa  worked hard 

 My grandpa  had  six kids 

  Six beautiful children 

  he has meny grandchildren 

 He wanted his kids  to have a good life 

Una rica vida

A rich life 

  Abuelo

 Abuelo  how I love you 

 I  wish I could have  gotten to know you better 

 I   know  you are watching from heaven

 My dad and siblings  went to Mexico 

  paying respects

 Know that   although I  am not their

 I  love you and miss you

 Thanks for being there  for my dad 

Te extraño abuelo 

I miss you   Grandpa 

 Rest in  peace

Able to go to College - Episode Nine : Gummy Sweat Shirts

      This week  my team got sweatshirts.   There is only one other team with sweat shirts in the whole  league.      I  have spent  years  watching my sisters playing sports for their  schools  and  I wanted a turn  so a few weeks ago I  had  ask  Coach  J about  the sweat shirts  and we  got them.    I remember coming home  from school Tuesday night and  finding it there on the banister.         I  was so  excited.  Seeing something that I dreamed of come  to life is  priceless.       Dreams can come true. This week  I also chewed  gum  for the first time while doing the bee lab  report. Gum  chewing  is really hard because of CP. So that was  huge.

A tough Birthday

          So  today is my mom's  b day.     However my dad  is not home because last night he had to go to mexico  because  his dad my  Grandpa  died early tuesday  morning. Book gal and the man  leave  for Mexico   in a few  hours.  I am staying here with my mom.   In true AZ  form I  am going to write a tribute poem to honor my Grandpa soon.