Cerebral Palsy party day eight : Party hats - General information on CP.

  Today's theme is  party hats.

  Cerebral  Palsy is caused by  damage to the brain  is what   most  people will see disabilities  merrily
as.  I  say  its a stroke of uniqueness.  CP  did affect my brain but    it  also gave me a unique way of being on this earth( more info  coming March 25) .   Everybody seems to know me around town and I think  Cerebral Palsy  is part of the reason  that I am  Unforgettable.  This song  played  when I was being born.   I have been unforgettable ever sense.    

 For more general information  please  click here.



 Got image  from

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61LFFymqyjL._SY355_.jpg

Cerebral Palsy Party day seven, Front door service : A rant about the importance of being on time to school

          Some  people chose to have their parties at home.    I  had many of childhood birthday parties at home especially  as a toddler.   Now a days people tend to dress up their  front doors to invite guest into their homes

    Something else that comes to the door  daily for many kids with disabilities  weekdays are school buses.   I used to be a rider on these said buses  as a pre school student.  So my memories of them are fuzzy.   I have heard  way too many stories about buses being very late to pick up kids with disabilities.  I am not talking about five minutes or even  ten  minutes late  I am  talking about   45 minutes to an hour late.


    Now  imagine  if you will if this  was a school bus  for   general education students.   I went to an elementary  school that bused kids in from  out of area to the school.  For the most part they were on time,  In fact the school would   announce  on the intercom if the bus was  running late, it was an nor  a  a daily occurrence if the bus was late.  The sad thing is that school buses for people  with disabilities are often times very late in picking them  up.   This happens pretty regularly too.     This is not fair.

Bus companies please  respect  disabled students education and get them to school on time.    It is so important because  they  need the instructional
time  in school like their  able bodied  counterparts.

 My  friend  Cara   wrote something about   the short bus.  Its  great.  You can   read it here 

 Got  image  from
 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/62/3d/51/623d5120b07f6f4e992056b0b336cc94.jpg

Cerebral Palsy Party Day 6 Food

 Food.  Whats a party without food  right.   After all  you sing Happy  Birthday    in front of a cake.

  Todays post will be about   how to make cafeteria;s more accessible to people with CP.    Now  I have  been in two schools with a cafeteria.    My two colleges.   My  junior college was awesome in accessibility.  They even  cut up  my  pancakes for me  when I get  breakfast on  campus.   The private college was not so  great.  One   thing they could have done better was  the pizza.   At my junior college  pizza  is in a box which makes it really easy to  grab  and  get in  line. The private college had pizza on a platter which you have to serve yourself.   This is  very  hard for  me because my  hands are  not that strong,   I have to ask  people  to help me, happily they have been willing to help me.

 Ordering  food  is also  a challenge for me. Although  I have  improved my speech  quite a bit,   I can be hard to understand at times.  One  way  I can  get around this is by writing it down on the notes section on  my I Phone   or  trying to repeat it  using  my best articulation.  When  I  am on break at work  I   usually grab  a personal pizza  or   an  pre made sandwich to save time.

 Got image  from
 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c6/7a/66/c67a6673a3f8baef7f42bfbb9d0d8580.jpg

Day five How to get to the party (Biking Ceep edition)

 Today's topic is transportation.


            So  how do you get  to the party?"  Where you  drive or ride bikes  or  take a bus
. Today  I am  going to talk to you about Bikes.

       Bikes are really important to a child's independence.  It allows  people to get from point A to point  B   faster then walking.  Plus its  great excise and saves the planet.

  Third Grade Bike Award for biking down to the water temple and back
   2001 

    People with CP have some more challenges to riding a bike.  This is due to poor balance.   Balance issues are  common for ceeps. Some people with mild CP can  ride  a  traditional bike  while others need adapted bike.


  For me, I  rode a bike  with training wheels  til  I was almost 12.  The older I  got, the harder it was to ride with  training bike. What made  it harder was when my two  younger sisters got two wheel bikes   while I  had a bike with training wheels.



       A  few  weeks  before I  started middle school, I got  a new bike.   It was the 3e trike.  The

  My Bike    Fall 2003

people who built the world's fastest bike    also built my bike. I love my bike  and I can  ride for a long time without getting tired.   The one bad thing is that  it  has been broken since 2010.   I  really miss riding  my bike.



   Because my bike has been broken for a while,  I am thinking about trying to buy  a new bike  called mobo.   It looks  really  cool and I have seen it in action when an athlete rode it to Special Olympics  golf practice this past summer.





 Happy  Friday everyone tune in  next week for Week two.   Have a great weekend,

Cerebral Palsy Day Four Invitation ( Handwriting with Cerebral Palsy)

     

     So today's  idem is invitations.    Once  we pick out the location  and themes its time to invite  friends over to party.

  For our purposes those I   am  going to talk about handwriting. Now  I am not a Occupational Therapist, OT  for short; however,  I do know a thing or two about handwriting with Cerebral Palsy thanks  to my  awesome memory.

  When I was young before I was able to write, My parents got me a bunch of pre writing activities.  You have to remember  this is in the 90's  before I pads, though  I had a computer  with  tons of educational games that  were kinda like the educational apps  that are out today.  ( If you have any good educational apps for teaching kids how  to write  please leave a comment below).    In  Pre-K  my tutor, who used to be my special education teacher  gave me a slant board to work on writing. This was helpful when I was learning how to write.  I had a slant board at home  but at school  I  did not have that so I had to write  on my own.

 Great  game.   I wish they make a remake This was the best game.

What they did have at school  was  read write and type.  A cool computer  game that taught typing and phonics.  This  is crucial for people with CP.   We may not know many people in person with CP but there are a ton of people online with CP.

















Offline though  I like to use Sumo Grip Pencils.  These are mechanical pencils that  have a really good grip which makes it great for people with CP.

   Happy  Writing.

Day three Themes ( The role of disabled actors )

Ok  so  in keeping with  themes .  good parties have themes  and most of these come from  the media.   Will the theme be from a movie or a TV Show.

    Hollywood is a very hard business   to  break into, but its nearly impossible with  Cerebral Palsy. The  reason being that  most  characters with disabilities are portrayed by able bodied characters.    Not only that but people who play these parts get awards for their performances  like this past oscars  where both of the best actor winners were given to people with disabilities;


  Why would this be a bad idea. Well lets say that you are a kid who does not go to an inclusive school.  A  kid that has never had a disabled neighbor  or friend.  When you  go to the cinema and see people with disabilities  portrayed in movies  you think   " That is what disability looks like  because that is all  I have seen in terms of disability.  This is bad because its just acting and at best  its  an interpretation of how a person with a disability is suppose to act .

         We  used to do the same thing to  African Americans in the days during slavery and reconstruction.  It was called a minstrel show.  White Actors were black makeup and acted a fool for entertainment.  It was  horrible.  Here is  a small clip. of  what it was like.


     If  it wasn't ok  back then then  it currently  isn't ok to have able bodied characters portray disabled ones.    Actors with disabilities can do a better job portraying those disabilities  for the simple fact that we understand the disability because we live with it every day.    One  of the best movies I have seen  about inclusion is Yo Tambien or  Me Too.  Its a romantic drama about a young man with Down Syndrome portrayed by an actor with the same disability, who falls in love with an average women. This movie does a good job  by  creating a character that defies the stereotypes that  are typical for characters with disabilities.  I highly recommend watching it.

     On a  related note  today is  Spread the Word to End the Word today.  In my town I have heard the word less which I believe means that the event is working.  Words are powerful and have meanings deeply  rooted in American Culture. These are not ok to use or say.  Words matter.  Here is a post I wrote on  the topic   a few years back.



   BTW   I really liked the theory of everything    but  I wish that the actor had an disability.

Cerebral Palsy Party Day 2 : Location (Accessibility)

       

Hay  guys so what   the theme  I  am going to try to keep up with  is  a party theme . Specifically   Children's  Birthday theme.  So  each  day  I will pick a specify aspect then me  relate it  to Cerebral Palsy/ Disabilities.


 Today's   Idem is  Access

          When plaining a party  it is important  to pick where the party will be healed.  A bowling ally, a  bounce house fun zone , art  gallery

 A fun place for a party

  As a person with mild CP,   I have not had to think about access that much because I am able to walk.   When  I started at small religious college  I did have to think about access because there were wooden stair case.  I have no problem going up and down steps;however, I do need to be able to hold onto a rail and with the wooden staircase that meant    risking splinters.  This got me thinking and as I  looked around the campus I noticed how inaccessible  one class building was to students  that use wheelchairs.  One building had narrow hallways and  no elevator. This  would make it hard for students who use wheelchairs to navigate  these hallways successfully.  


 When places are accessible  it allows for all people to  join in the party office school classroom and playground.  It  may cost  money, but the payoffs are wonderful.  At my  jr college,  it is accessible and the  people know how to be inclusive there.  Its like a second home to me.

  Weather can also play a big part  in accessibility.  I  love the snow, but  being from  California I have never had to live in it.   Snow can be difficult in a wheelchair as evident in this story. 
 People should  treat ramps elevators and hand rails with respect because for  people  with Cerebral Palsy and other physical disabilities these tools allow us to be independent.


Tomorrow's topic   is themes.  Wonder how that relates to Cerebral Palsy  tune in tomorrow.  Leave a comment  before you leave though  so I  know that someone is  reading  this.




  PS  please keep my mom  and me  in your thoughts this week as she is going to Mexico  for some spring  fun with her friends . She will be back on Saturday.