Weekend Picture

On being left out -- Speechless episode three

 So today I am going to be talking about Speechless Episode three.  Something I want to relate to is JJ being left out.  In this episode, the students at JJ's high school have a homecoming bonfire at a place that in inaccessible which makes JJ feel left out . JJ's mom  talks to the principal and has it cancelled.


I do not agree with  Maya's decision because   it is not realistic.  For me in additon to Cerebral Palsy  I have NVLD which is similar to Asperger's making dances and social things in middle school and high school really hard  for me.  In seventh grade, I didn't have the social skills or friends to navigate the middle school dances;however,  my favorite general education teacher was  working at  the dances.  I went and hung out with her. While this was not socially appropriate    I at least got to experince a dance.  I think it would be more embarissing to cancel dances  because I did not know how to behave because that would bulid resentment towards me  and be counterproductive.  What could be done is  have a fun night. What that means is during the dance, or bonfire, or other special event, have something  fun that  the kid gets to pick.  Play a board game, have a movie night  or something enjoyable.

 Another option would be for schools to plan ahead for these social events with  staff and  parents.  Maybe that could mean having a quiet room during the dance with a movie playing which would be open to all students-- Bookgirl's  privite school  did this and I thought it was a great idea.  Schools should not promote activites for general education  students that are inaccesable for  disabled students.  It is not right.   This  can be easily avoided and its up to adults to  make sure that social  events are  held accessable   venues.

  For students that have problems making friends a good thing to have is a circle of friends.   Circle of friends is a program where students with disabilities have a circle of  able bodied peers that help them out. Their are plaining meetings that students parttake in to set the student up for social success.  I  really wish  I would have had something like this.  I wonder if it is to late to have one.  

Communication difficulties can't stop me

hi guys no speechless post because I am really tried but I wanted to blog about something that happened today .I was walking down town and saw a man with his son with a sign for food .As luck has it today theres  a farmers market . I tried to have them come with m so they could pick up what they needed but they didnt speak English that well  and my speech is affected but that didn't stop me .I got two bags of pears and gave one to them People with disabilities can make a difference

World Cerebral Palsy Day 2016

 Happy World Cerebral Palsy Day everyone.   Here is the video  I have been working on. It is so fun to be able to make this because it shows us  that we are not alone.  This video is  the first upgrade because the pictures now have backgrounds. I  worked very hard  on this and hope you enjoy the upgrade.

People like me on TV : What I could relate too in Speechless episode two

So  today I will be talking about Speechless episode two. Today I want to talk about the adults in one's life .

           On this episode of Speechless. JJ  says that he wants to have an aide that his mother doesn't agree with. In the first episode,   Mimi  and Kenneth  get into a fight at the school when Kenneth uses the word cripple,  but at a  carnival   JJ and  Kenneth  team up to save  JJ's younger brother from the bullies.


          When your a kid with disabilities you tend to have many adults in your life.  For me I had  OT, PT,ST  an aide  along with the typical adults  in a kid's life. For me the problem was  compounded   when I was diagnosis with  Non  Verbal  Learning disorder , which makes social skills nearly impossible to learn.  For me I get along better with adults.  As a teenager, I had favorite teachers  like my Freshman Spanish teacher, and my  Senior English teacher along with my golf coach.
      As a college student I  made friends with many  of my professors at my community college.  In fact they are the ones that  made me consider  that place a second home.   The key about those people  is  that they are not connected to my parents.  I love my parents a lot but sometimes I need space away from my parents to talk and interact  with adults.
 JJ obviously needs that space as well which is why he  insisted that he needs  Kenneth as his aide. I can not wait to watch their relationship grow as the show progresses.



  Speaking about friends  that are adults  here is a picture of me and my friend  sporting our green for World Cerebral Palsy Day last year.   Tomorrow is World CP Day so  do not forget to stop on by the blog for the world CP montage.

  Here is a preview.

People like me on TV

      Hay guys. I am sure that most of you know about the new ABC show called Speechless. Its a American sitcom about a family of five. The mother, played by Mimi Driver,  is a fierce advocate for her son JJ because he has a Cerebral Palsy. JJ is played by Micah Flower who himself  has Cerebral Palsy. This almost never happens.  There have been two episodes so far and while I have a milder form of Cerebral Palsy  there are still things that I can relate to.  I am going to be blogging about them  every Thursday but since I am down two episodes I am going to use today and tomorrow  to blog about it.

 Zack Anner has talked about how mothers that have disabled children fight for their kids, so I am going to say that my mom has always been my best advocate too. She fought for me to have a college education.

The thing I  want to talk about is how people talk down to the disabled.   This happens twice in the episode.  Once where  their in a parking lot and people are mocking him and the other time is when JJ enters class.

  This has become a big issue for me recently. I was hoping once I graduated from college that I would not have to face this.  I was just recently at a  disability conference where people  taught that I did not know how to read. This is extremely frustrating to me and makes me angry.  What able bodied people can do about it is  assume that a disabled person understands what is going on.   For me I am trying to work on a way to handle this.

Sunday Dance Party Throwing it back a few years