Year in Review

 Another year is over and a new one begins.  Here is my  2016   year in Review.

 January 2016

 My family and I  meet up with  my old babysitter






February  2016

I go to Cal-TASH.  I have a lot of fun and get business cards made.  My professor gives the keynote on Saturday and I win an Apple Watch.  We also had a leap year.  I also got to hang out at the mall with a kid with CP.

March  2016

  Have fun in the Speical Olympics basketball tournament where I meet a Harlem Globe Trotter.  I also see Wicked for the first time and love it.













April 2016

Start my last quarter of college undergrad.  I  talk to an illustrator about a children's book about Cerebral Palsy.  I meet a facebook friend at the Special Olympics track meet.  Her son also has Cerebral Palsy and we hit it off right away.    A fire truck comes to my college.  Posting a selfie with it for Fireman Max.

May2016


 I attend grad fest and take senior photos. I   get gold in both swimming and track and field.

 D, K, AZ and J 

June2016

 I  was on the school website and graduated from college.  I got a shout out from the president of my college. My sister finishes university as well.  We both have a graduation party and most of my mentors and friends come to my grad party.    LM also comes to my grad party.  I also get to go my first summer games.

July 2016
Pokemon goes and a fun fourth of July at a friend's house. Pokemon go reminded me of my childhood. I join the blue team.    I also start attending my local DS group as volunteers to encourage parents raising kids with DS.  In person.  Plans are made for a  trip to Sacramento in 2017 for the  NDSC annual convention.  Born this way has a second season.

August 2016

 I visit CAMP PALS SAN Fransico.  It is a wonderful camp for those with Down Syndrome Seeing people from around the country come together and get along with each other was definitely something great to see.   I filled out an application to be staff next summer. Applications for Camp Pals go out  January first. They have camps all around the US for those with Down Syndrome ages 12 to 30. See more here.I get silver in Special Olympics Golf.


 September 2016


 I co-star in a Gatepath promo that plays at Stanford.   I get to go on the field during halftime. I  turn 25 and get new golf clubs.  I attend a self-advocate conference. I also started working on a secret project.   It will be revealed hopefully this spring.

October 2016

The  World Cerebral Palsy day photo montage is the longest it has ever been. Complete with a green background. I do tip a cop at red robin and dress up as a minion for Halloween.

November

 My parents go on a trip to Hawaii.   While they are gone we get a dog.   I have a  great Thanksgiving with family.

December
 Celebrate Christmas. I get back into Pokemon Yellow on the 3ds.   I got a mountain of Christmas presents.

 Stuff I wrote in 2016

What Inclusion Looks like 

 Please Don't Pretend 

25 Lessons  I have learned 

The Life Lessons behind hide and seek 






 Happy  New Year everyone. I  hope  2017 is filled with love kindness and inclusion for everyone.  Sorry, I have not blogged. Things have been hard the past two months.  I will hopefully blog more in 2017.

Happy Halloween

 This marks the end of the 31 for 21 challenge.   You can use the  tag 31 for 21 2016  to see all the post from this month. I  hope you enjoy.  I will continue
to blog about Speechless on Thursdays.  So tune in.  I  dressed up as a minion this year.  ( picture coming soon.)

Sunday video

  I interviewed Sophia last  year. Click here to see the interview.

Saturday video

A Brave Heart

 Last night I got to meet an incredible person. Her name is  Lizzie  Velasquez, She was in town screening her documentary  A brave heart. You can watch the trailer below,

  Gatepath , a local nonprofit that  helps children and adults with developmental disabilities hosted the screening.  I am actually blogging about them. Here is my  first post. When I got there,  the director of communications invited me to meet her backstage. That was very cool.

 I highly recommend this documentary. Velasquez's courage and  determination is a lesson for everyone.  I know you will love the documentary as much as I do.  Once you are done watching it be sure to come back  and comment on this post about your favorite part. 

Why having a drunk teenager is a good thing. Speechless Episode five

  Image description JJ and Keneth at a house party.  There are lots of teenagers with red cups 

 On this episode of Speechless.  JJ and Keneth go to a high school house party where JJ gets drunk.  His parents seem mad at him , but in reality, they are happy for him.
  I am 25 years old   living with Cerebral Palsy and  I am on medication that makes it dangerous for me to drink .  I still live at home and  I think that if  I came home from a house party drunk. My parents would be very happy.
   Why might you ask?
  I am not saying that parents of disabled kids  are more prone to encourage their kids  to try drugs and alcohol. What I am saying is that often times  parents want their kids with disabilities  to  have a social life.
   When you have a disability, more often than not  life is lonely.   My high school career consisted  of  me going to one dance -- my Senior prom.  I was not guaranteed that I would go to that.  My mother insisted that I  only go if I were escorted  by a guy that didn't have a disability.  I  ended up going with someone  who graduated the year before and was a Freshman in college .  I did not have a group of close friends that  I hung out with in high school. I was different and even though I was fully included  for all academic subjects and graduated with my high school diploma,  high school friends were nonexistent.
  I am hoping that Speechless encourages able-bodied  high school students to include peers with disabilities in their  Halloween house parties.  

 

Recycle post. My grandfather passed away three years ago today

     This is a recycled post because  my grandfather passed away three years  ago today

 Today is a really  hard day for me to blog about.   For those  long time readers, you guys know that two  years ago  I lost my grandfather.   Here are a few things you should know about my  grandfather.

1  My grandfather loved old cars.  He kept an assortment of old cars. To this day  there are still  old cars   at my  grandparents home.  He loved to fix them up.  He gave my brother one of his cars  for his 16th  birthday.


2  My  grandfather loved  my  grandmother.    They were together for a long time,   The  raised  six  kids  together. They  may have gotten  in  fights but they always made up

3 My  grandfather  was an extremely hard  worker.   He  had to quit school to help his family when his father died  when he was a young boy.

4  My  grandfather  valued education.   Four out of his six kids  went to college.  One of my aunts   owned her own business.  My other aunt  works  for state farm,  My mother became the first   Black  vice chancellor  at UCSF. 

5  My grandfather  was in the Army  when it became integrated .  It  was a hard  time but he  had an excellent work ethic,

6  The day after my  Grandfather passed a peacock  came  to visit my grandparent's house.   Ever since  Peacocks have been very important to my  family.

7  I wish   he would have been here to watch me graduate college, move out and  have kids.

8  I wish I could be able to have my mom  talk to him  in heaven.

9  I  wish he could have been here to   hear about  my Princess  trip to Italy when she gets back  in December.

10   I  miss hearing his voice.


 Love you grandpa