"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.

Crappy Cheeseburgers

                   Let me just say that I hate  my voice.   Yeah  I am  in  ST  but  it still hard.  I am  21 years old ( Age wise)  but   I can not say my own  name its a  struggle  and  no  I       can not  do phonics.       Despite all  of this  I  understand everything,  ok  so not  chemistry but  not everyone  understands it,    what that means  is that I do not have an intellectual  disability.  Its like  an  invisible  brick  wall ,  yeah  I  know    walls  can not be invisible  but its a metaphor  with a  fantasy twist .  I  know what I  want  but   when  I try to  get it  I  hit   my head on a brick  wall.   Totally  not fun:( .

      This makes  ordering  food   really  hard  sometimes  people can  understand my     speech and   either  make the food or  help  me   tell the person . Well   the past few days at my college  dinning hall   the  chiefs have not been understanding me that well.      Earlier today I had speech   and we came up  with writing  the word down   on the notes feature of my I-Phone   .  Well , as  I went back to the dinning room   after speech  for a evening class  ,  I  wrote  down  Cheese burger  and  garlic fries  as a back up  plain.     There was a  severe  there  lets  call   them  A.  It was fairly  busy   so they called another person  to help    B.  Well    I  have worked with  A    before but   she was having a  hard time understanding me   I'd  say  she   understands about 70% of what  I say; however,  I  had never  met    B  before.    B ends up  helping me.    Between the two of them they  understand that I want  a Cheeseburger and  B    starts one on the  grill,  I tried  to tell them I wanted   American Cheese  but  neither one understands me. So  I write it on my phone  and show B  he calls    A  over and  A  helps  him I look over   and sure enough there is some American cheese on the grill.  I look down and hear a smirk.    I    think that someone   made fun of my speech the worst part is  A  is the manager. 


 Told my  parents and   they did not  seem to see why I was so  mad.     I am  mad because  I think they made fun of my speech.  I  am   mad because   I want to be able to  say what I want   and  have people understand the first time.  I am  mad  because    sometimes I  am  so    Frigen tired  of   repeating and  trying   to be understood.  I am  mad because  I hate  when  people   think  that I am too dumb to  notice if they  laugh.  Good  think  book  girl and Soccer  man   understand. 

Its about time

           

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    That   the government intervine and encourage  schools to  include students with disabilities    Growing up that was  what I  wanted.  I   remember  watching  Air Bud  and   making up  my mind that  I wanted to play sports  in high school.     I  was able to  partake in  track and  golf  thoughout   my   middle and  high school career   while   doing  team sports with  my church and  Special  Olympics.   I  am  so  glad that other  kids will have a chance to particeapate   in team  sports.   

  I  know  its   a  recommendation  so i  hope  that  schools will  actually  fallow  trough  and   give   more student  athletes  a  chance to be on the school team  because  if they  do  then   student atheltes   will    receive  some  benefits  such  as.

 Eating   right and excersing are key  to living an  healthy lifestyle

      Developing   Healthy Life styles .


           I have been  watching the  Biggest Loser this season in which  they are   tackling  childhood  obesity by having  three  kid  ambassador.   Something  they   have said is  exercise  for  kids should be  fun activity.      Kids with  disabilities are more likely to be overweight than  average  kids  partly  because  their are not a ton  of avenues  for  kids to   play hopefully  now they  will  be.

Part of the  recommendation  is  that  additional teams be made if   programs can not accommodate  student athletes so  wheelchair basketball  teams could  start up with in  school distrcts 

        Physical  therapy

  Some  kids  with disabilities    have a difficult  time moving around.   I  used to have bad balance as a  toddler  and   my  parents   took me  to the park to help me learn how to move my  body.   As  I  got older sports  gave me incentives  to work  on  balance  and  conation   while  having fun.

 None of these sports all off limits   anymore 

 Social  Skills 

     Kids with  disabilities  can  have  a hard time making friends   so having them in a social environment allows them  to interact with others  who  have similar interest hopefully  this   will  lead kids to  form authentic  friendships.  

 Self Esteem is  a good thing for everyone to have 

  Self  Esteem  
 When kids are able  to   do something their  passonate about  and  be  recognized in their school  community  for doing it  their self  esteem will  rise dramatically  I loved   wearing  my  golf sweat shirt   to school   it made  me feel  like  I was a part of the team.  I  also got to be in the yearbook  along with all the other  girls on the  team.

  Sponge bob thinks all kids should  have fun  

  Fun
        Lers  face it  kids with disabilities  have extra huddles  growing up. whether it be  walking  talking learning  or a combination of these  thing .There are  hours  of  therapy  and extra  practice that  kids  have  to do .   On top of all of  they are just kids who   deserve the same  found memories of childhood  as   any other kid. They deserve to  play  for the sake of  playing  and that is why  I  hope that every school  district opens  the door  for   these  student athletes  to  participate alongside their  peers.

  


  Got pictures from 

http://blog.smu.edu/quitsmoking/files/2012/06/fruits-and-veggies-border.jpg

 http://www.cartoonlogodesigns.com/images/misc/Smiley%20faces/smiley%20face.jpg

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/wheeled-b-ball-color.gif

http://www.scrollonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sports-clipart.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJwQ7GRUBm6c5TzWIx9fX8UdTjdafb905XMJMhOoa-6FhAA0u_oKRsxNrsKTYJ18vooTYBYjWYOw68YOkz-oEUu5PYj1foqt5GFUFyYaaAtkoR84RZ8YBwP_RcNOJ86p5_CFdZNtAfiHhy/s1600/spongebob%5B1%5D.gif

Happy b day ED Roberts

Fun fact    ED  went to the same JC I  now attend and i  know one of his former teachers who  joined the movement.

Soaring to new heights

  Hay  guys  so  today  I   am  not   going to be blogging because  I  am  doing a  guest posts at  Think  Inclusive .  Check it out 

Able to Go to College- Episode eight: The Search for Bumble bees

This  was   a beautiful spring day  to  go  bee hunting. Why hunt bees  you ask?  Well, I did not have a choice. My biology teacher had us  do a class observation on bumble bees .    It was  actually really fun.I  enjoyed it one thing that I learned about bees  is that despite what  AA Miller writes, not all bees live in hives and make  honey.  I  think , I  heard this about a  year ago( I am a  tad behind  in these videos all  of these  videos are from   the spring 2012 semester).   Do you guys  know anything about bees ? 

Able to go to College Episode Seven:Omi turns two

 Another  weekend edition of able to go to college.    This weekend was my cousin daughter's  second b day.  I had to miss basketball practice  to attend  but    I think the cuteness  made  missing hoops  worth  it.  Omi  is  very spoiled  girl  she is the youngest kid on my mom's  side of  the family, the youngest  used to be  princess, but  she    is a high school  senior in the video and has  since  went to college.  Ironically    Omi  loves  Princess  it  must be   because  she  used to be the youngest in the family.

 Princess, Omi and AZ at Omi's  second birthday

  Fun   fact  Omi's dad  is a  former  NBA  player.