I have lots of memories of blowing noise makers at birthday parties. These were very fun and kept us kids occupied while annoying the parents .
Today's post will be about drool.
I am a twenty three year old college student. I am really good at sports. I also drool somedays. I drool because of my CP. I have a speech impairment and a hard time controlling my silva. When I was younger Princess used to give me a hard time on drooling. She hated it because it was gross. I had always thought that I was the only one who had saliva until I learned about the digestive system in fifth grade.
Drooling never really bothered me that much growing up until someone made a comment saying that was gross. Since then I have been really self conscious about drooling. When I drooled on a test a few weeks ago I apologized profusely. the professor was really understanding and told me no worries.
One thing that I would like people to do when I drool is to be patient, and understanding and try not to judge. Don't pity me or assume that I do not understand things because I am very smart. I just happen to drool,
image from http://www.promo-wholesale.com/Upfiles/Prod_i/16--Party-Blowouts_20090773241.jpg
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
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 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
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
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
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
Monday, March 9, 2015
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
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
Friday, March 6, 2015
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 |
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 |
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,
Thursday, March 5, 2015
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. |
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.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
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.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Its that time of Year
Hay guys so its that time of year. Its time for the Cerebral Palsy party 2015. I did this last year and am excited to be doing this again this year. I am plaining on writing post with a cool theme that will be revealed tomorrow, If you guys want to join me in this party you can in two ways: One follow this blog my Facebook page. The second way is to blog every week day ( Monday through Friday ) about CP leading up to March 25 which is national CP day, in the US . If you decide to take me up on this quest to spread awareness let me know and I will share your blog on here so others can follow you.
Did you know that in the admins of a facebook group only for people with CP have come up with a word to describe others with the same stroke of uniqueness. I present to you the new vocabulary word
Ceep - a person that has Cerebral Palsy
Come back tomorrow for more info.
Lets get this Party Started.
GO GREEN
PLEASE RSVP
( LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW LETING ME KNOW YOUR READING)
Come back tomorrow for more info.
Lets get this Party Started.
GO GREEN
PLEASE RSVP
( LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW LETING ME KNOW YOUR READING)
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Azsweekinreview
Hard week but I had a friend come vist today.This next week will be interesting.Hope u had a great week.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Week in review
This week zoe and I played outside. My boss bought me a personal pizza.i met with another college consular and saw my cousin a great week.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Proof that Inclusion can work Works: Meet Brandon G.
Hay guys one of my goals this year is to reach 100 posts in 2015. I am doing this by writing about my favorite topic Inclusive Education. To start things off I am going to share something a Teresa G
sent me about her son Brandon.
Hi,
I'm a mom who has a son with Down syndrome. He's surpassed every imaginable goal that a parent if a child who has SN. I have every category story including K-8th full inclusion school experience. We moved and had to start all over and created an incredible school experience breaking every barrier, overcoming many challenges and creating an environment counter to the status quo of other parents expectations. Here are some accomplishments because if inclusion in hs:
1. All A's and B's in Gen Ed.
2. Full team member on Freshmen basketball and track teams.
3. Fashion designer and modeled original art on outfit for Teen Fashion show.
4. Actor for iPad learning videos.
5. Santa Cruz Youth City Council Member appointed by Mayor.
6. Awarded summer internship with local Congressman doing office work .
7. International Yes I Can! Award winner in the Arts Category; modeling, acting and visual arts for Council for Exceptional Children(only US recipient with DS).
8. Was just crowned Homecoming King of school of 1,500 students with popular school vote!
9. RecognitionMerit Award for San Andreas Regional Center(10-25-14).
10. Be Beautiful , Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show model, Denver & Washington D.C.
11. Visiting artist display for City of Capitola asked by Art Commission in an art Mecca of Monterey Bay.
12. Teen Kitchen volunteer where students cook healthy meals for children who have Cancer.
13. Blue and Gold Athletic award
Life has been very full raising a child with SN , but great !
Best ,
Teresa G
sent me about her son Brandon.
Hi,
I'm a mom who has a son with Down syndrome. He's surpassed every imaginable goal that a parent if a child who has SN. I have every category story including K-8th full inclusion school experience. We moved and had to start all over and created an incredible school experience breaking every barrier, overcoming many challenges and creating an environment counter to the status quo of other parents expectations. Here are some accomplishments because if inclusion in hs:
1. All A's and B's in Gen Ed.
2. Full team member on Freshmen basketball and track teams.
3. Fashion designer and modeled original art on outfit for Teen Fashion show.
4. Actor for iPad learning videos.
5. Santa Cruz Youth City Council Member appointed by Mayor.
6. Awarded summer internship with local Congressman doing office work .
7. International Yes I Can! Award winner in the Arts Category; modeling, acting and visual arts for Council for Exceptional Children(only US recipient with DS).
8. Was just crowned Homecoming King of school of 1,500 students with popular school vote!
9. RecognitionMerit Award for San Andreas Regional Center(10-25-14).
10. Be Beautiful , Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show model, Denver & Washington D.C.
11. Visiting artist display for City of Capitola asked by Art Commission in an art Mecca of Monterey Bay.
12. Teen Kitchen volunteer where students cook healthy meals for children who have Cancer.
13. Blue and Gold Athletic award
Life has been very full raising a child with SN , but great !
Best ,
Teresa G
Have a story about inclusive education email me the story azchapman1991@gmail.com You can be featured on the blog.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
weekinreview
New eve was celebrated alone.I played a ton of videogames and visited another university that seems inclusive.
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