On Living with Cerebral Palsy

[twop_tjl]

As most of you probably know, I suffer from Cerebral Palsy (CP). It isn't something I generally talk about, but I've decided to put down in words some of my past and present experiences of living with CP. I may have mentioned portions of this before, but I think this is the first time I've actually thought through all of this.

Comments

[eirefaerie]

I'm really glad you wrote this, and I hope you'll write more about the subject.

I just got through telling you about my family friend Andreea. Her family (they're my parents neighbors, go to our church, and her older brother Dadi is my brother's best friend, so we're sort of Second Family to each other) immigrated from Romania when she was just over one years old. Her doctors think that the stress of the war, malnutrition and the fact that her mom didn't know she was pregnant until she was about 6 months along may have caused the CP, but who really knows. They only found out when they first moved to Texas, but luckily they live in Houston and the Shriner's Hospital has been indispensible in helping them, paying for surgeries, etc.

I think in some ways she probably has it a lot easier than you do, although she can't walk without braces at all, and can only walk with them because of new surgeries, because she's both a girl and has an older brother. So I don't think she gets overtly picked on much. She has a camp that she goes to every summer with other kids with CP and is really popular and well-loved at school and church. But I still really worry about her, especially when it comes time to go to college, get a job, etc.

I think you cope amazingly well, and I don't mean that to sound patronizing. I am impressed that you worked on the issues you had, like anger management, until they weren't as critical anymore.

Anyway, yeah. I'd really like you to post more on the subject if/when you're comfortable. You do a great job of explaining both the physical and emotional problems accompanying CP.

[twop_tjl]

She has a camp that she goes to every summer with other kids with CP and is really popular and well-loved at school and church.

That's good that she has a place where she can be around other kids with CP. I went to an Easter Seals summer camp and a winter camp as a teenager, but those camps were for people with disabilities generally and I only met one other person with CP. I was fairly well liked in the first town where I grew up, but had many problems after my family moved to a much larger city.

But I still really worry about her, especially when it comes time to go to college, get a job, etc.

College shouldn't be a problem, but jobs certainly can be. In undergrad I went through a co-op program and each job I got through phone interviews. It's hard because people will automatically judge you just based upon appearances. I could see it in their faces before they even started asking questions.

I am impressed that you worked on the issues you had, like anger management, until they weren't as critical anymore.

It was a serious problem, but I've had a lot of time to work on it. There are still a lot of other emotional problems that I haven't been able to get past.