On Living with Cerebral Palsy (Part 2)

[twop_tjl]

First off, I realize I've been a bad LJ friend and haven't been commenting, and I'm sorry. I hope to do better in the future.

Thanks to all who commented on the last post. In my previous post on living with CP I only touched on a few of the issues, mostly dealing with how I've had to deal with various physical challenges. This post deals with the

Comments

[honeybunnylilb]

My only job so far, I got through a phone interview. Things would have been very different otherwise. My name is very common and my accent a bit odd, so it's not obvious that I'm a visible minority. I remember when I showed up for orientation, a lot of jaws dropped.

It certainly isn't the same as with CP, but I understand why you went for the PhD and I understand your shyness. I felt like I needed to be super-qualified to compete and it's almost like you have to do that to be taken seriously.

Glad you posted about this. Also, people can be absolute douches to kids. They think you're a kid, so somehow you're immune to the insults that would be fighting words to adults. The truth is that it hurts just as much, but as a kid, you are powerless to do anything about it.

I was a really fat kid, and I remember this man walking up to me and my friends when I was riding my bicycle and him telling me to be careful. He said a fat kid such as myself looked ridiculous and unstable on a bicycle. He joked that if I fell, I might burst like an egg. My friends all thought it was hilarious. I never went riding with my friends again. The irony is that my parents bought me the bicycle so I'd get some exercise and shed the pounds.

[twop_tjl]

One of the things I've certainly learned at university is to never expect anything based upon a name. I've had a student who had a Japanese name, but was one of the whitest students I've taught. Similarly, I've had students with stereotypically Western names, but weren't in ethnicity.

In a lot of ways, I kind of feel like a poster child for CP and have to work to prove myself above those stereotypes. The truth is, most of the people I've met with CP were actually fairly intelligent, they just didn't look it.

That's awfully cruel of that man. I certainly had adults be really insensitive to me (including my parents), but it was really only other kids that were cruel to me.

[catatonia00]

No matter where we're at there's really no escaping the douchebag of the world, huh? I don't think I've had experiences that are worth writing home about, but I've had my fair share of racist encounters as well. Or encounters with chauvinist, racist pigs rather. People suck immensely sometimes.

I hate that man for permanently scarring you and emotionally barring you from riding a bike with your friends.