Preview

Personal Narrative-Cerebral Palsy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
633 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Personal Narrative-Cerebral Palsy
People never know what others are going through. Most of them just don't understand anything about a person. No one would know what I have dealt with and still try to achieve in my life to this day. I have a physical abnormality known as cerebral palsy. I was born this way and there is nothing that I can do to stop it. It may make me unable to do some tasks and activities, but that never will stop me from achieving my aspirations and goals. I will and strive to make myself stronger.

This disability has physically affected me in many ways. This impairment causes all the muscles on the right side of my body to tighten. When I walk, I have a limp and drag my feet. Not only does it modify my leg stability, it also affects my toes, arm, and hand.
…show more content…
Words such as disability, impairment, and handicap when misunderstood and misused can be hurtful, and offensive, especially to me. Every day is a struggle that I wish could just disappear. But, life is not a Hollywood movie, it's reality. I can't just magically start walking normally. In fact, I can never walk normally. It's not like the movie Forest Gump. Once he started running his braces broke and he was running normally. Cerebral Palsy does not go away by some miracle. It can never be cured, it can only be helped.

Not only does cerebral palsy has strained my ability to physically do things, but it doesn’t just have physical effects on my daily life. This physical abnormality has made me feel as if I am just not as good as the average person. When I see teenagers walking the halls and being who they truly are, I wish I could do the same. I want to be able to walk, not just in the halls, anywhere normally, just as well as anyone else can. Cerebral palsy is only going to be a wish that I would one day hope to see come true. A solution to all of this hardship in my life.
In the earlier years of my life, I was pulled out of classes for occupational therapy. I felt like that was controlling my life. I just wanted to live a normal life, be an ordinary person. All I wanted was one day, just one to be free and live a life everyone around me did. Sometimes I wanted to just run away. Run away from all of the physical weaknesses and emotions I

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A disability may be physical, cognitive (includes the memory process), mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some of them combined. A disability may occur from birth, or happen during a person's lifetime. Who is to say handicap people and people with disabilities are even weaker than most? No one is capable of making that kind of…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mairs discusses how she doesn't like to be called “differently abled,” “disabled,” or “handicapped”. Mairs states how these words aren't specific, or descriptive. When talking about the word “crippled,”…

    • 217 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her essay, "On Being a Cripple", Nancy Mairs reflects on her life as a "cripple" due to multiple sclerosis (MS). It is truly admirable how she is able to remain in such a positive attitude despite her unfortunate consequences. Instead of asking for people's sympathy, Mairs wanted herself to be identified as a cripple instead of a handicapped or disabled person. She even believed that her condition helped to enrich her life and define the person she is. It is truly remarkable how she can face such an event with so much courage and confidence. Her essay certainly teaches a lesson about how one should not feel sorry for his/her disadvantages, but rather live it to the fullest…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Disabled. Disabled is a word commonly defined as being physically or mentally impaired, injured,or incapacitated(dictionary.com.) Disabled is a word that brings a bad astigmatism over someone with its negative connotation. Nancy Maris dislikes the word disabled because she thinks that the English language uses to much euphemism in our speech. Maris want the language to use more straightforward language, even if it might offend some people. In her memoir Maris talks about how she became disabled from the disease M.S. She talks about her first symptoms when she was in college and how some days she wishes she was not disabled. In this story allusions provide more context about what she was thinking. Allusions in Nancy Maris’s “I Am a Cripple”…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cerebral Palsy Case Study

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It becomes an obstacle in muscle movement, a result of an inhibited muscle longitude due to the gene carried by CP causing issues in protein synthesis. Therefore, as patients develop skeletally, their muscles do not keep pace and grow normally. Although it seems like a very muscular drawn disease, there is a part of the brain that is affected, the motor control area, which controls the legs. Emotionally, Cerebral Palsy causes doubt in those affected, by simply leaving them often wondering why they are the ones who live with this condition. However in some people, such as my brother, it nurtures a higher faith and dependence upon God. While some effects are negative, others are positive. It creates a tighter family unit, which brings me to my next point: the emotional effects on the family of an affected child. I can not express how deeply it cuts to be wheeling my brother down the mall or even sitting with him in the play area and watch people literally follow him with their eyes as they walk by. As a big sister, I am very protective of my brother and of his feelings. There have been many times where I have asked, “Haven’t you ever seen a child in a wheelchair?” because I know that it hurts his soul to know that people “stare at him funny”. Another effect that my family personally struggles with is accusations of using Braden’s disability for special privileges. It is so painful for me as well as my family to know that people would think that we are so crooked to use his disability. We have to live with him, see him, and struggle with him. It cuts deep to look into my baby brother’s eyes and see pain caused by his inability to participate in activities going on around…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cerebral Palsy: People who have Cerebral Palsy may have contracted muscles or joints causing fixed, rigid limbs. The needs of those with…

    • 2039 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The word ‘cripple’ is an offensive word in societies eyes, people often gesture towards lighter words; such as handicap or disabled. These are all very powerful words used to define the incapable people living within society. I have two cripple parents who both cannot live a normal life due to their chronic disabilities. When people see my mother or father I’m sure they automatically associate the word handicap in order to define them. Yet, my parents are in fact cripple not handicap. The word handicap means they can do the same exact things as normal people but it takes them longer to do so, which is not the case. When in public people do one of the three things. Either people are so scared to say the wrong thing in fear of offending them; or people say way too much and try to help them in anyway they can. Or most often people just stare and say nothing at all. My father calls it all pity, he has both legs amputated above the knee. Because of their disabilities people are very sensitive when choosing what to say to my parents. When reading the essay “On Being a Cripple” written by Nancy Mairs she states, “I am a cripple. I choose the word to name me…. People -crippled or not- wince at the word ‘cripple,’ as they do not ‘handicapped’ or ‘disabled.’ Perhaps I want them to see me as a tough customer, one whom the fates/gods/virtues have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Think about your life and how great it is, you aren’t in a wheelchair, your brain functions correctly, and you have friends, but some people go through that struggle and it makes their life difficult. Through the 1900s-1950s people with disabilities weren’t treated very well, they didn’t get medicine or any professional help through their life. In 1907 the Eugenic Sterilization Law was passed and it was for people who were disabled. People thought they could catch whatever they had and they didn’t want to be thrown into an asylum just like everyone else. Science wasn’t as strong back then as it is today, so many believed that they were a threat to the health of the nation or even “perfecting” the human race in general.…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Medical Modal

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Disability is seen as the problem; not attempting to overcome challenges presented from disability. Therefore people with disabilities are excluded and miss out on lots of things in life…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    the life of a cripple

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    People will ignore someone disability because they think it would be rude to mention it or it will make the person feel a little sad. Another reason she calls herself a cripple is because she thinks it describes her condition accurately, and as she mentioned she loves accuracy.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Response to People First

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    With People First Language, a child with disabilities doesn’t have to feel like they are their disability. Their disability doesn’t make them who they are; they have their own identity and shouldn’t be judged by any impairment they may have. In “A Few Words About People First Language,” Kathie Snow says that “a person’s self-image is tied to the words used about him.” This statement is the main one that caused me to reflect on my past and to bring it into relation to the lives of others. Although disabilities or individuals with disabilities have not had many impacts on my life, I am empathetic to what someone may go through in everyday living. This is why for the remainder of life, I will always put “people first” by using a…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When I was born I was born two and a half months early. No doctor, nurse or specialist could figure out why. I was born with a lack of oxygen to my brain causing it to bleed. Doctors told my parents I wasn’t going to live. I was left in the hospital for three weeks, my parents yearning for the chance I’ll survive. I did. Then as time went one I wasn’t developing the way other newborns were. I was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy can cause many problems for the person who has it including low muscle tone, learning disabilities, seizure, loss of hearing, paralysis and more. Cerebral Palsy affected my legs to the point of where I could walk, but in crouched position with…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The ability to walk and move freely is something I think many people take for granted. Most people do not have to think about when to take a step or how to turn their head, they just do it; yet some people are never blessed with this ability, and still many others may lose this in a mere matter of seconds. However, this is why I am so happy to live in the world that we live in; a world where scientists, researchers, and doctors refuse to accept that a diagnosis is final. Restoring movement to a patient who has lost it can enable them to more fully enjoy all that life has to offer. The role of physical therapists is integral in assuring patients that there is a reason to hope. The process of rehabilitation is very slow and sometimes painful,…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A big challenge that I have faced since the day I was born is being Autistic, throughout my life this has affected me, it has affected the way people judge me, what classes I am put in, and of course has affected me mentally, but during around middle school I began to slowly transition out of being ‘blissfully autistic’ and truly began to realize the world around me, though this was followed by a spree of depression due to that.…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ableism

    • 593 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Issues of ableism have affected my personal life in that I struggled several years with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as O.C.D. This disorder may be categorized as a mental disability but for me it definitely hindered my growth in society and as an individual. Although coping with this disorder was my personal responsibility, it affected the lives of my loved ones. It was difficult for my sister, for example, to be faced with confrontations from schoolmates, mutual friends, and even strangers about my O.C.D. Each day for approximately six years was a hardship because I was so uncomfortable with myself and what kind of person I displayed myself to be. Living life under such a pressure and fear, I truly did feel disabled, as if I was missing some piece of normality which most people were born with and took advantage of. After several failed counseling sessions with psychologists and psychiatrists, I decided to take control of my own future and force the change that needed to take place in my life. With the incredible faith of my family and friends, I overcame that feat which caused me to feel a much stronger sense of self and will. Looking back I feel gratified to have gone through such a life-changing ordeal. Although I did feel disabled and weak while in the long process toward recovery, now that I’m recovered I feel even stronger than the average person who hasn’t gone through a similar experience. A lesson to acknowledge from my experience is that as disabled people may look or feel significantly weak or unable to support a “normal” lifestyle, they often prove to be stronger mentally and emotionally if they manage to obtain some sort of victory through their plight.…

    • 593 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays