Why?

I also have ceberal palsy, ialso walked on the side if my feet (both feet),

so i know the pain.i also know triumph! had surgery in 05, both feet are

now totaly flat. I still wear braces (AFO'S) but , no more pain from wlaking

on the side of my feet. your right anyone who glares and snares has more

of a handicap then you do.

DA

No one asked to be disabled. I am pretty damn sure that everyone here would leap at the chance to be what society calls "normal". I used to pity myself for being this way-- honest.



I have one sided CP. My right hand droops down, basically useless. On my leg I wear a brace (also known as an AFO) because my foot turns to the side, unable to be flat.



I am in constant pain.



I know how you feel, I have been there myself a few years back. It's okay though. Accept your stregnths and weaknesses. I know that its hard, I do!



I also encounter some comments, but not what you think. Most people that I come across think that I am cool because I do all that I do one handed. No one pitys me and if they do, then its their problem.



You can still run around on that hill, you know. All that matters is if you are having fun, not what you look like while doing it.

You already are that person, Miss. And you already know how to be like her. Weren't you running down a hill, oblivious?



Just remember: It's not your job to make people feel comfortable about your CP. The more comfortable you learn to be (without overcompensating), the more naturally comfortable other people will be. It gets better with practice, I think.



My godsister actually stole the show from me that day! The little ones lost interest in *my* cranes because they all wanted to crowd around her; I became a wallflower at my own birthday lunch. Hmm... I wish you all the best, okay?

no your right. i should be like her, but i'm not. she sounds like the person i wish i was. i'm slowly working on myself. this site helps. with many many issues. thank you.

Hello. I don't have CP myself, but I would like to offer you a slightly different way of looking at your CP.



Miss, I believe you are the same person today as the young person who was *running* down a *hill*, confident and oblivious and happy.



Running! Down a hill! It's the same body.



And today you even have an advantage over the kid who was feeling so self-conscious. For you are an adult now, equipped with more experience and insights than when you were first made self-conscious. You have an adult personality, maturity. You are probably in a better position to choose the terms on which "the world" has to deal with you, than when you were a kid having to deal with other young people on their terms.



TRW will come and bash me on the head if what I say next is offensive in any way, but I think that we humans tend to do a very poor job of measuring the degree of other people's *pity* for us.



It may not be pity; it could be sympathy. It might not even be pity over your CP; it could be the "Poor thing, looks like she's having a tough day."-kind of pity, which I do to people sometimes, reflexively, whether or not they have CP.



When I meet somebody who looks "different" or has a disability (eg. my first boss had brittle bones), I do need a millisecond or two to register it with my eyes. But that is not a look of pity; I'm grateful to the person for being patient and allowing me the time to register.



FWIW, my godsister in a young woman your age, she was born with an arm which ended just below the elbow, and a rudimentary finger. She has never been self-conscious in any way, and has become adept at reading people and giving her "shortie" (her name for it) the appropriate "profile" in any situation. Sometimes she would play it down. Other times she would know to ask, "Are you curious about my shortie?"



This young lady is like you running downhill, oblivious. She plays golf, dates, travels, and radiates confidence without "over-compensating". After all, it's not her job to make people comfortable with her arm.



There was one unforgettable lunch -- it was my birthday -- when I was folding extra-small paper cranes for the kids and she decided to have a go. She went at it until she had done three, and figured out the most efficient way to do it.



She wasn't self-conscious at all about trying different "fiddles" and positions to work around the fact that she had no fingers on one of her arms. All that was in her mind was -- the crane.



HTH in some way, ohmercyme. Now I'm going to wait for TRW to come and clobber me for saying the wrong thing.