The How To Manual on Living with a Diversity

Hello, Hello, Hello!  Here we are again!  Another blog, another story, some more adventures!  ha ha! Today, I`d like to talk about the stuff that I have had to learn how to do myself  and some of the stuggles I go through with diffrent tasks.  I feel like I learn new things almost every day.  Every day is a new adventure.  Figuring out how to do certain things can be kind of challenging and frustrating because they are mostly simple things that I have to learn that everyone else can do but I struggle with.  That doesn't stop me though.  I want to learn as much as possible, no matter how easy or difficult a task it sounds to everyone else.  I  actually kind of enjoy getting excited over learning the small stuff!  It makes me feel proud of myself and happy that I can check one more thing off my to do list that I have to  complete before I move out of the house.  So, here are ten thing that I have had to learn or still have to learn to  to make my life a little easier and to be more independent.  If any of you blog readers out there have Cerebral Palsy like me, here are some tips on how you can do some stuff too!  I hope this helps you guys.
1.  Putting shoes on-  Since I wear leg braces, I have to find big enough shoes to fit over the braces.  it`s hard to find the right size of shoes and ones that look good!  It's getting easier though and they have more variety.  We used to be able to find just plain white ones but now we've found some with some colour so that's nice!  Most of the better quality shoes are tye up and I can't tye with one hand so mom has to help me with that, but I can do everything else myself.  I've been experimenting a lot with putting on shoes.  I can get my braces on super easy.  I just slide my leg in there and do up the straps.  Shoes are more off a challenge though since I can't just slip them on with my braces and it's hard to lean over and put them on.  I've tried two methods for putting them on.  One was to lay down with my feet up and wiggle the shoe on.  That was difficult and not very lady like! ha ha!  A while ago I figured out a new method.  |I put my brace inside my shoe and slide my foot in.  The only struggle is I have to reach inside and do my leg brace strap up and you have to make sure you find the loop for that.  Other than that though, I have a much smoother time with my shoes now, and it`s quicker so I can get out of the house faster, which is something I love!  I canjust get up and go!

2.  Type-  In school, all the kids have to be able to type properly.  They can`t just hunt and peck for every key.  The proper way to type is with two hands, but of course I only have the one that will cooperate for typing.  However, there is still a proper way to type with one hand.  When I was in grade five, Kathy from Set B.C. came to my school and showed me this program calle Five Finger Typist for five finger typers.  I loved it!  It was kind of frustrating to learn at first.  My aide at that time, Sheila Fitzpatrick, really wanted me to go slow and learn it properly.  So she would make me redo lessons over and over before I moved to the next one.  It was tough not being able to move on to the next lesson right away, but it was worth it because now I am a much more confident typer.  I still keep practising.  There is a typing course in high school so I will take that and also practise a lot in English and classes like that.  I feel the computer is going to be a huge advantage and a  handy tool for me.  Even though I love to print, typing will make me go further and further in school and university, which will help me get one step closer to making my education dreams come true!

3.  How my wheelchair works-  My wheelchair has opened up all sorts of doors for me.  I can go downtown without help.  I can ride home from school myself.  It amazes me how much it actually has done for me.  I get asked a lot about my chair and how it works.  It is run on a gel cell battery, which makes it very heavy to lift.   You can`t really push it unless you put it into manual, but we`ve never tried that before.  Anyway, all it take is the push of a button and the movement of a joist stick to get me where I want to go.  At school, I have to ask a lot of teachers  to move my chair closer to me, so sometimes I need to explain it t them.   I suck at explaining things so it`s a little difficult.  A lot of teachers have done it though, not just me and my aides, and I joke that by the time I graduate, everyone will know how to drive my chair.  Isn`t that a scary thought?

4.  Control Lefty-  This is a tough one.  Lefty is always moving around, and sometimes he tires me out.  I`ts difficult to get him to calm down.  Sometimes I have help controlling him.  I get little reminders to put him down and relax, or someone just kind of holds him for a while.  Doctors have talked about a brace for him as well.  I used one when I was little.  My tone has gotten a little bit worse now though, and doctors say that if I wear the brace, lefty will just fight it and it might be painful.  They also say that  the spasticity I have in my hand is not so bad because at least it`s moving around and it has function.  Some people with C.P have hands that are crippled up all the time and it causes skin break down, so I`m lucky lefty isn`t like that!  I guess he`s not that bad.  I`ll keep him.

5.  Relax-  Sometimes it`s hard to relax my whole body, not just lefty, because my muscles are so tight.  At school I have a board that I rest my feet on to help them relax.  I need help sometimes remiding or  helping me relax.  It`s not all because of my diversity.  I`m just one of those people that likes to go go go and doesn`t like to relax.  I`m getting better though.  I enjoy it more!  What can I say?  I`m a wild and crazy kid!

6. Showering-  I used to bath all the time!  I loved it!  However, as I got older it became more diffuct for my mom to help me.  A few years ago, we installed a hand held shower and put a bathing seat in my tub.    I still have to get over the ledge, but we have a grab bar and mom helps me with that.  I get in and I can grab the hand held shower and use it just like that.  When I go to university,  they have a lot of walk in showers and accesible stuff, so that will make life a lot more easy.  It`s going to be great when I can just get showered up and ready for the day on my own.  That is my main goal in life, to live by myself, so the closer I get to reaching it, the betteer.

7.  Carry stuff at school-  Being in a wheelchair, it`s kind of diffcult to carry all the suppiles you need from class to class.  I remember my first year of highschool, I would carry stuff and drop them half way down the hall.  Then , my helpers got me bags that I could put all my stuff in.  That made everything easier.  I could jst grab it and go.  I could even bring it home with my homework.  When Sheila came to highschool, she actually made me a bag.  She is a great sewer and loves to make that sort of stuff.  I can fit my books in the bag and my pens and small stuff in the smaller pockets.  It`s made out of jeans!  Its really handy!  Shelia has alway looked out for me and discovered new things for me to make my life easier!  She is quite the lady!  Thanyou Sheila!

8.  Textbooks-  Everyone uses textbooks in highschool.  For most classes, they are what most of the cirruculum is based on.  Sometimes, for me, it is diffucult to handle textbooks.  I need a little extra space on my desk to get some stuff organized.  Sometimes I need two desks.  I used to have a big desk in elmentrary school with an easil and a big desk attached at the side to put my computer on.  I couldn`t take it to highschool though.  I like using the normal desks in class.  I`m at the same height as all the other kids whitch makes me feel good.  It does take extra organization for me though.  I have a small easal that the wood working shop made for me that holds my textbooks up.  That makes things easier. I don't have to struggle to hold them up and read.  All I have to do is flip throught the pages.  You can use textbooks on the computer, but I`d rather have the physical one. it got a little complicated on the computer.  I always sign two textbooks out at the start of the year for me so that I can leave one at home for homework. I don`t always have to pack a heavy textbook back and forth.  That`s great!  It works really well for me.  I am so happy that I am integrated in the regualar school program and can graduate and move on to bigger and better things and these small things just help me get that much closer to achiveing my goals!

9.  Cooking-  My cooking skills are getting better and better all the time.  I`ve really benifited  from the cook Training class in school.. I`ve learned so much in there and am doing almost everything myself with just a liitle help.  I can carry dishes to from the sink to where they need to be with my walker that has a seat on it.  I can grab stuff from the fridge.  I can deliver fruit to classes with my chair.  I call it meals on wheels. I have a lot of diffrent adapted tools I use.  I have a special cutting board that has nails in it to hold the food.  It has sucton things at the bottom so it sticks to the table.  I have a chopper.  I love to practise cutting food, but  for the hard stuff and for making specific types of cuts, I use my chopper.  You put a blade in a slot in the tool that has the shape of what you want your cut to be like.  Then you just put the food  on the blade and press down the lid.  It takes a lot of muscle but it is handy and makes me stroger.  Everybody hads to wear aprons in class.  They are tye up, so Paige made me a velcro one.  Gotta love that velcro.  I had to practise stretching around and getting both straps in each hand.It was tricky but I eventually got it    It has been an awesone experience for me and when I an at home my mom can tell that I am getting more confident with cooking.  In the summer, Patti and I work on microwave cooking.  We do small meals that I can do myself.  Paige made me a cutting board that has guards to hold bread or something in place and a hole in it to hold the what I am putting on it.  I can be preety independent in my kitchen at home.  It`s great that I can just get up and make myself a snack when I`m hungry.  I don't have to wat for someone to do it for me.  It`s one more step to living on my own.

10.  Traveling in a plane with a wheelchair-  I`ve taken my  electric chair on a plane before.  It's diffucult but I`ve done it.  Electric chairs have a gelcell battery so they can go in a plane.  The flight attendents just have to store it in a special compartment of the plane.  It`s kind of a tricky process, so we don't take my chair often, but it`s great to know that I can have the option to have the  same independence here as well as half way across the country.  It`s preety cool!

So, there are some things that I`ve learned over my years.  It`s awesome how far I`ve come and how much I can do now.  I will continue to try more and more things and get stronger and stronger.  I hope this helped some people with Cerbral Palsy reading this who want to do more themselves, but arn`t sure how to get there.  I  have a long way to go still, but I definetly will get there, one step at a time!