“I was born with this disability [spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy], but I try to live my life to the fullest every day, the best way that I can. One of the struggles I deal with is friendship. Sometimes it’s hard to relate to peers who don’t live the way I do. A lot of them already have boyfriends, and they can go out and do things that I can’t. I’ve never had a boyfriend, and it can be hard to have friends too. I had a couple of good friends in high school, but one of them is in college now and busy with her own life, so we don’t talk much anymore. I spend most of my time with my mom and brothers---we’re very close--- but I also spend a lot of time alone with my music and writing. I’ve learned how to look within myself for my own happiness rather than rely on other people to provide it for me. I’ve noticed that with a lot of people my age, if their boyfriend or another friend upsets them, they think their lives are just ruined; they can’t go on. But it’s not like that for me. I don’t like drama. That’s not the way I live. I just do my own thing, which may not be what other people do, but it’s what I do and it makes me happy. I mentioned writing, which I’ve done since first grade. That’s something I can put my entire self into. It allows me to create a world where I don’t have to think about anything else. It’s helped me process a lot of what I’ve gone through recently too. If I’m feeling a certain way, I’ll do personal writing (using my phone and iPad), but I also enjoy writing fanfiction. And I like reading biographies and researching politics and historical characters.
“I graduated from high school in May and would like to study journalism in college, but I kind of got derailed. In April, I was accepted at ________, but they won’t allow me to have an assistant in the classroom. I had one for the entire 12 years I was in elementary and high school, but [the University] discouraged me from even having someone there to help me get around campus. They said they would assign note-takers in each class, but I need help getting all my things out every time. It would be tough having to ask classmates to do that for me every day, so I figure maybe attending college isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing. The reasoning, I guess, is that they want students to be more independent in college, and they feel that having an assistant hinders that. It’s complicated. So anyway, I’ve decided to take online classes instead. I think I can do well with those.”
“I graduated from high school in May and would like to study journalism in college, but I kind of got derailed. In April, I was accepted at ________, but they won’t allow me to have an assistant in the classroom. I had one for the entire 12 years I was in elementary and high school, but [the University] discouraged me from even having someone there to help me get around campus. They said they would assign note-takers in each class, but I need help getting all my things out every time. It would be tough having to ask classmates to do that for me every day, so I figure maybe attending college isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing. The reasoning, I guess, is that they want students to be more independent in college, and they feel that having an assistant hinders that. It’s complicated. So anyway, I’ve decided to take online classes instead. I think I can do well with those.”
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