Living with Cerebral Palsy

Elyssa Olson is a young woman living with cerebral palsy that I have been corresponding with over the last couple of weeks. She has mild CP and she is a Freshman at Whittier College. She agreed to write a post for me about her adjustments to college life. Here is what she has to say:

Elyssa

Going off to college for the first time is scary for everyone. Whether someone has small worries or big worries, whether a person has a disability or not- when a person is moving away from home to a new place where they don’t know anyone or how anything works, they always worry, even if they never admit it. For me, with mild cerebral palsy, I had worries about the normal unknowns and then the unknowns about coming to a new school and a new community that surround my disability.

My worries that surrounded my Cerebral Palsy were such things as ‘how will I bring food from the dining hall serving area to the table will I eat; how will I get in and out of the shower easily; how will I work with the disability office; what do I actually need from the disability office; do I need to bring my computer to class everyday; what is the best way for me to take notes and study with my learning disability?’

Before I even arrive at Whittier, I have a couple of conversations with the head of the disability department. She offered me two options for living situations: a double in an upperclassmen dorm (where it is quieter), or a single in a freshman dorm. I chose the single in a freshman dorm. There are several reasons for choosing the single for me. It is sometimes really awkward for me to change in and out of clothes, and in a single that is not a problem. Another reason is while the freshman dorms tend to be louder, in my own room, I could concentrate without many distractions. Also, if I am in a freshman dorm, I can get to know the people in my class better.

I made the right choice with my room. It’s great to a have a quiet room where I can sleep or study or changed whenever I need to, and my room is now set up in a perfect way so it’s easy to have movie nights with a bunch of friends. Speaking of friends, the girls in my hall are great and so easy to get along with. All of them took a freshman-writing seminar in the fall together in order ‘to bond,’ but all of them have each welcomed me into their group.

I put deep thought into my choice of Whittier College. Whittier is not the best school I was accepted into; however, it’s has qualities that sum up the right school for me, as a student and a person with Cerebral Palsy.

While I’m sure my course load and my homework load will increase with time, the academics here are such that I don’t have to stress out and overload myself most of the time, which is what I need to enjoy being in college, have fun at any point, and to spend time with friends.

There are many people with disabilities at Whittier, and despite its somewhat hilly campus, at least two of them are in wheelchairs; and there are a couple others that have walking assistance. To my surprise, there are several students, other than myself, with different kinds of speech impairments. Whittier’s diverse student body is a large part of the reason why I choose the school and why I hoped the students would be so accepting of outward awkwardness. Thank goodness there are.

There have been many small incidents of embarrassments or awkwardness on campus that in life I am used to, but on a new campus, trying to meet new people, are hard. In the dinning hall, for example, the problem is not getting my food to the table but is accidentally spitting on new friends, because I don’t have complete control over my the muscles in my month, and the drink goes down the wrong pipe too much of the time. I have learned quickly that a straw helps basically solving the problem, but I hate to waste the extra plastic. When I get excited about the subject of a conversation or when a conversation is going to fast, and my speech gets so bad that people can’t understand me, because I am trying to get my voice heard.

It was raining pretty hard the other day, and I wore the wrong shoes and slipped and fell down a whole set of stairs while walking with a bunch of friends. I laughed it off, while my friends were being concerned and caring. How embarrassing!

I realize how lucky I am to be able to blend in pretty nicely just walking around campus, if I don’t open my month. In most of my classes, I am rarely the only one with a computer taking notes. I am planning to get more help around my learning disabilities and how to handle them better. I will need their help once midterms come around; but, as of now, three weeks into the semester, I have only been to the disability department twice. Right now, it has been working out nicely to type my own notes in class without a scribe or a note-taker, but that might change, as the workload gets heavier.

Things are working out quiet nicely and somewhat smoothly right now. But as they say in my favorite musical, Avenue Q, “Everything in life is only for now!”

I found Elyssa’s stories so encouraging! She is an inspiration for people young and old who overcome their disabilities daily to get the most from life. You can follow her at CP Live. I will also add her to the blogroll.

As you may have noticed by now, I am trying to reach all persons living with cerebral palsy regardless of their age, lifestyle, or personal experiences. If you have information or experiences that you would like to share, please contact me. I would love to include you in Living with Cerebral Palsy.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 12:15 am and is filed under living with Cerebral Palsy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.