Hit The Rewind Button
My mom loved to tell people the story of my birth. She told a salesperson at Macy's once. I was mortified. In my head, I was imploring her to stop. We were just there to buy Christmas socks for my brother. How had an innocent trip to the mall gone wrong?
Imagine having a guy you liked over for dinner only to have your mom launch into her story. All I heard was, "Joanne was born at six and a half months. She was so small the hospital didn't weigh her when she was born. She looked like a spider monkey, all arms and legs."What an icebreaker. MOM STOP!!
HIT THE REWIND BUTTON!
For as long as I can remember every new experience has been like falling down a rabbit hole leaving me confused and asking myself the question how did I get here? Just like Alice in Wonderland. My wonderland is having been born a spastic quad. The most severe form of cerebral palsy. It has been an amazing, scary, confusing, and wild ride. It has been my life.
I want to leave a positive legacy. I have a lot to say. The problem is I feel like no one is listening
I decided to write my memoir in a series of entries. A mini journal of significant events in my life. Beginning on April 19, 1957, the day I was born. Clearly a momentous occasion. At least in my own mind anyway.
In the late fifties, the Americans With Disabilities Act was not even a glimmer in someone's eye. I want to share my story of what my life was like growing up without the ADA. I want to examine how I came to live first in a nursing home. now in a group. I want to show what my life was/is like. My hope is that a young person with a disability reading my memoir entries will realize how fortunate they are to have the ADA. My hope is that they will learn from my mistakes.
Sit back and relax as I get ready to push the rewind button on my life. Get ready to fall down the rabbit hole with me.
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