, I look back on a pivotal day in my childhood that transformed how I saw myself and my cerebral palsy.
Saturdays were special. As a kid growing up in the suburbs of New York, Saturdays meant Burger King outings with my grandparents, a great big slice of trademarked Hershey’s chocolate pie for me and piping hot oatmeal for them. And we can’t forget about the Happy Meal toys. But on this particular Saturday, everything was different — at the tender age of 5, I started to notice that certain aspects of my life were just off.
While eating my chocolate pie and playing with my Powerpuff Girls toy, I noticed a woman behind us reaching for my grandma’s wallet. My grandparents had just cashed in — what I later realized was — their social security check, and this woman, this thief, was going to take all of it. I opened my mouth to warn them. What came out was far from a complete sentence but rather a smattering cacophony of nonsensical sounds.
My grandparents raised me to believe that I was just like everyone else, but it just didn’t add up. In my head, my voice sounded like the voices of the Powerpuff Girls: articulate, clear and normal . But the perplexed looks on everyone else's faces said otherwise. It was then that I realized that there was a disconnect between my mind and my body. My mouth, tongue and vocal cords physically couldn’t convey my simplest thoughts.
In that moment, I became acutely aware of how different I was from my friends and family. I’d like to say that my maturity and comprehension were far more advanced than other kids my age, but this just didn’t make sense to me at all. I then noticed kids were jumping and running in the playroom attached to the Burger King. Meanwhile, I was trapped in my stroller, watching them from afar. I tried to get up, but my legs just didn’t receive the signals from my brain to move.
beingsarahkim Imagine being a female pain patient. I’m starting to realize I might as well not go to the dr. They don’t care if we are in pain. We r expendable.
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