I Have Cerebral Palsy...so what, i'm still awesome!

Meet Jack

This weeks post is an interview with my friend Jack. Jack is 13 years old and lives with Cerebral Palsy. Jack thought he would try his hand at blogging informing others and raising awareness for C.P. I love hearing from others that have C.P. Although each individual who has Cerebral Palsy is different, I learn so much from them and I hope that you do to. But what really caught my attention about Jack was the title of his blog. “I Have Cerebral Palsy...so what I’m still awesome” I loved the positive attitude so much, I just had to contact him! I absolutely love the title of your blog Jack and I totally agree that you are awesome! Can you tell us how you came up with the title? I want my readers to think I have a positive attitude so that title showed that. I want people to know that if you have CP you can still be awesome. I think you are an inspiration not only to people who have disabilities, but in general for having the courage to write about your life with C.P. your ups and downs, your many challenges, as well as your accomplishments as an individual. What do you hope to accomplish as a blogger? As a blogger, I want to help people with CP and also other disabilities to know that they are still regular people. What made you decide to write a blog??? I decided to write a blog because I was wanting to help people. I also thought it would help me feel better. Because blogging is fairly new to you, let’s let our audience get to know you a little better... tell us a little about yourself. I know you like sports, what is the name of your favorite team? Do you like music? What are some of the things that you like to do best? I do like sports I love the Chicago Bulls and am also a Bears, Cubs and Blackhawks fan. I love almost all sports. I do like music, I like hip hop music. My favorite thing to do is play basketball or football with my friends.I also like to play xBox and iPad games. Jack, for the benefit of our readers can you tell me how your C.P. effects your everyday life? C.P. affects my life in a lot of ways. I can't feed myself and it's very hard to do simple things that other people just do easily like getting a drink or putting on my shoes.

I have read that you are able to speak but can be a little difficult to understand, I know that is true for so many people who live with C.P. and communicating can be very frustrating at times. Tell us about your communication device and eye gaze technology. My communication device is the coolest thing. It actually sees my eyes and knows where I am looking. It is also a computer which is cool. Do you communicate solely through that device or do you also use other methods of communicating? I also talk and people who know me well understand me all the time. How old were you when you first got your cool set of wheels (your wheelchair)? My mom says that I was three when I got my first wheelchair. Jack my 5 year old granddaughter is about to get her first wheelchair, Hailey doesn’t speak so it is difficult for me to understand how she feels about this. I wonder if you could be a voice for the younger children who can’t yet express their feelings on this bittersweet experience? I realize that your feelings could differ from theirs, but It would be interesting to hear and understand from your point of view. I always thought my wheelchair was cool. I liked that I had something that other kids didn't have. Now I wish I didn't need one though. I know first hand the importance of being treated like everyone else, tell me why this is so important to you. Being treated like everyone else is important because I feel like I'm a regular kid. I don't like to be babied at all. I also hate to be ignored. I’d like to thank Jack for taking the time to interview with me, and please head over to his blog and tell him that Painting for Hailey sent you and show your support and encouragement to this handsome young guy. If you would like to interview here and share your story with others email me at harrold.janet@gmail.com