Have you ever wondered what it would like to live with a disability?If you have or even if you haven’t, I’m going to tell you today what it’s like.Let me start off by introducing myself. Hello my name is Ryan Kokiw and I have a physical disability called Cerebral Palsy.Now for those of you who have never been around a person with a disability before or have no knowledge of disabilities you may be asking yourself right now, what is Cerebral Palsy?
Well Cerebral Palsy or CP for short is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture.
CP is the most common motor disability in childhood.
Cerebral means having to do with the brain. Palsy means weakness or problems with using the muscles.
Now that you have an understanding of what Cerebral Palsy actually is.I’m going to share some of my life experiences with you today so that, you can better understand how some people with physical disabilities live in their everyday lives.Before we get started this is my life experience and everybody that has a physical disability will have a different experience than mine.I’ve been living with Cerebral Palsy for 19 years and I would consider myself being very open to people when it comes to talking about my disability. Which you will see if you ever meet me in real life.I was taught from a very early age that my disability was probably going to bring a lot of people that would not only try to take advantage of me but they would also stare because a lot of people when they don’t understand something tend to give a curious stare.Over my 19 years of life I am able to figure out if people are staring at my leg because of curiosity or if they’re staring at me because they want to avoid me.This is a message to the people that are just curious about my disability and why I walk the way I do. Don’t be afraid to come up and ask the question because if you come up and ask the question instead of just staring. I will be able to give you the answer of why I walk the way I do.If you just to continue to stare at me I won’t be able to give you the answer that you’re looking for.I think a lot of people in today’s world are very hesitant to come up and talk to the differently able because a lot of people just think. Oh, they’ll be offended if I ask them that question. Well, you will never know unless you ask.
Now, I cannot speak for everyone but, for me personally you asking the question and coming up to me out of your own free will.
Shows me what kind of person you are and that’s a person that I want to be friends with. You see me as a person that may have challenges and you’re curious about my way of life.
But when I go and talk to you will soon realize that I don’t ever let my disability define me. It is because of people like you that I am able to educate at least one more person about the way disable people live their lives.With your help we can teach people that it is ok to go up and ask questions if we’re curious.
Curiosity is a good thing and we should never be shaming other people for asking questions as long as they are appropriate and within reason.
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