Being Disabled | UNEDITED article

So about 4 months ago I wrote an article about my life for an online magazine called The gang magazine. Recently I noticed that the website was down so my article is no longer available for viewing. :( so sad, I know but it's ok because I'm going post on here! YAY!! The reason I;m sharing it here is because I still have people ask me for the link but it no longer exists so here it is, UNEDITED.

Hi! My name is Bre'Donda, I am 24 years old & I live on the coast of Texas. Being that I live on the coast, I enjoy going to the beach & hanging out with my friends. I've been through things in my life that has taught me a lot along the way, things that have made me the strong woman I am today. Everybody has a unique life story, here's mine.

I was born April 26, 1991, to Elizabeth, a beautiful young single mother of now 3 girls. Cristina, Theresa & Bre'Donda. The day I was born the doctors informed my mother that I had a condition called Cerebral palsy (A physical disability that effects movement & posture).According to them, I wouldn't be able to walk & I wouldn’t be able to live past the age of 5. Boy were they wrong! Years went by, I started school & the school automatically wanted to place me in special education due to the fact that they didn't understand my disability. They thought since I was in a wheelchair I must have a learning disability too, they were also wrong. My mom had to fight the school board for me to be in regular education. Despite the fact that my sister Cristina had asthma, I was the only child of my mothers with a disability. A disability that prevented me from doing the things that I really wanted to do. A disability that made my mom fight for my rights to be treated “normal”. I remember being a little girl & going places with my family & noticing people always staring at me. I would ask my mom why they stare & she simply said, because no one has ever seen anyone as beautiful as you. When she said that I took that as the truth so when people stare at me even to this day I just smile & say hello. That’s when my positive outlook pretty much started. When I was 13 I found out that I had been misdiagnosed. I went to see a neurologist who had re-diagnosed me with a mild case of cerebral palsy & muscle dystonia. The CP effects the left side of my body, making my left arm limp & my left leg & eye slightly weaker. The MD effects my strength. My doctor prescribed me a muscle relaxer that would make it easier for me to be independent & self-sufficient. After that day, my life changed for the better. Before being prescribed that medication I was the complete opposite of self-sufficient, I needed help with everything from going to the restroom to feeding myself. I couldn’t do anything for myself at all without help I felt hopeless. The day I started taking that medicine I was able. I didn’t feel hopeless nor did I feel helpless. I started getting around the house on my own by crawling, I was able to feed myself & go to the bathroom on my own. I felt like a new person! After that, my mom told me that I can do anything I put my mind to. I started learning how to do more & more on my own to the point where I became self-sufficient.  I had good people in my life, people who treated me like nothing was wrong with me. I feel like having those type of people in my life has made me humble and brave. When I say brave I mean not being afraid of being who I am. Not letting people bring me down because I look different.  I was denied a lot growing up, I couldn’t play sports because I can’t walk, I couldn’t do special Olympics because I didn’t meet the qualifications. It’s like, I was stuck in the middle of what society calls “normal” & ”abnormal” no one cared that I was smart or able to do some things on my own. All they saw was that I sit in a wheelchair. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school when I finally was able to be in an extra-curricular activity & that was debate. Even then my mom had to fight for me because they didn’t want to have to get a handicapped bus. So I was in debate reciting poetry by Maya Angelou & I absolutely loved it! It was the first time I actually felt a part of something. After I graduated high school I moved with my mom to San Antonio, Texas & started college at a community college there & only went for a semester. I felt overwhelmed and unprepared so I dropped it. People treated me different & I even felt my own study group dissing me sometimes.  I don’t know, I felt as though I wasn’t ready for that commitment at that time. When I was 20 I was so ready to move out & be on my own so I moved back to the coast & got a place with my best friend Hevan. It was fun I felt free & independent & like I could do anything. I didn’t need my mom to fight for me, I was on my own. While living there, I had a few complications with it not being wheelchair accessible as far as getting my power chair in the house. One day I decided it would be ok to leave it on my back porch considering we had a gate in our back yard. That night Hevan goes in the back yard to find that my wheelchair had gone missing. Someone had stolen it. I cried in confusion as to who would do such a thing, what did I do so wrong to deserve someone to steal something so valuable from me? We called the police but they never found it so I tried to order a new wheelchair. To this day, I’m still having problems getting a new power chair due to some ridiculous process.  Hevan & I had personal differences about 4 months later. I left & I needed my mom’s help finding a new place. (so much for being independent)  We found a place that I could afford within my price range of my social security check which was at the time $600. I only lived there a year then I moved with my now ex-boyfriend to an apartment in which we split the costs. (that was a big mistake) He ended up leaving me so I ended up breaking my lease. Now I live with my dad so that I can save money to get my own place again. I think the hardest thing about being disabled relying on a small check to live off of because life gets pricey but don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t want a pity party all I want is for people to know what it’s like being in a wheelchair. You might think that we get things handed to us, we don’t. just like you, I have to do what I can to get what I got. Reading this, I want people to know that physically disabled people are just as amazing as you all are. We all enjoy life the best way we know how.  Funny story, years ago I was obsessed with the real world (haha) anyway I heard this girl on there say something that stuck, something I live by now & that is “Live to Love & Laugh a lot” If we’re too busy judging books by their covers then we’re not taking the time to get to know & love people for who they are & laugh at all the nonsense, make others laugh, laugh at yourself! It’s perfectly fine I do it all the time because I know I’m not perfect.  I really hope you guys loved my story & enjoyed getting to know me.

Much Love,