“I do not have a disability, I have a gift

“I do not have a disability, I have a gift! Others may see it as a disability, but I see it as a challenge. This challenge is a gift because I have to become stronger to get around it, and smarter to figure out how to use it; others should be so lucky.” ― Shane E. Bryan

I have lived with Cerebral Palsy for almost 25 years now, and I tend to reflect on everything that I had to deal with adapting to society and the body that you’re placed in to tell your story to the best of your abilities.

I don’t consider my condition to be a punishment I consider it to be a gift of a lifetime that I will never return because my condition has given me the true gifts of strength and self-confidence, the abilities to be each and every day that my life goes on and my journey continues to go on I think about every lesson that I have learned because of my disability and I have to be thankful for my condition and what I have been able to achieve.

My condition has made me learn to fight harder for what I want to accomplish in my life so not only has my gift taught me about strength and self-awareness it has also taught me the true meaning of determination and what it means to carry yourself through the toughest times of your life and not quit because life got too hard, it reminds you that sometimes when you fall you have to pick up that wheelchair and continue to wheel through the path that you were given.

Despite everything you’re dealing with in your life because you’re stronger than you know and you make it through it and you’ll be able to be proud of yourself and who you are as individual person so yes, I consider my Cerebral Palsy a gift because of what it has been able to teach me and what it taught me and I’m not ashamed of it nor will I ever because my disability made me who I am as an individual person individual and I’m proud to say in the words of my friends Erin Noon Kay and Mollie Miller from Claiming Disability I claim my disability like the fierce badass that I am.