Instances of Ignorance

Let me continue regaling you with the instances of ignorance that I find myself subjected to.

As I was entering the hospital for my 111th surgery (slight exaggeration - it's only my 10th), I had the opportunity/misfortune of having to educate a nurse regarding cerebral palsy. You would think that a person in the medical profession would realize the need to think before speaking but obviously, I was mistaken. I was waiting to get a nerve block when a nurse came by to do the pre-procedure work-up. During the course of our conversation regarding my health, I advised her that I have cerebral palsy.

Her response: "You do? I wouldn't think that. You don't have a speech impediment and you're not cognitively impaired."

My first thought: "Holy shit - who says this in a hospital?" I looked at my mother and she looked at me in disbelief. Good grief! Here we go again.....

My response (in a polite tone): "Well, there are different types of CP and different levels of severity. It presents differently in each person depending on what part of the brain was injured."

At least twice more during the evaluation, she remarked that she couldn't believe I had CP.

Here's what annoyed me about this interaction: Did she think that she was paying me a compliment by telling me I did not fit her image of an individual with CP? Why share that with me? Why was this such a great revelation to a person in the medical field?

Ok, so I wasn't that annoyed and upon further reflection, perhaps it was actually a bit humorous. I have always been a magnet for the curious, the stupid, and the mean-spirited. Now that I've accepted and embraced being a woman with cerebral palsy, I am committed to educating those who have laughed or sneered at me, those who have called me names, those who have imitated my walk and just about anyone who cares to comment negatively upon my condition. No longer will I ignore the ignorance.

Saying it out loud

Taking the plunge . . .I have Cerebral Palsy and I'm saying it out loud. I have Cerebral Palsy. It's out there for the whole world to know, or whoever comes across my newly formed blog.


To the gentlemen who so kindly uttered that I walked like a drunkard as I made my way to the Aqua Diner Room on the NCL Dawn, oops you're so wrong.