When I was little, my mother could tell that I was not going up the stairs correctly. She took me to the doctor, where they did a lot of brain tests and found out that I had a mild case of cerebral palsy (CP) on my left side, mostly in my ankle. Cerebral palsy is when you have an abnormal brain development that affects muscle tone.

Many people can't tell I have CP because it is mild, but that doesn’t mean I don't struggle. When I was younger, I hated my leg braces. I would cry, scream, and—if I am being honest—I don’t know how my family could deal with me when I had to put them on. One time, I screamed so loudly that someone called the cops. Looking back now, it is funny, but at that moment it was not funny for anyone in that situation. Why was I screaming and crying over something that, in the long run, helped me?

Fast forward to 7th grade. I was entering a new school with new people. I had my braces on all the time. I would wear them to school, and many kids would ask me questions; I did not know what to say or how to answer them. I felt different from everyone else. Because of that, I would go to school with my braces on but as soon as I got to school, I would take them off and put on normal shoes. I wanted to feel like I was not different from the rest of the kids at school. I did this for the rest of the year and in 8th grade, until Covid hit and we no longer went to school.

When we went back to school in 9th grade, I realized that yes, I am different from the rest of the kids I go to school with, and yes, I have CP, but that does not make me lesser. It just makes me unique in that I have something that makes me, me and makes me strong. My mindset changed after seeing little kids with braces and how they did not seem fazed by having them on their legs and how they still went on with their days. Ever since I realized that, I look at a lot of things differently. I realize that it is okay that I have CP, that it is okay that I walk differently than other people because it is what makes me who I am.

This year things got even more complicated. I went to the doctor because I couldn’t walk on my left side because I had pain in my hip. The doctors figured out that it was a labrum tear, which means that my hip bone was misshapen and cutting a muscle. When I went in for surgery to repair it, they figured out that I had CP in my hip as well. After finding this out, instead of reacting the way I did as a child, I did a lot of physical therapy so my hip would not become tight like my leg.

My CP is a big part of who I am because it helps me tell my story, the story of how I overcame many challenges and how I have changed over the years into a stronger person, a more outgoing person. This has shown me that it is alright to talk about my CP because I am not alone and there are many other people who have it as well. I hope that after reading this story you see that no matter if you have a disability or not, you are perfect just the way you are and you don’t need to change for anybody.

© Riley. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.