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- Hi, My name is Tim and I am from

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Orange County. I have cerebral palsy.

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I was born with cerebral palsy and not too

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sure how to answer this question.

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Because unlike an accident or being

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born abled and then becoming disabled

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my cerebral palsy is just normal to me.

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outside of my family, while I

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was growing up, I knew that I was

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different from the rest.

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but even now my family does not

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point out that they have a

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disabled son, brother, cousin, uncle

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or friend. my C.P is invisible to them.

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I first noticed that I was disabled

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when I went outside and played with

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my bothers and their friends.

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For example, I always played with my

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brothers but when we played outside

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with the neighborhood kids, I started

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noticing most of the adults started

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looking at me moreso then their children.

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There is when I knew there was something

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wrong with me and it wasn't because

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I couldn't use my hands or run with

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my friends. Getting teased and being

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bullied by other kids was easy for me

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to deal because I quickly learned how

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to fight back. But, being not invited

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to a classmates birthday party or being

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told that I should go home by an adult

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while my brothers are playing with their

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kids has always impacted my life.

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in some ways, I've learned that

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discrimination comes in all shapes

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and sizes and/or the color of your

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skin. I was in high school when the ADA

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was signed. I really didn't see that

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much of a difference. I was being

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a teenager going through crazy

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adolescence stuff. ADA started effecting

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me when I started collage and

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traveling a lot more.

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for example, the ADA got signed

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and when I started my first

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semester in college, I saw a rapid

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progression with inclusion.

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More and more of my professors

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were willing to work with me and

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disable student services on how

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to adapt to my disability by giving

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me more time for term papers

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making sure that I have good

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notetakers and etcetera.

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My first semester in college was

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very hard. I think that I had

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to retake all of my classes because

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I got no help. After that,

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I went to the DSS and they worked

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with me at taking the right classes

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and the right professors would

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make select accommodations for me.

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By the time I needed to take my

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core classes for my major

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the department head knew me and

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worked with me with my final thesis.

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By then, I needed a lot less services

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from DSS because my professors

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kept track of how I was doing.

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I was one of the first nonverbal student

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at the university who graduated with

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a communication degree