9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - Hi, My name is Tim and I am from 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Orange County. I have cerebral palsy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was born with cerebral palsy and not too 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sure how to answer this question. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because unlike an accident or being 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 born abled and then becoming disabled 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my cerebral palsy is just normal to me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 outside of my family, while I 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was growing up, I knew that I was 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 different from the rest. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but even now my family does not 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 point out that they have a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 disabled son, brother, cousin, uncle 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or friend. my C.P is invisible to them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I first noticed that I was disabled 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when I went outside and played with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my bothers and their friends. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For example, I always played with my 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 brothers but when we played outside 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with the neighborhood kids, I started 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 noticing most of the adults started 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 looking at me moreso then their children. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There is when I knew there was something 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 wrong with me and it wasn't because 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I couldn't use my hands or run with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my friends. Getting teased and being 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 bullied by other kids was easy for me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to deal because I quickly learned how 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to fight back. But, being not invited 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to a classmates birthday party or being 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 told that I should go home by an adult 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 while my brothers are playing with their 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 kids has always impacted my life. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in some ways, I've learned that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 discrimination comes in all shapes 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and sizes and/or the color of your 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 skin. I was in high school when the ADA 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was signed. I really didn't see that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 much of a difference. I was being 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a teenager going through crazy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 adolescence stuff. ADA started effecting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 me when I started collage and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 traveling a lot more. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for example, the ADA got signed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and when I started my first 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 semester in college, I saw a rapid 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 progression with inclusion. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 More and more of my professors 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 were willing to work with me and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 disable student services on how 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to adapt to my disability by giving 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 me more time for term papers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 making sure that I have good 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 notetakers and etcetera. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My first semester in college was 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 very hard. I think that I had 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to retake all of my classes because 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I got no help. After that, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I went to the DSS and they worked 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with me at taking the right classes 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the right professors would 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 make select accommodations for me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 By the time I needed to take my 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 core classes for my major 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the department head knew me and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 worked with me with my final thesis. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 By then, I needed a lot less services 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from DSS because my professors 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 kept track of how I was doing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was one of the first nonverbal student 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at the university who graduated with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a speech communication degree. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 At a very young age I traveled a lot 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with my family. My parents always had 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a running checklist going be for we'd 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 travel. For example, making sure there 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was an accessible bathroom and so on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even now when I travel with my friends 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we always check the restroom situation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (subtle laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When people think about ADA 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the very first thing that they think 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are curb, cuts and sidewalks but there 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are more to it. Just because is not 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 diagnosed with a disability doesn't mean 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that they don't use the services either. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For example, I know regular people that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 turn on subtitles when they are 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 watching TV. They don't have hard of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hearing but they agree that they get 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 more content when they are reading 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and listening at the same time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This will not happen if there was no ADA. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Without the American Disability Act, I 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 strongly believe that we would have 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 gone backwards with education, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 employment, healthcare and so on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Communication is very important to me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Since I have to use Augmentative 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and Alternative Communication Device 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 i've always prioritized technology and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 communication together in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my daily routine.