Living with Cerebral Palsy and Intersectionality

I don't have a favorite outfit because nothing fits right. Cerebral Palsy affects my posture and overall body movement, which impacts the way clothes sit on my body. It's always been incredibly difficult for me to find clothes that fit just right. And, I've never been one of the means to have my clothes Custom Tailored even if my attitude is (that's a call back to an old lyric of mine). On occasion, I have used the fact that clothes don't fit right as a way to hide my CP. In high school and into my twenties, I wore very loose fitting jeans, which did more to hide my gait than most clothes. It also hid my stance when I wasn't moving. I liked that. There was a time in high school where those kinds of pants were fashionable, but for most people it was just the look of the time. For me, it was also a way to blend in.  The worst part is being uncomfortable. I'm incredibly uncomfortable in most clothes that are deemed professional. I put on a tie when it's exp...

Allyship is a relatively new term for me that I've learned from the CP community. However, it's not a new concept to me. Having the genuine support of others who don't necessarily understand my lived experience with Cerebral Palsy has been an incredibly important and valuable thing in my life.  I'm not talking about the people that take pity on me, or try to overcompensate for what I need, or undercompensate for what I need. That's not being a true ally. I'm talking about the people that see my lived experience and see me. That list is a lot shorter.  How it started – for the most part, I've encountered a lot of well-meaning people, who have tried to provide opportunities to me that they thought would make things better. But, much of the time, those things came in the form of consolation prizes. I appreciate what they were trying to do but, it didn't always land the way I think it was intended.  Third grade field day is a good example of performative kin...

The majority of my stories, up to this point, have been mostly rooted in the past. That makes them in one sense, easier to talk about, and harder to talk about. The story I'm about to tell you, is rooted very much in the now. It's about Cerebral Palsy and pain management. How it started – apart from post surgery pain, I hadn't had much of any pain from my Cerebral Palsy at all. A lot of the time, I'd get asked if I was in pain because it looked like I might be. But I really didn't have much pain or any from the CP. I had your average workout pains, soreness from a hard day of PT, or a strain here and there. But no regular pain specifically from the CP.  Where it went – My relatively physiologically pain-free existence continued for a very long time. I really only started to have pain once I reached my thirties. And even then, it would kind of come and go. It was only about 2 or 3 years ago that I started to notice it wasn't going away anymore. It sits like a dul...

Different things motivate different people to live and act accordingly. For me, Cerebral Palsy is a pretty major reason for why and how I live and act in this world. Living with CP gives me a different lens for how I see things. I'm not alone in that lens, but each one of us who lives with CP has our own context.  I've noted in other posts that I've had to modify various activities throughout life. I've also gone without doing certain things. One skill I taught myself with a modified technique, was playing the guitar. My finger dexterity in the chord hand is fairly limited from my CP. I learned pretty quickly as I was first embarking on how to play the guitar, that making traditional chord structures was not only difficult but often painful. So I learned how to play differently. Much like I learned how to live.  How it started – My dad had me behind a drum kit around the time I was 4 years old. Music is in my blood, it's in my soul. I loved playing the drums, but as...