I made contact with Lance via Robert Softley's Yahoo group and asked if he'd like to submit his story. Below is his submission, one to provide hope and inspiration for both parents of, and children with Cerebral Palsy and to reinforce the fact that oftentimes it is only the body that debilitates while the mind is as sharp as a razor!

8 months  

18 months

I was born 13 September, 1946 in Newport in the English county of Monmouthshire.  My Father was a serving Police Constable who later became an Inspector. Both parents were excellent and I grew up in a secure environment.

I was born with Cerebral Palsy, but I attended the ordinary village school at Raglan, where my Dad was, by then, the local Sergeant. I was nearly 6 years of age when I started there; and it took me about ten minutes to catch up with others.

When I was eleven I went away to the Thomas Delarue School (TDS) near Tonbridge in Kent on Tuesday 29 April, 1958. That was the only secondary school for students with Cerebral Palsy in the world.

On Thursday 30 July 1964 I became only the second student to pass my driving test in an ordinary car while still at TDS. Although I later became an advanced driver, a stable eye sight problem has stopped me from driving now - much to my continued chagrin.

I went to University at Cardiff and gained a II(ii) Honours degree in Mathematics and then a post graduate university diploma in Statistics. I was then employed as a civil servant at what was known as the Business Statistics Office. I became a Senior Assistant Statistician and later a Higher Executive Officer.  After 26 years I took medical retirement on 8 November, 1996.

Although my experience and its lessons are out of date, I suspect that many of the old prejudices that pervaded attitudes to CP are still alive and living on planet Earth.

When I was a baby my parents were told that I would never do anything at all.  When I was 13 my Mum was told by a negative physiotherapist that I would never earn my own living.  Half a dozen school friends were sent on an assessment course in their late teens.  They were all assessed as unemployable; but every man jack of them gained open and lucrative employment.  That is not just an occasional misjudgement.  That is complete and utter incompetence.  Avoid those courses and the like.  If you cannot do that, ignore them.  They are part of the disability industry and are run for the exclusive benefit of those conducting them.

These people are the misfits.  They were absolutely amazed and nonplussed when I began driving a car.  I hope that they learned from it; but I doubt it.

In 1998, I acquired a hearing problem which is mostly corrected by a Siemens Signia fully digital hearing aid.  Then, on 5 May 1998, my dear Dad died suddenly.

To conclude on an up beat note, I have saved a prodigious amount of money and am financially secure.

Protest

Mark 2
                            
It's not PC to have CP;
And don't I know it well?
Yet next time talk direct to me;
Or else go straight to Hell.

Your comments vile, your switched on smile,
Oh how I hate them all.
You give me bile; it's  just your style.
How do you have the gall?

I want to thump you and then dump
You in the Rio Grand
To make you jump and give you bump
For I despise your brand.

Your daft suggestions, potty questions,
Oh how my brain you tax...
Your blunt injection - indigestion.
Why don't you just relax?

It may be rude; but I conclude
That I'm both fit and well.
And you're the dude who's truly crude;
But keep it to yourself.

Lance K Green BA Dip Stats