The Cerebral Palsy Network1

When we started this committee we came up with the name I am special.... Now our group has evolved into so much more. They are wonderful supportive and informative. They deserve more than the word "special" They know that and we know that so we need you thoughts for an empowering name for adult/teen community. please send us your ideas today at: adults with cp

Dena Kirchoff - List Moderator and Adults with CP Chat host!

Please take a moment to read the information below. If you have Cerebral Palsy we encourage you to take a moment to join our email list for individuals with CP *ages 13- 199*

Our Statement

Why I am special

We are special for several reasons. We are all God's children and I believe we are not special just because we are disabled. All of us disabled or not have the ability to make the world a better place by improving ourselves and helping others. Life is a gift and all of us should strive to improve physically, mentally and spiritually.
I try to use my experiences to help others. As a 39 year old man with a disability I try to educate society about the disabled by explaining how I became disabled and my experiences. I also try to encourage people that are
disabled to never give up trying to improve themselves and never making your disability an excuse for not trying. You may not succeed all the time but I believe you only fail when you do not try at all. I do not know everything
about myself and neither does anyone else because we should continue to learn
from life's experiences. I know life is not perfect and many people treat
disabled people different. We must learn from these experiences and try to
educate people that have open minds and try to educate children to keep their
minds open to people with disabilities and anyone that is different.

All of us are individuals and never should be categorized by anyone. When
this happens we should fight for our rights. There are many people with CP
and other disabilities that have speech defects or cannot speak at all.
People with speech defects or cannot speak at all should not be treated
different and when they are we should help them fight for their rights.

We cannot change some people that have closed minds but we should never stop
fighting for all people to be treated with respect and dignity.

I am not speaking about the degrading way some people say because you are
disabled we are special. No way, all I'm saying is we should use our
experiences to help others. That makes many people in the disabled community
special. I am not just talking about the people that have a disability I'm
also talking about parents, relatives and friends

Stephen Allman©

Our Purpose

The importance of email lists and chats

All of us are individuals and should be treated with respect and dignity.
Unfortunately many people treat disabled people different and that is wrong.
All of us should have goals, dreams and desires. It does not matter how
disabled you are everyone is an important member of our group.

The purpose of email Lists and chats is to help, inform and help people feel
included. It is sad to say there are many people that will not give a person
with a disability a chance to show them they are intelligent with ideas but
also we have feelings and many times they are ignored and that is wrong. We
can discuss these problems as well as others concerning CP. We cannot solve
your problems but sometimes it is better to talk about them so we don't dwell
on them which could cause other health problems.

Everyone needs support and love. All of us want to be included in society and
not excluded. We discuss these problems and try to figure out how to handle
these problems but remember we cannot solve your problems. Sometimes when
talking about these problems another person may have an opinion that may help
you.

We want to be like a family and that means we talk about problems but we
discuss the positive parts of CP. We want to hear about how you improve and
what gave you the incentive to do that. I have learned so much from others
and hopefully so have you.

Stephen Allman©

Our Goals

To provide an online support group for adults/teens with CP. *accomplished*
To host chats for adults & teens, for social interaction with each other.
To provide topic specific chats that affect our daily lives.
To be involved in chats with parents of children acting as advocates to them and providing them valuable information in caring for their child.*accomplished*
Advocate to make products and care affordable.
Ensure all disabled are internet accessible by finding computers & free or reduced access.
To make our group known to different companies for testing products.
To seek out Grants and fundraisers to complete our goals and to help others achieve theirs.
To find ways to improve issues in our daily lives whether it is Housing, Employment, society awareness, independence, proper and affordable care.

This site designed & maintained by Mystic Dawn Web Creations. The Cerebral Palsy Network©1997/2003. All graphics are the exclusive property of CPN, unless otherwise indicated. Contact CPN at Cerebral Palsy Network for further information.

Last updated 03/24/03

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