Hi there, let me introduce myself. I’m Liz. I was born with a disability that affects my whole left side. It is called a hemiparesis. In layman’s terms, I am half paralyzed on my left side. My balance is affected so when I was growing up it took me longer to do normal things than someone who doesn’t have a disability. I did not walk until I was 3 years old. There were lots of therapy classes including physical therapy where I swung in swings across the room to focus on my balance. Also, my mother and father rolled me around the floor over a tube made out of foam to make sure I could crawl. I also had speech therapy with Mrs. O’Brien, one of my favorite therapists. She made sure I spoke well and was forming words correctly.  Along with this when I was born my heart was enlarged so I had serious brain surgery at the age of 6 with clips to make sure it was pumping the right way. The end result affected my brain and the way I learn.

I never thought of myself as having a disability when I younger, my mother and father and sister never treated me that way. Yes, I fell a few times and I had things that were adapted. My bike was a bit different from my sisters. It was a tricycle, but they never let me not have a normal childhood. I was very happy as a child. 
When I hit second grade, my family moved from where we were living in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Pennsylvania specifically Lower Merion Township. I attended elementary school here, but at the age of 13, when I entered middle school and started more structured guided learning classes which focused on the students learning differently. I was in these classes until I was a junior or senior in high school. 

At this point, I started hating being associated with anybody with a disability and found myself saying my disability isn’t like theirs, also I’m not like them and I hated the teasing that I was receiving from the “normal kids”. I was in classes that were made for people that learned differently.  I came home crying and sad on numerous days because I was called things that would not be tolerated these days. I did not socialize much. I had friends but not many.

At the age of eighteen after making a pretty big accomplishment and graduating high school, I decided I wanted to go to Harcum Junior College to get an Associate’s Degree and have the college experience. I was able to achieve this with a lot of help from my professors and tutors in my 20’s. But I wanted more because there was only so much a disabled person could do with an Associate’s Degree in Computer Technology. I went on to Cabrini College. It is now called Cabrini University. I graduated and got my Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies.

I have held various jobs over the years in an architecture firm as a Receptionist where I answered phones and did some office work, and later at Target as a Customer Service Specialist, that was the hardest because it took a toll on me physically. Not only was I handling customers, but I was walking constantly, bending, and lifting products on shelves.  I eventually had to quit.   

Two years ago, I was accepted as an Intern in the Project Search program at Lankenau Hospital. It is a program that helps people with disabilities get jobs. I was able to have internships in the medical field that helped me get a ton of self-esteem and confidence by training in different programs and departments. After I graduated from the program, it took me awhile to get a job. But I am now working as a Hospitality Associate at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

As I have gotten older and wiser, I have learned that my disability is a part of me and what makes me unique and special. Yes, there are still setbacks every so often but I have learned to handle them better.  Romantic Relationships.  Those were hard. Most of the boyfriends I had never accepted me for the way I am or how I truly deserved to be treated. But each one taught me about myself.

 I now have adapted to wearing a brace on my leg just because it gives me extra support in the getting where I need to go and not fall. I belong to two social groups now and one of them I have been in for years. I even met my best friend in one of them. I now have numerous friends where we share having a disability in common although it may not be the same.  I have also become more vocal on disabled rights since I had to go through some of the processes myself to achieve what I wanted in life. It has made me a stronger person inside and out.