My name is Brian. I am 45 years old, and I have cerebral palsy. Growing up, I have always been interested in sports such as baseball, basketball, and football. As a young kid and adolescent, there weren’t many wheelchair-accessible sports where I lived. However, I found a passion for coaching these sports.
As an adult, I coached all three of those sports. Being a coach was great. It was my way of being involved and feeding my passion for sports. I gained the respect of the players and learned that there’s more than one way to be involved in something you love when you’re faced with limitations.
Aside from being a sports coach for high school sports teams, when I was 25 years old, I decided to move out on my own. I lived in a barrier-free apartment complex for people with disabilities. As you can imagine, I needed outside support with my activities of daily living (ADLs). This was a struggle because finding the right people to provide that support was very difficult. People would not show up, would refuse to do their job, and would sometimes leave me without the proper care.
Living on my own as someone with CP and physical challenges, I proved to myself and others that I could do it. Some of the things I enjoyed doing were going out to restaurants, seeing live music, going to sporting events, and having my own space to call home.
Remember, folks: If I can do it, you can do it.
Thanks for reading.