Living with CP: the early years part 28.

Hello everyone.  I hope you all are having a wonderful day today. I have to more stories about Gorman School.  I also have a story about my first electric wheelchair, so let's get started. 

A Power-Wheel Jeep.

During the last 3-4 years that I went to Gorman School, someone gave the school 3 of those big Power-Wheel vehicles that kids play in, two Jeeps and a fire truck. The 2 jeeps were normal for the kids that could use their hands and feet without any problem.  The fire truck, on the other hand, was highly modified. When you got on it you could drive it with a joystick.  I think the main reason the school got those was to help the kids with their reaction time and thought process, and of course for fun! 

My next story also happened 2-3 years before I left that school. One year someone came in and said that they wanted to design and build a playground for handicapped people.  I never saw anything like it before.  It had paths all over it for wheelchairs, it even had huge swings you could get on with electric chairs. They would strap the chair down first and you could swing. 

Even when I was young, I could not sit in a chair by myself without some sort of support.   I get all my chairs at ATG Rehab in Dayton, Ohio because they make sure I'm sitting right.  I have to have side supports on my chair so I do not fall over. The older I get the more difficult it gets because my body is always changing. 

In my next entry I'm going to tell you about two special people that helped me keep up with those changes over the years and even to this day.  Also, the extra work that one of them did to make sure everything was just right for me. Have a great day, everyone!