Am I Different Mommy?
“Am I Different, Mommy?” This is a question no child should have to ask a mother. Due to a cruel act by two teenage boys in her neighborhood, this is what a six year old girl had to ask her Mother. The Mom did her best to explain to her little girl that she had something called Cerebral Palsy (CP). Her Mother had hoped and prayed that her little girl would be older when she had to tell her that just because her legs turn in, or her speech is impaired, or her hands do not function well – she is just like everyone else. This little girl would grow up having to prove this to world over and over.
Everyone has a story, this is Lisa Vaughn’s story. It begins in nineteen sixty-eight with a traumatic birth resulting in her having Cerebral Palsy, although, no one would know this for a couple of years. Her Mother got pregnant at eighteen and decided to give her daughter a better life and found a nice family to adopt her baby. After complications at birth, doctors knew there was brain damage. Back then, no baby could be adopted knowing that there might be a developmental delay in the baby’s lifespan. Lisa’s Mother was told that her little girl was going to an institution. She looked at this beautiful baby that she promised to give a better life and knew right then that the better life would be with her. Doctors advised her against it. They told her that Lisa would not walk, talk, or function at any adult level. Little did they know that this little girl would grow into a happy successful woman who would , get married, raise two wonderful children and earn a bachelor’s degree!
Readers will be drawn into Lisa’s world as she shares what life is like growing up with a severe disability. She expresses the pain of children rejecting her just because she is different; but the joy of having those few friends that accepted her no matter what. She tells of the struggle her Mother had trying to get a child with CP into an education system where “inclusion” was not accepted. She intimately describes the hurt of watching her teenage friends find their first love, thinking no boy would ever love her because of the fear of being ostracized but being so happy finding that one boy that did not care what others thought. She continues her story into adulthood giving readers an insight on what it is like living with a severe disability.
Through her book, Lisa struggles with the conflict of trying to “fit in” and be like everyone else but realizing that it is okay to be different. It is society that needs to change their preconceived notions of the diverse population. In sharing her story, readers will learn that people with disabilities are just like them. They have more challenges than most but have the same hopes and dreams as everyone else.
If you enjoyed this, buy me a cup of coffee. Thanks so much!