What I Wish I Could’ve Told My Mom When I Was Diagnosed With Cerebral Palsy
With my 23rd birthday approaching, I often think about the day I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and how my mother describes it to be one of the scariest days of her life. I can’t even wrap my head around being in her shoes, becoming a mom in her teenage years and then having to find out her child is going to grow up with many obstacles in her way.
It’s something I can’t fathom, and I commend my mother for being so strong through the journey of becoming a mom of a child with cerebral palsy. With that being said, I want to get into what I wish I could’ve told her sitting around the table with all those doctors saying “She’ll never be able to walk, she’ll be able to talk or live an average life.”
I wish I could have told her I’ll be more then what those doctors say, so don’t worry Mommy, we will prove them wrong and be successful in the long run.
I wish I could have told her I believe God made me this way because he knew you could handle me being unique, so don’t worry Mommy, we will be OK.
I wish I could have told her not to cry when people point and stare and ask what happened to me. They’re just curious about cerebral palsy and what makes me unique.
I wish I could have told her I will have a healthy childhood with minimal worry in life.
I wish I could have told her how much of a superhero she is, and how great she will be as a mom.
Tylia L. Flores is a twenty-eight-year-old born with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Despite her condition that affects her mobility, she does not allow it to affect her will and determination to make a difference in the world. Through her many life challenges and obstacles, she discovered her passion for writing. Tylia’s goal in life is to share her stories with the world. In doing so, she hopes to help others with disabilities realize that they, too, have the potential to make their dreams come true. Tylia is not only an author. She’s a radio show personality and a disability activist. Tylia has written about disability-related topics for Yahoo Life, Your Tango, The Mighty, ReadUnwritten.com, Words Between Coasts Project, Wednesday, Spilwords, and Goble Thrive. Worth Living Among her other appearances are Disability on the Spectrum and Why I was Afraid of Sexuality. Previously, Tylia was nominated to Diversabilities list of the most influential Disability Impacts of 2022. Additionally, Tylia holds the position of chairman in the creative director role for the North American Association Of Cerebral Palsy Advocates. She serves as a mentor for the Disability EmpowHer Network as well. Tylia also works for Write It Up Publishing as a sensitivity reader focusing on disability representation. Tylia has also been involved in many movie press releases for Samuel Goldwyn Films Come as you are Piece of me which was the short film directed and written by award winning filmmaker Bruna Cabral as well as the film adaptation of the book Calvin can’t fly by Jenifer Burnes Tylia is also a keynote speaker at 2020’s Cerebral Palsy Awareness conference. She has also been a guest speaker at Northeastern State University Broken Arrow where she talks to college students about disability and inclusion in education. She has also been a guest speaker at Plantation Middle School, where she discussed inclusion and disability with classmates. Tylia is fully certified in Education for All: Disability, Diversity, and Inclusion through Cape Town University. She’s also certified in Understanding Diversity and Inclusion through Purdue University. She’s also certified in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Tylia hosts the Stomping On cerebral Palsy radio show with DJ Ty on Asheville FM with DJ Mouse during the Come On In the Kitchen segment once a month she also helps the staff behind the scenes, help bring awareness to disability awareness and inclusion within the radio broadcasting industry .
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