6 Things I Wish My Family Understood About My Cerebral Palsy
With Thanksgiving soon approaching, I tend to think about my family and how much I’m thankful for their support over the years of my journey with cerebral palsy. But I also wish they could understand these things about my life with cerebral palsy:
1. I don’t mean to be tired first thing in the morning. Having cerebral palsy can sometimes leave me with sleepless nights because of the spasms and the pain. So in the morning, I’m often tired, but I don’t mean to be.
2. I don’t like jumping at loud noises — it just happens. For as long as I can remember, loud noises and I don’t get along. I don’t like jumping at them because it hurts my body, and I’m embarrassed by that side effect, so please understand why I get emotional about it.
3. Cerebral palsy has a mind of its own. Sometimes my cerebral palsy has a mind of its own, and sometimes it causes me to second-guess the way I’m moving around or the task I’m doing.
4. Cerebral palsy isn’t all that bad. Some of my younger family members will say, “I feel so bad for you Ty, you always have to ask people to help you.” Little do they know having cerebral palsy has its perks. For example, I will always get to see the world from a unique perspective.
5. Cerebral palsy does not make me naive about certain things. Some of my family members tend to become shocked when I discuss certain things or have awareness about certain things. For example, when I was visiting my aunt and uncle in North Carolina and I decided to watch “Family Guy,” my aunt said, “Ty, I’m shocked you know what ‘Family Guy’ is. Because of your cerebral palsy, I wouldn’t think you would be aware of that show.”
6. Cerebral palsy can sometimes be too much for me to handle. Although I may have a tough girl attitude, sometimes it’s too much for me to handle. Sometimes I wish I could take a break from my body, just for a day or so. But I can’t, so I just keep going.
Although my family might not know certain things about my cerebral palsy, I love them and I wouldn’t be as strong as I am without them. I’m very thankful that I’ll be spending Thanksgiving with them.
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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