One time a kid was making fun of me because of my hair. Curly hair wasn't really in vogue back when I was a little kid. I got really mad at him and I was able to use my upper strength. One day, I pinned him to the ground and kept him there for a long time. He started crying. One of the girls said, "You're going to be in a lot of trouble for this." and I said, "I don't care because this kid is just driving me nuts." I went into the principal's office and told the kid flat out, "If you don't stop bugging me, I don't want to see you again." We became buddies after that.

I think it was on a snowy day, or a really wet day. Water can affect your crutches. I went into the room and lost my footing and I go down...well, I was going at a pretty good clip and slid kind of like how the baseball players do it. The teacher was really impressed.

In seventh grade we were playing baseball. A teacher that I had grown to respect commented on how well I was able to run the bases. I really respected that because a lot of my peers had said how slow I was.

I'm starting to learn how to drive. This summer I went up to Crotched Mountain. I was all over the road at first. I was naive enough to think that I could drive a car right away. I was afraid that because I drove so poorly I would be a menace to the public good! My driving instructor and I drove to Concord. I was really excited because I was able to go in a straight line. My instructor says he was really impressed with my progress. I am going to do my darndest to learn how to drive. It was a real growing experience and I had to face a lot of adversity. Going straight down the highway just felt so good. If people will just work with me, I can overcome my limitations.

I can admit freely that I'm not really different than other people. I think what stops people is perception and stereotypes of us as disabled people and fragile. It just means that certain muscles in my legs are tighter than they would normally be. Besides that, we have very much the same dreams and aspirations. I think we all want to lead productive lives.