Keeping Up With Jerry: A collection of scenes based upon personal recollections and reflections from the life of somebody who has cerebral pa (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781453897171)

When I was four, my family moved from Joplin, Missouri to California because dad heard that California had more opportunities for a child like me who had cerebral palsy. My folks decided early on that I wasn't going to use my handicap to get my way. When I ordered my brother Larry to get a toy that I could have gotten on my own, dad overheard and gave me a spanking. Mom, years later, told me that dad went into the other room and cried after giving me that spanking. Dad passed away when I was twelve. When I was in my late teens, it became very difficult for mom to care for me. So, my family arranged for me to move into a care facility. It seemed like a good idea at the time and I had high hopes of living in an environment much like the wonderful day school I had attended. It didn't turn out that way. The hardest thing I learned behind institution walls was that I would never learn to walk or speak clearly. At age 27, with the help of a good friend, I checked myself out of the first care facility. I eventually got my own apartment through a subsidized program in the county where I lived. I currently live on my own but I did spend five years living with a friend. We had a comfortable and pleasant life that included having two dogs and a cat. I have been writing poetry and short stories since I was about eleven years old. For many years, I wrote my poems and stories on an old typewriter, using a crochet hook in my left hand, my good hand. My right hand is strong but not controllable. Fortunately, technology came along just in time. Special software programs enable me to use a stick with a curved point on one end to push in the keys one at a time through the holes in the plastic template that I have had placed over the keyboard. The software program lets me have more than one key at a time pressed down, helps me find words, checks my spelling, and holds down the shift key for capitals and such. Finally living outside of institutions enabled me to attend college classes in writing. It also enabled me to publish the handicapped student newsletter at the college, meet people all over my community, have a girlfriend, hire and fire the people I required to take care of my needs, go on vacations with friends, pay my own bills, and manage my own life. Sometimes I get into dangerous situations, have people take advantage of me, and even get hurt occasionally. I consider all these things are just part of life.