by Fabrice Lekina
I was born with Cerebral Palsy, which affects someone’s motor skills. In my case, my legs are the most affected. That’s why I use a wheelchair or a walker to navigate through life. I was also born prematurely, so I was placed in an incubator after being born; but then there was a power outage in the hospital that further affected my condition.
I have never looked at my disability as a medical or human error; I have always considered my disability to be a blessing from God because there are many children who are born premature and don’t get to live a full life. However, I don’t deny that I face many challenges in my life daily. Some people see me in a wheelchair and immediately assume that I must need help. They start treating me as if I was still a child, so I have to prove to people that, although I am disabled and in a wheelchair, that does not stop me from pursuing my dreams and living life to the fullest. Additionally, I have ran into some rude people. One day while on my way to campus, I was trying get on the bus. There was a lady who was sitting in the priority seating of the bus. When I respectfully asked her to move, she told me that she did not want to move, that people like myself need to have a special bus, and that I have no place on the CTA. It took the intervention of the bus drive for the lady to move.
My disability has impacted my life in positive way because I don’t know life without it. Although I face challenges like rudeness, I keep pushing through to show people that having a disability is not the worst thing in the world. Regardless of my disability I am still a human being.
