Hi Jonathan,
Welcome to the listserv! Since cp occurs usually in infancy, and in later
childhood if  the child is abused or in an accident, it  is doubtful that
you have cp.  It might be Dystonia... since cp does not get worse with age,
although we are more prone to develop arthritis and muscle problems. How
old are you?

I'm Mag, and 49 years old, athetoid cp, several forms of arthritis, FMS...
Single - writer - animal lover, mum to two cats...

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"What is real but compassion, as we move from birth to death?"
~~Greg Brown~~


> [Original Message]
> From: Jonathan Rand <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 11/2/2005 1:32:07 PM
> Subject: I'm new...
>
> Hi,   I’m new.  I should introduce myself.  I’m arriving at a very sad
time…
>   :(  2 of my friends died recently.  (Within the past year.)  So when I
> hear these things, it hits home.
>
> I’m Jonathan Rand.  Spastic, athetoid quad…  Nonverbal.  Official
diagnosis
> of CP but no one knows wats really going on.  The condition acted like MS
at
> first…  Episodal, progressive…..  Now, static.  I’m also visually
impaired,
> had open heart surgery for a congenital condition….  & that’s most of it,
> although not all!  :)
>
> I WAS a musician & an artist.  I wrote 50 songs, over the years.  I think
> EVERYTHING is lost now.  There’s no written record or recordings of my
> latest & best stuff, & after years of not being able to practice the
music,
> its faded from my memory.
>
> Call me PROFESSOR GADGET, because I designed my own assistive devices to
> help me shave & open doors etc. .  I only just got my mouse alternative
up &
> running.  I call it The SNAKE.  I’m assembling a second snake to enable me
> to draw again.  I’m hoping to be able to make drawings of a speech
machine I
> invented.  I think it’ll enable someone to generate speech at a near
normal
> rate of speed.  No waiting while u type, “look,
>
>
> out,
>
>
>
>                        he’s,
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> got,                                  a,
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>                        gun!”
>
>
> Anyway, I guess that’s enough?
>
> Except 2 say that it’s a very lonely existance.  I have no normal
> friendships, & absolutely no love.  Basically, its just me, my powerchair,
> “’;GOO-GOO,” & my RATHER PRIMATIVE speech machine, “Little Stevie
Hawking,”
> (“Stevie,” for short)!  Traveling through time, headed for the inevidable!
> :)
>
> Sounds depressing?  Well it is!  So I came HERE, looking for people who
> might share some of my experiences.
>
> OK, that's really it!  :)
>
>                                   JR