*blinks*  Wow,  you sound just like an old boyfriend of mine who  
talks the same way (and writes the same way, too).  He didn't have CP  
though, but PPS which was actually a bit strange as he'd contacted  
polio as a child but never knew it.  And along come all these  
symptoms some thirty years later...!  He was totally gobsmacked when  
the doctors told him.

I'm Kat, one of the list admins, who lives and works as an HRIS  
Analyst in NC.  I have spastic paraplegia and have been in a  
wheelchair for almost 10 years.

Welcome to the list, Jon!

Kat


On 2 Nov 2005, at 16:21, Jonathan Rand wrote:

> 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