Gosh, Deri, what happened to the blighter?  One hopes he was kicked out of
school!  Or did you sneakily get your revenge another way?

Kat

-----Original Message-----
From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Deri James
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 7:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: what were your childhoods like?

On Wednesday 23 April 2008 04:57:38 Michael H. Collis wrote:
> Mary,
>
> I didn't have a normal childhood.  My parents put me in a special school
> some 10 hours away from them, because the public schools at that time were
> not equipped to educate children with profound disabilities.  I stayed
> there for 11 years.  They then put me in another special school 2 days
> drive from them, where I stayed 4 years, and got my secondary education.
I
> knew my parents, but I didn't know them either, so it a real eye-opener
for
> me to come back home to live.   i went to college my first year out at a
> ccommunity college near my home, then transferred to a small college in
> Rocky Mount, NC.   My parent were a little too supportive of me, and tried
> to shield as much of the bad from me as they could.   I wish they hadn't
> given me an unrealistic  goal for my life.
>

Hi Mary,

I went to a normal school from 4-7 (although quite a few half days each week
I 
was away from school doing physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational 
therapy). From 7 till 19 I was in special ed boarding schools. Teasing & 
bullying happens at all schools, and I still have physical scars even 40 
years later.

After going through a memorable phase of being "beaten up" on a
fairly regular basis at school, I developed what I thought was a
blindingly brilliant stratagem.

I let it be known, due to brain damage of the pain receptors, I
couldn't feel pain (a lie). After the initial flurry of people
eager for empirical confirmation of this astounding theory,
usually resulting in a bloody nose (whilst inwardly chanting the
soothing mantra "Om, Om, Omy, Oh my that smarts"). My stoic
efforts appeared to have worked, for half a term - no beatings.

What my brilliant theory had failed to account for was Terry, a
boy of huge size and strength, but not of intellect. A veritable
collussus who though slow of thought possessed lightning
reflexes. A boy, who perhaps for that one time in his life,
grasped that age old scientific axiom, that to disprove a
hypothesis sometimes you need to test to destruction. Our
conversation proceeded as follows:-

    "I heard you feel no pain"

    "That's right - I can't feel anything" Mentally steeling
    myself for the forthcoming bloody nose.

    "I cut your hand off!!"

The fact I lasted 4 strokes of his metal comb on the back of my
wrists, owes more to the speed of his reflexes, than any stoicism
on my part. The blood curdling scream I emitted certainly marked
the definite end of my "no pain" theorem.

    "I fought yer wuz lying!!"


(Apologies, I admit I did post this to the list in 1999!! Thought it could
do 
with another outing!!).


Cheers

Deri

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