my parents moved the family to california because it was the one of two States in the 1950's to have a headstart program for handicappd kids, so when i as 3, we came here. I went to special schools (gag) until 8th grade, when  was interviewed for a spot at one of the first  mainstreaming programs in 1970. from age 7-18, my mother drove me to after-school speech, math and spelling tutoring at least three times a week. in fact when i think of my childhood, one image i get is of me and mom the B*&^%h in the car. god bless her, but i mean it wasn't much fun. I got pt and ot at school, until 5th grade came and i was still doing the same damn exercises in pt that I'd done 1st,2nd,3rd,and yawn, 4th grade! not very fun or imaginative. and not very helpful. so then at the same center where i got all  my other afterschool stuff,they added pt, but it was very fun and challenging! trampoline, baseball, and in the summer the same guy had his whole family working with
 us at day camp, and twas yonder that i met his daughter kathy who was my age, and she went to hill jr high and she and i became good friends and she intro'd me to her two friends so i actually had a great time in jr high. easier than grade school where I was the 2nd lowest kid on the totem pole in terms of who played with me, and being last chosen for baseball, after working with bob, i hit a homerun at school & everybody was shocked.  bob had worked on my fear of having balls coming  at me. (shut up, deri! haha) it was the talk of school for a week.  the secret, u see, was that ball hit my finger and it hurt so i sank that bat into it like nobody's business. 

i was dismayed when i found i wouldn't be going to wilson high, with kathy, or even miliken high with my pal steve from the handicapped program at hill.  no, instead i was sent to the farthest school in long beach, jordan, where i knew nobody, and had crappy teachers, and couldnot keep up with the reading assignments in biology... i got sick with broncitas, was hopelessly behind, and i put my foot down. long story short, i ended up at a private alternative school for tenth grade, then i met lisa, who went to a charter school within a school which was much better, even tho it was in the ghetto of long beach.  all this because wilson high was not accessible.   but i loved SEA school. some popular actors have come from SEA , including cameron diaz, camryn manheim, and others. 

I would have liked to not been bused an hoyr away to grade school, i'd much rather have been able to walk one block to school like my sister, i would have hopefully been able to make friends and stand up for myself if need be, i have a second image of my kidhood, and that is being lonely, looking out the window of our L-room, and wishing the girls in my scout troop were my friends... one was, her name was Dodie, and she came over sometimes and tried on my braces, but her being a wee lil thing they were too big but i'll always remember her, she had beautiful golden curls...

my parents fought for me every step when they needed to, i'm so glad i saw this, because it has helped me be an activist and self-advocate.
 but when i was 177 my mom let me know in no uncertain terms that she didn't want me living at home after school. (i thought, you bitch, why would i even want to?!) my dad was the one who was over protective. but bless his soul, he never held me back.  
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----- Original Message ----
From: Deri James <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 4:28:12 PM
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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