Go Green!

Post date: March 3, 2025

By Dylan Phillips 

My name is Dylan Phillips. I live in a different world. People may wonder what type of world. I live in a world called Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy is a disability that affects people in different ways. Mine is a severe form called Spastic Quadriplegic CP. It limits my ability to move, learn, and communicate. I was born with it.

 Because I live with this disability, I would like people to know that March is National Cerebral Palsy awareness month and become more educated, compassionate, and understanding of this very frustrating and challenging disability. 

This is what a typical day looks like in my world. I wake up in the morning and my dad helps me out of bed since I’m unable to walk and move unassisted. After finishing my breakfast and getting ready for the day, I take a special needs bus to get to school. My bus has one driver and two aides. Even though I have been practicing using my motorized wheelchair, I will always need assistance operating it. I require full time care and supervision.  When I get off the bus, my 1:1 aide is with me the entire day, along with other aides who are trained in what my special needs are.  She helps me with everything from learning, communicating, and moving.  I also require maximum assistance with toileting and eating.  I receive special services in school such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, which all help me to be as independent as possible. People may look at me as functioning at a high level because I am verbal. But what they don’t realize is that certain aspects of my cognitive abilities are at an elementary level, like math.  This is because of severe vision problems and processing problems in my brain. 

Sometimes people talk to me as if I’m deaf or hearing impaired. I don’t appreciate that because it makes me feel belittled, like a child.  I don’t do well with loud noises because my hearing is extra sensitive. My doctor once told me that my hearing is 10-20 times more sensitive than the average person. 

In school, I have to live in the regular world. It takes a lot of effort at school physically and mentally to control my body movements and to think about what I do and what I say in my classes. At the end of the school day, I feel tired and need a break from the world, where it’s quiet. I can get out of my wheelchair, lay down, and not be concerned about my involuntary body movements. I usually watch a favorite show, or listen to an audio book. Sometimes I rock back and forth because it helps me feel better and control my movements. 

I hope one day we will live in a society where people are more understanding and don’t expect us to only live in their world, because our world can be a place where people can understand differences.

I hope you will join me in celebrating National Cerebral Palsy Month in March and wear green!