April 5, 1999 was a very important day in my life. It was the day I started working full-time as an editor/researcher for an Internet portal company called the 4anything.com Network. Most people probably wouldn’t remember the first day on a job. But for a man with cerebral palsy and speech impairment, the first day at work was very special for me. It opened a whole new world for me as well as showing other disabled people that nothing is impossible.

I was born April 29, 1962. I guess some people had written me off since they weren’t that educated about people living with cerebral palsy. I have come a long way in life. And I wouldn’t trade my life for anything. Not even for an able-body with two hot ladies in each arm although I wouldn’t mind that.

I attended Widener Memorial School, a school for the disabled in Philadelphia. I went there for 10½ years before moving to Miami. Once my family settled there, I attended a regular high school, North Miami Beach Senior High. This was the first time I was mainstreamed and I was looking forward to the challenge. My beloved late mother was a little skeptical about me attending a regular school due to the fact that she assumed I needed special attention in classes. Well, as it turned out, I did very well. I then went on to get my Associate of Arts degree in Computer Science from Miami-Dade Community College.

The death of my mother on St. Valentine’s Day 1989 was a very huge lost for me. She was the greatest mom I could have ever ask for. She was stubborn in a way that she would never let me out of her sight. I wish she wasn’t so overprotective of me. But as I grew older I understood why she protected me. Not everyone understands people with disabilities. Some people think that physically challenged people don’t have any intelligence or feelings. This may be going to extreme but I have experienced a situation with my own family members who thought I was a vegetable.

My uncle’s second wife took me to court to try to prove I was incapacitated after I asked her to turn over my mom’s estate back to me. She thought I had no concept of money or that I knew my own name. Although it was the worst thing I have ever had to go through, I feel I am a better person because of it. I appreciate life in a way that I am thrill to death when I write checks out to pay my own bills. That is a great feeling for a guy like me.

Now at 37, I am living life to its fullest. I have my own apartment and do everything myself except drive a car. I do, however, drive an electric wheelchair. I used a speaking device called the Liberator communication aid. This helps me to talk to just about anyone…even the pretty ladies.