Observations From Below: Knight Rider's KITT

For most people, sixteen is a big birthday. Some teenagers get their first car and their license, because they've gone through the required driver's education course. This is one area where my disability has made me choose a different path. Like I've mentioned before, I had to have some of every type of Cerebral Palsy (CP). One of the things that is most difficult is probably something that most people don't think of. It's not the tight muscles that cause me some of the biggest problems, I can go to physical therapy and improve those, but there is one thing I've never been able to change at all. A lot of my reflexes are hyper, especially my startle reflex. When I was younger, some of my family thought it was fun to startle me and I was always good natured about it. I could see it coming and I would still jump. I jump when I hear loud noises, even noises on the television. My dog, Duke, and I make each other jump. I've accepted this jumpiness, as part of my experience and it doesn't really bother me anymore. I've figured out how to jump safely most of the time. I make sure I have room to jump without knocking into anything, if I know that something is on the television that is likely to startle me. Picture me behind the wheel of a car and how many sudden things happen when you're driving. Can you imagine the implications of someone like me being behind the wheel of a car, jumping like Mexican jumping bean? I made the difficult, but safer choice, not to go through driver's e...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news