"Cerebral palsy (noun): a disability marked by impaired muscle coordination (spastic paralysis) and/or other disabilities, typically caused by damage to the brain before or at birth."

I've always hated that every dictionary ever calls my CP a disability. I am a firm believer that a disability is only that if you allow it to be. With that said, I haven't allowed it to be, and I will never allow it to be.

Let me provide you a backstory:

Much of my childhood was spent wearing leg braces and hand splints in an attempt to "correct the problem". Even as a child, I knew it couldn't be completely corrected, but nevertheless I wore what I needed to. As I grew older, that eventually ceased, but new problems plagued me: middle school and high school gym classes, rudeness from classmates due to ignorance, etcetera.

Despite that, positivity and support from family and friends carried me through those times and I got through them. Though, that was not without being reminded every day that I was different. I walked differently, my hand "did a weird thing", and I wore glasses, all because of something that made me different, and by extension, lesser than you. But was I? Really? Or was that just the excuse you used to make yourself feel better about your miserable life?

I have never felt that I was different from anyone else. If you feel that way, that's just because of your ignorance. Which brings me to now:

I'm in my fourth year of college, so close to getting my Bachelors that I can taste it, with pristine grades lining my transcripts. There are people surrounding me every day that still have the audacity to say that I have come this far, getting good grades and graduating early, because of my Cerebral Palsy.

To you, I have one thing to say: I have done this completely on my own.

I don't get the grades I do because my professors pity me (and honestly, none of them know about my CP, anyway, so try again). I'm not graduating early because some committee somewhere got word of my story and decided to give me a free pass. (Oh, that's funny.)

And here's something else:

I'm not even in college on a scholarship given to me because of my "unfortunate circumstances". *Gasps*

Could I have been? Probably. Do I want handouts? Hell no.

Am I here, with good grades and a multitude of amazing opportunities, because of how I present myself academically and socially and because of how hard I have worked to get here? Yes.

So, next time you need to brush me off as The Girl Who Gets Everything Handed To Her because of my Cerebral Palsy, take a look at yourself and consider if maybe you're being so inconsiderate just to make yourself feel better.

I've come this far because I have been motivated to do so, not because the world has given me handouts.

Sorry to disappoint you.