I was born with mild CerebralvPalsy in Akron Ohio. My family moved to Pottstown in 1947 from Akron. Dad was with Firestone. We lived on the six hundred block of Charlotte st. Evans st. and Spruce st. We liked that neighborhood. My brothers are Mike and Mel.
I think I was the first person with a disability, to go through the Pottstown public school system. After graduating from high school, there were zero opportunities in PA for people who had disabilities.
In 1962 Dad accepted a position with the Armstrong tire company in Hanford Calif. Moving to Hanford was a culture shock. Hanford is a small farm town in central Calif. with a desert climate.
After two years in Hanford I enrolled at the local junior college, and three years later I transferred to the University of the Pacific (UOP). My years at UOP were the happiest times of my life. I love academia where my intellect is more important than my disability.
During the sixties I had five neurosurgeries to relieve my spasticity. The first four surgeries were successful, but the fifth surgery caused a major stroke- thus my present disability. For people who haven’t seen me since high school, I am in a wheelchair, I have no voice, I communicate by pointing to words on a chart. The fifth surgery was in 1970. Some years later, I leaned my surgery was experimental, and the risk of stroke was high. My surgeon was the top neurosurgeon in Calif. And he told me the risk was very low.
My disability Pryor to the last neurosurgery in 1970, I could walk, but not run. My speech was slerd. The only help I needed was with small buttons, and cutting of meat. I had a lawn service in Hanford.
Following a year in a rehab hospital, I entered UC BERKLEY. Two weeks after leaving the hospital I was sitting in an economics class at UC Berkley. I was scared out of my mind, but being back studying economics was an ideal diversion from my medical disaster.
In 1972, I entered Fresno state to work on my Master’s in Economics, and help setup a disabled students program at CSUF. I was with this program eighteen years. When the director retired, I also left. I was burnt out, and I did not want to break in a new boss. My home is near the campus.
During the eighties and nineties I was fortunately able to travel extensively. After seeing most of the states including Alaska, I traveled to forty countries. My two favorite places to visit are Australia and England. I have taken three trips to Australia, and many trips to visit my brother Mel in Oxford.
About five years ago my disability started increasing. Cerebral Palsy and aging make life more complex. I don’t travel much these days, but occasionally I am seen wheeling around Fresno State.
,MY E-mail address is philipstephens_93710@yahoo.com
EMPLOYMENT
In my twenty five years of working for disabled students , I know only one person as disabled as I, to obtain real employment. As much time as I gave to disabled student services, Welden, the former director of disabled student services and an old roommate, couldn’t justify hiring me. Plus he knew I did not need more income. Communication always barred me from employment
My hobbies Are COMPUTERS, HISTORY, THE STOCK MARKET, and collecting COKE MEMORABILIA.
HERE IS MORE ABOUT ME.
As severely disabled as I am, I very healthy because as soon as I a health problem, I see my doctor. pneumonia is always a possibility. In November of 2006, I almost died from pneumonia. At seventy I now have seven doctors.
After my stroke in 1970 I require attendant care 5 hours a day.
Being a heathy male, I soon started to enjoy have attractive women caring
for me. Over the years, I became very attach to few my home health aids.
in the first ten years I thought someone would fall in love with
me, but that didn't happen.
At home I use a manual wheelchair, but a power wheelchair for
outside. A college student lives here, then I have six other
students care for me. I don't speak. I have word-board, which a
chart 14 in. by 18 in. This chart has 300 common words plus the alphabet.
I just point to what I need to say. it is remarkably quick. I swim daily in the summer.
To speed up typing, I use a word prediction program. It takes me three hours to type a page.
Everyone with CP had always been told cerebral palsy isn’t a progressive disability. In 2001, some of daily activities took more effort. I thoughts these changes were part of the aging process. In January of 2002, I saw my rehab Dr, Dr O’Laughlin, he sent me to a Nero surgeon, Dr Williams. He discovered that my spinal cord was being pinched at C4 through C7. I learned that this wasn’t unusual in older people with cerebral palsy. Dr Williams told me, if I didn’t have surgery very soon, in a few months I would need a respirator to breath. On April fools day of 2002, I had spinal fusion on my neck. To knew about spinal fusion go to my Spinal Fusion section.
Even though, my recovery from the surgery went very well, I have not regained the level of energy I had prior to the surgery. Over the past two years my disability has increased slightly caused by aging. I am seventy. I require twenty percent more personal care today than I require five years ago. Knowing that each year from now on, my disability will increase is frustrating. Many people who have been in a wheelchair for years develop weak lungs. I get pneumonia every year. On the other hand, my general health is excellent.
My faith in GOD sustains me through the difficulties of life. On the other hand, at times I get angry with GOD. I never ask “why me”, but I often tell GOD “enough is enough“. I believe we are all tools of GOD. I usually go to the church nearest my home. At present I am a member of the Newman Center.
Phil Stephens
