When you’re disabled from birth, you don’t get the rose colored glasses your peers are often given in childhood. From a young age I spotted the road bumps and uneven sidewalks that life is riddled with, that others seem to walk over so smoothly. How my friends could run faster, or how they learned to tie their shoes long before I had. I was born with neurofibromatosis, causing a tumor to form on my optic nerves at a young age; and I had chemo for it. My body will never be what others are, nor my vision. Others often learn late in life to not take things for granted, but we don’t get that chance. I always knew something could be taken from me so quickly with my disease progression, and many other disabled persons know this fact well. But this isn’t all horrible, it quite honestly gave me a purpose in life and something to strive ahead for. Of course, I can’t do all that much as a college student other than mentally supporting other disabled people. But once i am out and in the field and have my own life settled, I hope to open a non profit focusing on the support of physically disabled children’s education and continuing it. Physically disabled and chronically ill children are very often ostracized and cast aside by their average peers, or even teachers that simply were not given the training to help the student. To help give these amazing prospective students equity over equality in the classroom and beyond. From finding dedicated tutors, often from the same background; to even offering actual proper lessons or scholarships for students seeking higher or alternative education. I even plan to (hopefully) work with the proper professionals to give teachers the training they need to support their students. To stop the issue before it even needs to be addressed and fixed. To make a world where disabled students can be given just as equal of a chance as their non disabled peers, one small step at a time. Being disabled gives you a rough start in life, we may struggle to find our footing and stumble. But for me? It opened my eyes and made me see just how many problems there are in the world- that I can help fix! I know it is gonna be hard, and I admit it scares me. But the hope of getting to help others keeps me pushing forward towards my goal, to give them even more opportunity then I was given. I know it will not fix everything- but effects snowball, and maybe one day being disabled will not be such a big life hurdle.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 has affected my life in a wide multitude of ways, along with being neurodivergent. I have always been a bit different than other kids- and other kids picked up on that. I experienced heavy bullying throughout elementary school especially, kids often are cruel to those whom they do not understand. I of course was no exception, even having had a hate club started on me in elementary school, somewhere around third grade. I never understood why they did that when I was young, because, after all, I had never done anything cruel to them. Neurofibromatosis and neurodivergence of course is not just an outside issue. They affect you internally even more so. When I was a kid, after finishing chemotherapy I started to dance. I adored dance, it was my community and my life. I went on to compete for my dance school and to start dancing in classes at a higher age level than I was, with kids well over six years my senior. I had friends I danced in Disneyland with, along with multiple other parades. Yet, neurofibromatosis has a way of poisoning your joy in life at times. I started getting bad knee pain at my final dance competition, we figured it was just basic muscle stress. But an x-ray soon revealed the truth of multiple tumors in my left femur. Taking up most of the circumference of the lower part, along with a smaller one or two in my tibia. Due to the worrying nature, this required surgery to improve. But afterward, my leg was never the same, even after painful physical therapy rounds. I was forced to quit the activity I loved, and had spent years of my life on. Though not everything a bad thing in life brings is bad, or poison. I would argue this made me who I am and started to open my eyes, even if it was unfortunate it happened to me at such a young age. Anything can happen to anybody, so we need to make use of the time we have. I have a dream to run a nonprofit at one point for children with chronic illnesses and disabilities to teach them art if they cannot go to traditional schooling for any reason. Though of course, I need to pay off my future loans. I plan to work myself to the limits to pay off my debt as quickly as I can, so I have the opportunity to help as many children as possible.