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CHAPTER 7 I TURNED 18 ON SUNDAY, MARCH 31ST 1985. MRS PALMER WANTED TO GIVE ME A BIRTHDAY PARTY. IT WAS GOING TO BE THE SATURDAY BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY. I HELPED MRS PALMER PLAN IT AND WRITE THE LIST OF PEOPLE TO INVITE – ALL THE PEOPLE I KNEW FROM SWIMMING, MY PHYSIO AND PEOPLE FROM SCHOOL. WE INVITED ALL MY FAMILY – THEY ALL CAME, EXCEPT MY MUM. AT THE PARTY, I WAS GIVEN LOTS OF PRESENTS. THERE WAS A TABLE FULL OF THEM! I DIDN'T OPEN THEM UNTIL SUNDAY. WHEN SUNDAY ARRIVED, WE W

AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN I KNEW I WOULD BE LEAVING ST. MARGARET'S SCHOOL, BUT I HAD NO IDEA WHERE I WOULD BE GOING. ONE FRIDAY AFTERNOON, MY HEADMASTER, MR DAVIS, CAME TO SEE ME AND TOLD ME I WOULD BE GOING AWAY FOR AN ASSESSMENT AT ANTHONY HOUSE IN NEWHAVEN. I WOULD BE THERE FOR TWO DAYS! IT WAS THE FRIST TIME I'D BEEN AWAY FROM SCHOOL IN TERM TIME APART FROM AN OPERATION I'D HAD AND IT WAS FRIGHTENING. I NEEDN'T HAVE WORRIED BECAUSE IT TURNED OUT TO BE REALLY GOOD! THEY DIDN

CHAPTER 5 MY NAN PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT PART IN KEEPING OUR FAMILY TOGETHER. SHE WOULD VISIT ME AT SCHOOL WITH MY MUM AND SIBLINGS, BUT THEN WHEN I STARTED TO GO TO MRS PALMER'S SHE GOT MORE INVOVLED. THE FIRST CHISTMAS I WAS WITH MRS PALMER, I WOKE UP ON CHISTMAS MORNING TO FIND A PILE OF PRESENTS UNDER THE TREE FOR ME! THEY WERE FROM MY NAN AND MY MUM AND I FOUND OUT THAT MY NAN HAD BEEN (FOR THE FIRST TIME) TO VISIT MRS. PALMER AND LEFT THE PRESENTS FOR ME. FROM THAT TIME ON

CHAPTER 4 LOOKING BACK AT MY SCHOOL DAYS FROM WHERE I AM NOW, I AM BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND THE FRUSTRATIONS ABOUT HOW PEOPLE TREATED ME BACK THEN AND HOW THAT AFFECTED MY BEHAVIOUR AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T UNDERSTAND DISABILITY. I REMEMBER THAT EVEN WITH SOMEONE AS KIND AS MRS PALMER, I WOULD TAKE OUT MY FRUSTRATIONS OF NOT BEING WITH MY FAMILY ON HER. I WOULD HIT AND PUNCH HER AND THROW THINGS. SHE WOULD HAVE TO HOLD ME TIGHTLY TO HELP ME CALM DOWN. MY BEHAVIOU

CHAPTER 3: SCHOOL HOLIDAYS I ALSO MADE OTHER GOOD RELATIONSHIPS DURING THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS I SPENT AT MRS PALMER'S AND I REMEMBER STAFF FROM MY SCHOOL VISITING ME, WHICH MADE ME VERY HAPPY. I MET A GIRL WHO LIVED ACROSS THE ROAD FROM MRS PALMER. HER NAME WAS JOANNE. HER DAD INTRODUCED US AND I STILL CONSIDER HER A FRIEND. SHE WOULD COME OVER EVERY HOLIDAY AND AT WEEKENDS, SHE EVEN USED TO VISIT ME AT SCHOOL. JOANNE TREATED ME AS A REAL FRIEND AND DIDN'T MIND MY DISABILITY. EV

CHAPTER 2 MY SCHOOL LIFE IN 1972, AT THE AGE OF FIVE, I ATTENDED A BOARDING SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN FOR WHAT THEY USED CALL “SPASTICS”. MY SOCIAL WORKERS MADE THAT DECISION AND ARRANGED FOR ME TO GO TO ST. MARGARET'S IN CROYDEN. MRS BROWN WAS THE ONE WHO TOOK ME FROM QUEEN MARY'S TO THE NEW SCHOOL, WHERE I WOULD STAY UNTIL I WAS SEVENTEEN. I STARTED IN MRS PALMER'S CLASS WITH ABOUT TEN OTHER BOYS AND GIRLS. ONE OF THE GIRLS WAS AMANDA, A FRIEND FROM NURSERY WHO BECAME VERY CLOSE.

CHAPTER 1 THE BEGINNING MY NAME IS MICHELE McCRUDDEN AND I HAVE CEREBRAL PALSY. THIS IS MY STORY. I WAS BROUGHT SUDDENLY INTO THIS WORLD AFTER MY UMBILICAL CORD CAME AWAY AND MUM WAS RUSHED IN FOR AN EMERGENCY C – SECTION. THAT WAS MARCH 1967. MUM WAS COMPLETELY UNAWARE THAT THERE WAS ANYTHING WRONG AND, SO IT SEEMED, WERE THE DOCTORS. MY PARENTS WERE SEPARATED AND MUM WAS A SINGLE PARENT WITH TWO OF MY FOUR SIBLINGS AT HOME. HER EXPERIENCE WOULD TELL HER WHAT NORMAL CHILD DE