	July 1997

My Life With Cerebral Palsy And Deafness

Introducing Peter Moore: TT's correspondent from Western Maryland
Pete Moore

Let me introduce myself to y'all. My full name is Peter Alan Moore, but I always have gone by "Pete", and sometimes go by the name "Rocky", because of an automobile accident 6 years ago that nearly cost me my life.

I was born in Baltimore on January 16, 1953. My parents are Gene Jr. and Janet. I have four sisters: Judy, Sally, Ann and Jane.

About 6 months before I was born my mother contracted "Rubella" or German Measles and that would have an impact on my family and me once I came into the world.

After I was born nobody knew what kind of disabilities I would have. I was almost a year old before the doctor diagnosed me as having Cerebral Palsy and I was given psychological tests to determine what kind of education I would need. Well, as it turned out, I had normal intelligence and would get the regular education, as my sisters did.

I went on with the education, but with a lot of surgeries to correct or eliminate a lot of deformities in my legs and my right hand. But the surgeries cost me the mobility of my legs. They're both paralyzed from the hips down. I feel them when someone tickles me or I can feel pain, but absolutely cannot move them at all.

I graduated from Catonsville Sr. High on June 6, 1973. Lost most of my hearing in my early 20's (nobody knows how it happened to this day).

Went to Gallaudet University in the Fall of 1978 and graduated on May 21, 1984 with a B. A. Degree in Psychology.

At the present, I attend the Cerebral Palsy Medical Daycare Program in Frederick, Md. I also have 2 volunteer jobs. I work over at Monocacy National Battlefield Visitors' Center with hope of being a Park Ranger someday. And at Rose Hill Manor, a children's museum also in Frederick, Md.

At Rose Hill Manor my job was to inspect the place making notes and with a friend's help making drawing and measurements of the place in the attempt of making Rose Hill totally accessible to all disabled tourists. Not just for the children which is what Rose Hill is: a children's museum, but for all disabled tourists with a deep love for American History, as I always have had since early childhood.

Growing up in the 1950's and early 1960's wasn't any picnic for this Scotch Irish character, as my mother used to say when she was alive. She died December 23, 1996, from Cancer.

It was difficult for me to get around in those days. Pop always had to carry me up the steps to get inside the Museum of Natural History in Washington, D. C. As a kid my first love was the dinosaurs, as with all kids then and now. The Tyrannosaurus Rex has always been my favorite, because I love to eat meat too. Hamburgers, crabs, roast beef, hot dogs and fish are just a few of my favorite meats.

As I grew older, taller and heavier,. Pop couldn't carry me up those steps anymore. I had to quit the Boy Scouts because it was hard getting in the building without it being accessible. I was hurt by that because I made "Tenderfoot"; to me that's like making "Corporal" in the Marine corps. I loved the game of baseball ever since Pop took me to my first game in 1959.

The only thing I remembered about that game was seeing Mickey Mantle flying out to right field with the bags loaded and with that fly out, he ended the game.

When I got older life was getting harder for me. The year I turned 11 years old (1964), I lost the use of my legs. Getting to places was a nightmare. Some movie house managers gave me a bad time because my wheelchair was parked in the aisle, but there was no other place to put it in those days before the law changed. To this day, I haven't gone to the movie house, I just refused to be humiliated, ridiculed by managers. I lost a lot of my hearing and any sound now in movie houses is totally unclear to me. Being loud doesn't bother me because I have no threshold of pain in my ears.

Try this experiment: put a blindfold over your eyes and try walking around your room or office. Get your favorite chair and put it near someplace like the kitchen or stairs or someplace you're in a lot. You can't use your legs. Not that easy reaching the stove or VCR or other things is it? You have to changed your lifestyle completely once you become disabled for life. Then you'll find out quickly who your friends really are.

Hope you find this interesting and maybe have a little more respect for us too? I may be stuck in this chair for life, but I'm also human with the same desires and dreams as you have. Love, marriage, home, kids is what I am dreaming of these days.

Home

Newsletter

Calendar

Index

Contact