This
is an update to the Profile of Luis from November, 2001. (http://www.prentrom.com/profiles/profilenov1.html).
Luis continues to be a successful AAC user and powerful communicator!
My name is Luis Ross and I'm from Nogales, Arizona. I was born with Cerebral Palsy because the umbilical cord was wrapped my neck and I could not get oxygen to my brain. I was born in Mexico on a small ranch. My wonderful grandfather gave me a nickname. He called me the "miracle baby." When I was two years old my mother and I went to live with my aunt and uncle in Nogales, Mexico.
In Mexico, there was nothing for me, like special doctors, so my mother placed me in a good school in Nogales, Arizona. Every morning a bus would cross the border to pick me up and take me to school. I was very lucky. I met a nice American man who adopted me when I was four years old. The American man was the bus driver. His name is James Ross. He is a loveable, kind, warm-hearted, and very sweet man. I felt then, and now still feel, very lucky that he adopted me.
When I was growing up, my father took me to many doctors who told us I would never walk and that I would be in a wheelchair all of my life. We worked hard to prove to the doctors that anything was possible -- no matter what anybody tell us. Now look at me! I am trying to live my dream. During my school years when I was growing up, my father and I had hard times with the public schools. I started going to school when I was six year old because my father kept me at home for two years and he taught me the alphabet, numbers, and he also taught me how to walk!
All of my teachers wanted me to be in a special class or private school. I remember when I started going to high school my father and his lawyer had a meeting with all of my teachers and the two principals. I think they met for almost three hours. My father told them he wanted his son to be in a regular class all his years and to be in high school until he was 21 years old. My father and I had hard times with schools but we fought them all and won. Not just for me but the rest of the students with disabilities who are going to high school.
In my school years I had some good teachers and some bad teachers. I always tried to educate the teachers on how to work with cerebral palsy people and everything was okay after that. I had a super neat speech language pathologist from when I started school until when I finished. She was very helpful throughout my school years and I was her first disabled student. It was kind of like I was teaching her and she was teaching me.
I started to live on my own when I was 24 years old. I decided to move to Phoenix because there are thousands of opportunities for disabled people there. I moved in with a roommate who had a different kind of disability than me. He was a very crazy and wild man, but he was cool toward me. Sometimes we would go out to nightclubs and come home in the morning. After four years, I moved out to my own apartment, with the help of the Section 8 Program. I have my own apartment and I feel safe where I am living now. I can do anything - like come home in the morning, listen to my radio loud, and invite people to sleep over.
The first year when I moved to Phoenix, I was hungry one night so I decided to go out to get some food at a fast food restaurant. I started to order my food but they didn't want to serve me because they thought I was drunk or I didn't have any money. I went home, had a glass of milk, and went to bed upset. When people look at me or hear the way I talk for the first time, they think I'm drunk or have a problem with my mind. Sometime people can be very nice and patient with me but other times they can be mean. So, I think we need to have trainings to show communities throughout the world how disabled people can communication with devices. I had my Pathfinder with me that time. I was a little bit sad. It is hard for me sometime because throughout my life and still now, people see me from the outside and do not get to know me -- what I'm really like on the inside. But what can we do about it?
In spring of 2003, I was going to my job on my red scooter. A white car pulls over beside me and came out an old friend I knew from elementary and high school. I didn't have too many friends when I was going to school but everybody knew my name. When my father and I would go to a store or to the mall, some people would call out or start to speak with me. For me, I like to be friendly on the streets or in the community with people.
I have been going to Phoenix College for least five years part time working toward my business degree. With the help of a program called the Clear Path Program, I have a part time job working in the Auditor's department for the City Of Phoenix. I'm working three days and four hours a week, but I'm trying to get a job where I can help people or children who are having a hard time in life.
I have gone on my own to vacations in Denver, Indiana, Mexico, and California with the help of the powerful Pathfinder. Although there are times in life when I am unhappy, I try to remember that there are people in the world who are worse off than I am. I'm lucky that I can walk and do things independently.
In life you don't know what to expect every day. Only God knows!
Thanks,
Luis