Cerebral Palsy…. Not all bad

When most people see a person with a disability they automatically assume that that persons life must be awful, sad and full of nothing but disadvantages. If you are one of those people you would be sorely mistaken. There are many advantages to living with Cerebral Palsy, including my trips to Disney World, seats at sporting events, and my maturity level.

Disney World

Disney World is widely considered to be the happiest place on earth.

Every year kids make the Journey to the that magical landing hopes of meeting their favorite character or catching a glimpse of their favorite princess before embarking on a day full of pulsing-rising rides. The place is magical. However, one of the unpleasant aspects of Disney World that most people have to endure are the lines. The day starts out fine and parents think that they are the world’s best parents because they swear that the lines are no big deal, and they start judging parents who complain about them. However, after the first fourty-five minutes of standing in line, your feet start to hurt. By the time another hour of standing in line goes by, the kids are climbing on their parents like jungle gyms and the parents are now willing to sell some of their less-vital organs for some shade and a comfy chair. However for my family and I this nightmare never becomes a reality, my family and I never have to wait in the lines and can ride the roller coasters as many times as I want! To a little kid that is music to your ears. While I was at Disney World, I took full advantage of this perk. In fact, one my last night, after a day of riding more then my fair share of rides, my stomach was so upset that I threw up on the poor guy that was dressed like Captain hook!

My favorite ride at Disney World called “Splash Mountain”

My heart still races as I remember the rush I felt as I whirled down that waterfall and water splashed my face at the bottom.

Great Seats at Sporting Events

These days tickets to sporting events are extremely hard to get and unbelievably pricey. However, thanks to the Americans With Disabilities Act, it is now law that there need to be a certain number of seats at sporting events that are set aside for people with disabilities. Not only are these seats regularly priced and do not require you to take out a second mortgage, but they have fantastic views of the playing surface My favorite place to watch a sporting event is Fenway Park, the historic home of the Boston Red Sox. There is nothing better then watching a baseball game, while enjoying a hot dog, on a hot mid-summer afternoon.

Great ability to converse with
As a kid growing up in a wheelchair, I did not get many opportunities to partake in the activities of able-bodied kids my age. This handicap made it so that I had to spend a lot of time around adults. This meant that my language skills evolved quicker than most kids my age, and as a result I become much more mature.

The meaning of images

After reading this article by Sturken and Cartwright, which was about how images can have different meanings to different viewers, It struck me how appropriate this article was given that yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday. This year was a viewing record for the Super Bowl with a reported 14.4 million viewers per minute. Aside from the game, a large percentage of the viewers watch the game just to see the commercials. I know commercials are not exactly the same thing as a still photograph but commercials still leave room for viewers to interperet their meaning. For instance, the Budweiser commercial with the puppy and the horses. In my opinion, Budweiser always makes great commercials but this years was particularly touching. Watching the puppy traverse the country, run away from his owner, and even risk getting eaten by a wolf, all in an effort to reconect with the horse was unbelievable to me. However, I am also aware that some PETA members, had a problem with the commercial because they felt that it was mean to put the puppy in life threatening situation. I had the opposite reaction. In fact,the commercial made me want to go out and buy every puppy I could afford. The fact is that images can have different impacts on different people.

This picture is very fitting because that is the same question that each person has to ask themselves when watching a commercial.

                                                                                  Targeting Audiences

Another concept that this article discussed was the fact that images can target specific audiences. For instance there was one Doritos commercial that featured an attractive woman and a baby. In this commercial, the guy in the commercial tried to convince the attractive woman to come sit next to him, but when the guy so that the woman had a small baby with her, the guy quickly tried to take back his offer but it was too late. I thought this commercial was not only hysterical but it was also a great job by the Doritos company to come up with an commercial that would appeal to men, which is the primary audience of the Superbowl. It was a great job of advertising because now it will be hard for me to forget about Doritos, as a result of seeing that beautiful woman, and the more I think about Doritos the more likely I am to buy them.

It is amazing to me the amount of thought, time, effort and money that these companies spend to make a 30 second commercial. In the end though, as long as the company sees a return on their investment then it is worth it for them.

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