My name is Michael Allen Curnow,
I am 3 years old almost 4. My parents Sharlene and Allen waited al long time for me to come. When I was born everything seemed normal. When I was 6 months old they realized I was not hitting all the milestones. Through much searching and testing I was diagnosed with Bilateral Periventricular Nodule Heterotopia.
This is a rare brain defect. I currently understand all the world around me but my body will not work with me. I can not speak or walk and I have a high level of behavior problems because I get so mad that I understand everything but I can not say what I want.
I am in ECSE services for my school where my teacher and therapists work with me to help me so I can learn like other kids. I need a lot of help to learn speech, sign language, daily activities like eating with a spoon, drinking from a cup. They also help me because my behavior and needs are a lot like another child with Autism I have to have learn how to transition and deal with stimulating tasks.
My mommy also relies heavily on our case worker through DD services. She has helps my mommy find resources they qualify for since we don’t qualify for Social Security or OHP for help. It is hard for my family because they do not make a lot of money but it takes a lot to raise me.
My mommy and daddy need to take breaks sometimes because I can get very mad and it is getting hard to move me around. Respite services can help my mommy and daddy take some time they need sometimes to do other things they need to be able to do to make sure we are all healthy.
I don’t know what my future is going to be like. I will hopefully be able to keep the help and teachers in my school so I get a chance at a good education just like the other kids that everyone calls “normal”.
I beg you to reconsider these horrible cuts to our services. Many of my mommies friends have other great kids like me and some of them including my mommy and daddy have sometimes been in a crisis when all they had was to turn to our DD worker to help us find someone to come to our house and help us deal with our frustrations and show me how to behave.
I am my normal, I am Michael Curnow, I am a person who did not choose to be born with this challenge, and I deserve to have the services I need to grow up to be as independent and educated as I can be. I am not to be thrown away or discarded, and my family deserves the support to help them understand me and be able to talk to me and me with them just like what you all call the “normal” kids.
Sincerely,
Michael Allen Curnow
Age 3 almost 4
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