Defining Noah

I'm sure you've heard the expression that "a disability (insert name of  chosen disability here) doesn't define a person." I've said multiple times before that Cerebral Palsy doesn't define Noah. But at times, it does. In a doctor's eyes, Noah is the boy he is treating with CP. In some people (not Noah's teachers) in the school district, Noah is the boy with CP with an IEP. To the person in the state office, making decisions over what medicines Noah should or should not have, he is just a boy with CP who needs an expensive medicine. To some nosey, staring person at the grocery store, Noah is the loud boy in a wheelchair with CP. 


I'm determined as Noah's Mom to not let it define him but sadly at times in some people's eyes it does in some way define him. It is the reason he doesn't talk, it is the reason he doesn't walk, it's the reason for some of his behaviors and what not. To people who don't know Noah he is the boy with CP. 


But to those of us who are lucky enough (really, we are lucky and blessed) to know and love him, he is so much more than a boy with CP. There are so many words that describe and define Noah: baseball player, mischievous, loud, quiet, outgoing, shy, dare devil, Momma's boy, Daddy's buddy, pet owner, reader, and I seriously could go on and on.


Ultimately, CP doesn't define Noah. It is just something he has. It doesn't have him.