I’m a Quadriplegic-I Don’t Want to Play Anymore! I know having a spinal cord injury is a very difficult experience to adapt to and overcome. After my injury I felt like I should be exempt from basically all responsibility. I felt like I should be excused from everything I had done before my accident; however not everyone else felt the same way. Society basically kept me in the game and wouldn’t 
let me just sit on the bench.
At the time of my spinal cord injury I just happen to be on probation. I made no effort to contact my probation officer when I was in physical rehab. He ended up tracking me down and paid me a visit. I could not believe that he had come to hassle me as I sat there in my hospital bed in a neck brace with a urine bag hanging on the side of my bed with a catheter going under the covers into my privates. I remember the first thing he said to me “why have you not contacted me?” I also remember the first thing I said to him “F*** you, you B****** I broke my neck”. I did not understand why he was wasting his time monitoring me, because I felt like I was basically a vegetable.
It wasn’t until a probation officer actually submitted a violation to the judge that I understood that breaking my neck and being in a wheelchair did not exempt me from responsibility. I sat there in a courtroom while the judge stared at me and said “I do not care that you are in a wheelchair, it is a tragedy and very unfortunate, but you will adhere to the guidelines of your probation or I will not hesitate to send you to prison”. For some reason and it wasn’t the threat of being sent to prison, I understood that just because I am now a quadriplegic I still had all the responsibilities I had before my accident. It’s kind of funny but after I wheeled out of that courtroom I felt like a person again.
I had been living without a care in the world, thinking of no one but myself and having one heck of the self-pity party. Fortunately I was able to accept responsibility and except it being in a wheelchair. Now came a difficult time because for the last year I had been dodging all my responsibilities, from financial responsibility to just basic responsible living.
This experience was just one of the many steps in coming to terms with my injury. Only now I have an understanding and acceptance of things, and now I am able to work through them much easier. Life has always been about challenges and overcoming them, but that’s what makes life exciting. I still have my days when I want to give up and blow off responsibility, but like I said before it does get easier and we do get wiser!
I’m a Quadriplegic-I Don’t Want to Play Anymore! Well today my feelings have changed and I do want to play I want to experience all the wonderful things that life has to offer. I want success and I want the old American dream, and that requires hard work and to be successful you have to participate!
Michael C.
http://spinalcordinjuryliving.wordpress.com
