Cerebral palsy has changed Vicky Page’s life, and as she tells her friend Terrence Hicks, it was particularly difficult being a teenager who relied on a wheelchair.
Originally aired May 20, 2005, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Being in a wheelchair, you're always protected by this chair. There's armor between you and the opposite sex.
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Transcript
Vicky Page (VP) and Terrence Hicks (TH)
(VP): I had a few friends who I formed tight relationships with who all of a sudden wouldn’t sit next to me anymore at the lunch table, decided I wasn’t cool enough, would stop calling me after I called them, wouldn’t speak to me when I spoke to them. I was kind of on my own. And as far as intimate relationships, being in a wheelchair you’re always protected by this chair. There’s armor between you and the opposite sex. So intimacy is a difficult thing.
TH: Even now?
VP: Even now. You know I’ve never been kissed. So I have no idea what the rules are and what the norms are of a relationship. And I have to be honest, I don’t see myself in a romantic relationship at all. I think that Ive gotten to this place where a wall is up so much that I don’t even want to go in that direction because when I do I get sad. I would just like to fully accept where I am. And I’m on the road, but I’m not there yet.