Anyone who knows me knows one thing for sure: I love to talk. I talk a lot. Like, Olympic-level talking. Sure, cerebral palsy affects my speech—I speak slower than most people. But does that stop me? Nope. It just means I take my time delivering the brilliance. Think of it as slow-cooked conversation: takes a little longer, but totally worth it.

I still remember when I was a child I talked, talked, talked and often it was hard to understand what I was saying. When they said “I didn’t understand anything of what she said”, I repeated what, and ended up speaking even more. Some people would ask others if they understood me or repeat what I had said, this attitude would leave me feeling nervous, and thinking “How dare they think I needed some other to translate what I had said?”. (Most people I came across were always nice and kind to me, I know I’m lucky!!! And overall, I have always been a very happy person.)Anyone who knows me knows one thing for sure: I love to talk. I talk a lot. Like, Olympic-level talking. Sure, cerebral palsy affects my speech—I speak slower than most people. But does that stop me? Nope. It just means I take my time delivering the brilliance. Think of it as slow-cooked conversation: takes a little longer, but totally worth it.—When I was a kid, I talked. A lot. Nonstop. I basically came with a built-in radio—just one with slightly fuzzy reception. People often couldn’t quite catch what I was saying. They’d look at each other and whisper, “Did you get that?” like I was speaking dolphin. And what did I do when they said, “I didn’t understand a single word she said”?Simple. I repeated myself. Louder. And with bonus content. More words, more confusion—like a remix nobody asked for.Sometimes, people would turn to someone else and ask, “What did she say?” or even try to translate me like I was a foreign film. And I’d just sit there thinking, “Excuse me?! I have a perfectly functioning voice, thank you very much. No subtitles needed!”To be fair, most people were super sweet and patient. I know I’m lucky! And honestly, even with all the awkward moments, I’ve always been a ridiculously happy person—like, suspiciously cheerful. Basically, if sunshine and confusion had a child, that was me.