Awareness month has begun!

Hey there Erb's Palsy fam! Can you believe we are in the month of October already? This year has flown by and is almost over. Along with the cooler weather, October also brings us Brachial Plexus Injury awareness week(although some of us are choosing to use the entire month).

Yesterday I had a meeting with the Accessibility Coordinator of my college to see if I could get any kind of assistance. I have been having difficulty taking notes in one of my classes, and given that the notes are extremely important for being able to successfully pass the midterm and final exams, I knew I needed to ask for help so I can succeed. I brought all of my old paperwork from when I was a very young child, which included my official diagnosis, treatments I had, and what my limitations back them were. I was able to share what OBPI was with the coordinator and spoke briefly about Camp UBPN. She asked me what my limitations are now, and what my areas of concern are. I told her I was having difficulty taking notes because I write with my BPI arm. When I write for any extended length of time, my hand and fingers go numb, and my arm will ache for at least 1-2 days after this class. It also doesn't help that it is quite cold in the lecture hall and that makes things worse. I will now have a note taker, and extended time for exams. I also let her know of my concern regarding the nursing program. Although she assured me that getting assistance will not hurt my chances of getting into the program, she was unsure of what they would say in a clinical setting if there were any potential 'safety concerns'. So, my worry about that has returned, however, I was given the nursing program instructors email addresses so I can contact them and ask them questions directly. I would rather know now then do all of this school work and not be able to be in the program. I should be okay, but you never know.

What are some ways you will bring awareness to Erb's Palsy this month? Let us know! I plan on wearing my Camp UBPN shirt as often as I can.

If you're not already, you can follow me on Instagram @erbs_palsy_yogi and also give a like over on the Facebook page Living with Erb's Palsy.