Big D :: Personal Narrative Disabilites Papers

wide D A couple weeks ago, exactly four sidereal days afterward Christmas, I woke up thinking well-nigh my uncle Dennis. I loved him precise much, but I have never woken up thinking about him. After a few minutes, I realized that trey years ago, exactly four days after Christmas, was the day he died. My uncle Dennis was an red-letter man. He had sparkling blue eyes and a sweet smile. When he laughed every wiz else in the room couldnt help but join him. Thats not what do him unforgettable, though. Dennis was tall, around 380 pounds, and anoxic he had brain damage. He never intentional to cook, ride a bike, or properly operate an appliance. He require 24-hour a day care from the time he was born until the day he died at age 40. This is not an exaggeration. If Dennis was awake and no one was around to stop him, he consistently caused trouble. Forty years ago, fetal heart monitors were not routinely used in the labor room. Today, a heart monitor aids in the detection of problem s such as a hard up umbilical cord, which what caused Denniss brain damage at birth. Because the pinched cord was not detected, a cesarean section was not performed, and Dennis entered the solid ground mentally retarded because not enough oxygen reached his brain during the bring forth process. The small part of the world he entered was Milwaukee. My grandparents had a household which has since been part down and replaced by projects. In the early fifties about 60% of the residents were black. A large portion of the rest were immigrants. My grandparents were from northern Wisconsin. My grandfather was then working as a boilermaker engineer in a tannery downtown. In addition to staying with Dennis, my grandmother stayed at home with my Uncle Mike, 3 my mother, 2 and my Uncle Tom, 1. 4 more children would soon follow. The youngest, Patrick, had Downs Syndrome. Eleven cousins lived just down the block. A house of prostitution was across the street. Saturday was laundry day. The three older children would eventually be hired as babysitters for Dennis. On Saturdays they would keep an eye on Dennis and butterfly in the backyard while my grandmother did the weeks wash. At the end of the day the three young nannies got to split a dime between them at the food market store on the corner.