Recruitment and Retention of Minority Officers an Example of the Topic Foreign Essays by

Recruitment and Retention of Minority Officers Abstract Overt racism, past and present, contributes to social and residential segregation, thereby isolating minorities at every income level from white society. Because of such isolation, minorities are vulnerable, by exclusion, to selection by personal connections. The negative impact of qualification standards in employment is sustained by racially biased funding of education and training resources and by the cumulative racist impact of such practices as tracking in schools. Minorities suffer the adverse effects of seniority based promotion and layoff because of past racist hiring of whites ahead of minorities. Institutional racism also reinforces future racism by contributing to the disproportionate presence of minorities at the bottom of employment--a presence that helps perpetuate the racist attitude that minorities are inherently inferior. White notions of minority people have been formed in a social world where minorities visibly predominate at these bottom levels. Thus they have lab ored--and continue to labor--as maids and porters, at "hot, heavy, and dirty" jobs in the foundries and paint pits of the auto plants, the boiler rooms of utilities, the dusty basements of tobacco factories, and in the murderous heat of the steel mills' coke ovens. Need essay sample on "Recruitment and Retention of Minority Officers" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed The neutral procedures that have had the greatest racist impact within employment are selection by (1) personal connections, (1) qualification standards, and (3) seniority status. Reliance by employers on friends, relatives, and neighbors-their own or their workers'--has powerful racist impact--first, because of its paramount importance in the world of work, second, because of its links to overt racism. Numerous studies of workers--blue and white collar, professional and technical--indicate that communicating job information to family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances by word of mouth is probably the most widely used recruitment method. Vocational counselors emphasize the importance of making contacts through personal connections. Job seekers know the value of having friends in the department of their choice. Referral unions that influence or control hiring for many well-paid jobs in such industries as construction, printing, publishing, and transportation commonly recruit through personal contacts. Because, for the most part, minorities and whites live as two separate societies, it is not surprising that minorities suffer because of selection by personal contacts. Lacking ties to whites as family, friends, fellow students, neighbors, or club members, minorities tend to be isolated from the networks in which connections to desirable employment--where whites predominate--are forged. (Dana Y. Takagi, 1992). Hence minorities have been outside the channels leading to well paid jobs controlled by the predominantly white referral unions that recruit by word of mouth. Family or friends had virtually automatic preference for membership cards in such overwhelmingly white labor organizations as the Ironworkers' Union. Such recruitment by referral unions contributed to the virtual exclusion of minorities from employment on public construction projects until affirmative action enforcement brought some improvement in the recruitment and retention of minorities. Minorities also lack personal connections to residents of all-white suburbs where many new jobs have been created. That adverse effect on minorities is exacerbated when suburban employers rely on "walk-in" applicants from these white neighborhoods. Because whites disproportionately occupy elected government office, especially the more powerful positions, minorities suffer from the widespread use of political patronage to distribute government jobs. Although the lack of personal connections to the job market is in most cases an institutional barrier to employment for minorities, it arises in large part from segregation created by overtly racist practices. The segregation of minorities in schools, housing, accommodations, and public and private facilities was imposed by whites throughout the nation, either in ready conformity to explicitly racial laws or to the silent toleration of violence against minorities who dared to cross racial barriers. Today widespread segregation continues as an inherited social structure, excluding minorities from white residential areas and neighborhood schools, where they might develop white connections leading to employment. That structure of "ghettoization" is sustained by pervasive housing discrimination against minorities who wish to move into white areas. The isolation of minorities from white society is also sustained by widespread racist attitudes that exclude minorities from white clubs and social circles where networks leading to jobs are formed. Even mild unconscious racial prejudice tends to cut minorities off from relations of friendship and intimacy with whites. (D. Keith Denton, 1992). Recruitment and retention by personal connections also tends to keep minorities at the bottom of the occupational ladder. Because individuals often hear of openings in their own kind of work, they tend to funnel such information to relatives and acquaintances. Thus both black and white workers informally recruit to their types of jobs. Because minorities are disproportionately represented in bottom level positions, their personal recruitment tends to maintain occupational segregation. Continued perception of minorities in menial, undesirable jobs reinforces the racist conception that minorities belong there. Thus, although selection by personal connections is intrinsically free of bias, its ties to overt racism--past, present, and future--justify characterization of its adverse impact on minorities as racist impact. Although black-white inequality of educational attainment has been substantially reduced in some respects, such as in the amount of schooling received and the level of reading, nevertheless requirements for a college diploma and for adequate test scores continue to exclude minorities from employment and from postgraduate schools that provide training for desirable positions. Similarly, requirements for certain work experience and vague personality traits have a negative impact in employment. Overt racism, especially in its contribution to segregating minorities from whites throughout society, makes a significant contribution to the racist impact of qualification requirements on minorities. Millions of black persons still in the labor force today attended legally segregated public schools in seventeen southern states and the District of Columbia, where a presumption of black inferiority--destructive to their self-confidence--was pervasive, and where, because of gross discrimination in funding, black schools were invariably inferior. Many minorities are excluded by requirements for work experience because as students they had been barred from white schools where relevant training was available or had been denied work experience and training by prejudiced supervisors and employers. (Cheryl Holcomb-Mccoy, Carla Bradley, 2003) Overt housing discrimination affecting all economic classes of minorities works indirectly to reduce the achievement of black youngsters by contributing to the significant racial segregation of neighborhood schools. The positive effect of socialization within white families on black children's test scores is indicated in a comparative study of black children adopted by middle-class parents, white and black. The children adopted by white middle-class parents scored significantly higher on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children than did the children adopted by black middle-class parents. The scoring difference is of the magnitude "typically found between the average scores of black and white children." Our Customers Often Tell Us: How much do I have to pay someone to make my assignment today? Essay writers suggest: Academic Papers For Students Collage Papers For Sale Professional Writer For Hire Custom Writing Service Professional Academic Writing Services The racist impact of qualification requirements in employment is the terminus of a cumulative impact that begins in school. Black students are vulnerable to traditional practices such as standardized testing and tracking--that is, ability grouping in schools--which place them disproportionately at the bottom level, sometimes at a very early age, where, deprived of educational resources and instruction in higher-order skills, they have little possibility of moving up. In the job market the vulnerability of minorities to qualification requirements is exacerbated when employers insist on credentials such as higher-education diplomas that are not related to work performance. Such requirements have had a severe effect on black employment. Irrelevant testing excluded minorities even from such dead-end work as dishwashing. An important race-neutral qualification standard in the academic marketplace is published research. Taking Harvard University as an example, sociologist Thomas Pettigrew shows how this requirement adversely affects black candidates. In the 1930s, Harvard developed criteria for tenured faculty appointment, which included scholarly publication. The purpose was to ensure a faculty of high quality. Publication requirements, however, worked against the recruitment of black professors because the majority taught heavy course loads in predominantly black colleges, which limited their time for research and writing. This concentration of minorities in predominantly black colleges has links to a racist past, because black academics were initially excluded by racist attitudes from many white departments. Hence in the 1970s, when some predominantly white universities following affirmative action requirements sought black professors, black college faculty were less able to fill their race-neutral publication requirements. (Gregory B. Lewis, Samantha L. Durst, 1995). Although qualification requirements are intrinsically bias-free, they can be manipulated by racist employers and union officials to exclude minorities. Thus while some employers who set irrelevant higher education requirements may simply have undue reverence for diplomas, many are not unhappy that their requirements tend to keep minorities out. According to one legal scholar, raising qualification criteria has been a "common device of employers and construction unions" when, because of civil rights law, hiring and promotion of minorities appeared likely. Vague subjective standards, such as "fitting in," "personality," "vigor," and "self-confidence"--widely used for promotion-easily serve racial prejudice. In Rowe v. General Motors Co., the court stated that promotion procedures that depend on "subjective evaluation" by immediate supervisors are a "ready mechanism" for covert race discrimination. The court expressed skepticism that minorities, dependent on whites for decisive recommendation, can expect impartiality. Seniority status determines promotion, layoff, and job termination for vast numbers of employees: professionals, managers, clericals, skilled, and unskilled workers. Seniority systems have brought significant benefits to American workers. Promotion based on seniority enables harmony, cooperation, and solidarity to replace an ugly scramble for advancement over one's co-workers. Seniority-determined layoff protects workers against arbitrary dismissal due to an employer's whim, malice, or prejudice. Strengthened by such security, many workers have gained in dignity and self-esteem and are less tempted to pander to supervisors or accept humiliating conditions. An older auto worker told me that before the union had negotiated a seniority system his supervisor would invite subordinates over on Sunday to mow his lawn. With the protection of a seniority system, workers can demand to be treated with a measure of respect. Egalitarian philosophers, that is, those committed to equal economic rew ard, may note that seniority-based benefit systems constitute a significant egalitarian substructure in the hierarchy of employment. Insofar as seniority determines promotion, pay, and job security, protected employees tend to gain equally throughout their working lives. But seniority, in itself race-neutral, has disproportionately benefited white workers. Hired in most cases ahead of minorities, whites halve enjoyed higher seniority status. Minorities felt the racist impact of such past hiring discrimination when, as less senior, they were less likely to gain promotion and more likely to lose their jobs in economic recessions. In the 1970s minorities, hired under affirmative action programs in private and public employment (e.g., as teachers, police, and firefighters), were devastated by seniority-based layoffs--a consequence of three recessions and severe government budget cutbacks. Such layoffs threaten minorities again in the 1990s. As job losers, minorities tend to move down to unskilled temporary work or to no work at all. This downward move is facilitated by their lack of significant financial assets, which often makes job retraining unfeasible. Whites have eleven times the wealth of minorities; one-third of all minorities have no major assets whatsoever except for cash on hand. Thus seniority-based layoffs of minorities, including those hired because of affirmative action programs, increases the concentration of minorities at the bottom of the occupational ladder or among the unemployed, thereby reinforcing the racist stereotype of minorities as inferior. Although long-term black employees have the benefit of high seniority ranking, after the 1964 Civil Rights Act many continued to suffer the racist impact of departmental seniority arrangements. Under such arrangements, a worker who transfers from one department to another loses all seniority credit. Although departmental seniority is a race-neutral practice, it perpetuates the victimizing effect of past overtly racist job assignment. Newly hired minorities in northern and southern plants had traditionally been assigned to segregated departments where they labored in the most undesirable, low-paying jobs, for example, at garbage disposal, the blast furnaces and the coke ovens, and in the foundries. After the 1964 Civil Rights Act, black workers could no longer be legally prevented from transfer to the better, white departments. But under departmental seniority arrangements, transfers were stripped of all seniority, and so they descended to the bottom rung for promotion and layoff. Thu s minorities naturally tended to remain in the racially segregated departments, where they had originally been assigned by biased company supervisors. (Willie Brisco, Charlotte Forh, Vic Haynes, Barbara Wheeler, 2004) Today, while some minorities have moved on up, it is still true that the more disagreeable the job, the greater the chance of finding a high proportion of minorities doing it. The racially exclusionary impact of race-neutral policies on employment also contributes to the official black unemployment rate as perpetually double that of whites, thereby reinforcing the racist view of minorities as unwilling to work. Thus these race neutral policies function as social mechanisms through which the victimizing effects of overt racism, past and present, continue to keep minorities at the bottom levels of employment. Learn more: Cyber BullyingOccupational Safety and Health AdministrationThe Roles and Barriers of Curriculum Leaders References: Cheryl Holcomb-Mccoy, Carla Bradley (2003). Recruitment and Retention of Ethnic Minority Counselor Educators: An Exploratory Study of CACREP-Accredited Counseling Programs; Counselor Education and Supervision, Vol. 42 D. Keith Denton (1992). Recruitment, Retention, and Employee Relations: Field-Tested Strategies for the '90s; Quorum Books Dana Y. Takagi (1992). The Retreat from Race: Asian-American Admissions and Racial Politics; Rutgers University Press Gregory B. Lewis, Samantha L. Durst (1995). Will Locality Pay Solve Recruitment and Retention Problems in the Federal Civil Service? Public Administration Review, Vol. 55 Willie Brisco, Charlotte Forh, Vic Haynes, Barbara Wheeler (2004). Minority Recruitment: For the 21st Century; Corrections Today, Vol. 66, August

Fun Halloween Lesson Plan Ideas

Fun Halloween Lesson Plan Ideas Halloween, celebrated annually on Oc. 31, is a secular holiday combining harvest festivals with costume-wearing,  trick-or-treating, and creating pranks and decorative imagery based on the changing of the seasons, death and the supernatural. No matter how old your students are, chances are theyll feel cheated if you dont do anything to recognize what has become this most-beloved childrens holiday. But creating creative lesson plans- even for a holiday that is so captivating for young students- can be a challenge. These activities can spark ideas to help you create lessons celebrating Halloween spanning all areas of learning across the curriculum. Art Make a tiny witch doll and a pumpkin.Have your students paint a pumpkin. Chorus Do your warm-up exercises making ghost sirens. Classes with Computers Make iron-on graphics for T-shirts.Middle school students may enjoy a Halloween Hunt for facts. Drama Have improvisation exercises in which students randomly walk around the stage impersonating a ghost, bat, cat, pumpkin or Frankenstein.Have groups present Halloween childrens storybooks with one person reading and the others impersonating scenery and contributing sound effects.Do the same as above with readings from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe or with Excerpts from Ann Rices novels. English: Journal Topics Describe your scariest childhood Halloween memory.Describe the best Halloween costume made yourself or that you helped to make.Describe the best way for children to celebrate Halloween.How would you like to celebrate Halloween differently?Describe Halloween from the viewpoint of a vampire bat.Create a holiday you would like to substitute for Halloween.Write an autobiography of a jack-o-lantern.Write a poem about Halloween. English: Essay Topics Describe a neighborhood street on Halloween night.Describe a memorable Halloween party.Describe in detail an unusual Halloween costume.Explain why Halloween is celebrated today in the United States.Explain why you think trick-or-treating is (or is not) dangerous.Explain the likely consequences of vandalizing property.Persuade a local merchant to give children candy on Halloween.Persuade your parents to let you have a Halloween party on a school night.Persuade your best friend to be the rear section of your _______ costume. (You decide what the costume will be.)Persuade your school principal to show __________ all afternoon to celebrate Halloween. (Name a movie) Science You and your students will enjoy these challenging monster math word problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.Use Halloween as a reason to learn about  bats. Social Studies Learn about the history of Halloween.

Microsoft Word Tips Comparing Two Documents - Proofed

Microsoft Word Tips Comparing Two Documents - Proofed Microsoft Word Tips: Comparing Two Documents When editing a document, it is easy to lose track of what you’ve changed between drafts. Wouldn’t it be useful, then, if you had a quick and easy way of comparing two documents? Good news! There is one! Say â€Å"hello† to the Compare function in Microsoft Word and read on below to find out how this works. What Is the â€Å"Compare† Function? Comparing two documents produces a document with all of the differences between the original and revised version shown as tracked changes. Tracked changes being shown in a document. As well as edits to the text itself, you can use this function to look for differences in formatting or comments that have been added between drafts. This is especially useful when a document has been edited by a third party (e.g., a colleague or friend). Comparing Two Documents To compare two documents in Microsoft Word, all you need to do is: Go to Review Compare on the main ribbon Select Compare from the dropdown menu The Compare function. Choose the original version of the document in the Original document section of the menu (click the file symbol or pick Browse from the dropdown if you cannot see the required document in the list) Select the edited version from the Revised document menu Select which changes you want to highlight and how you want them to be shown (we recommend displaying changes in a new document) Click OK to compare the documents and see the differences The Compare menu. You can then use the options under Review Changes on the ribbon to review each edit. If you then make further changes to the revised version, you may want to save it as a fresh draft. The â€Å"Combine† Function Microsoft Word also offers the option to Combine documents. This is very similar to Compare, but it is designed for use with documents that already contain tracked changes. The Combine function. For example, imagine you have a press release draft that has been redrafted by two colleagues in your office using the Track Changes option in Microsoft Word. You could then use Combine to merge the different drafts of the document into one, while still being able to see who made each edit. This option is therefore useful if you have a document that has been edited by several reviewers. However, for situations involving only two versions of a document, Compare is fine.

Bullying in schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Bullying in schools - Essay Example Before anything can be proactively done about bullying in the schools, the problem must first be fully recognized, its magnitude must be realized, its process of development must be identified and adults in key positions must be aware of potential effective strategies to reduce or eliminate bullying behavior in the schools. The word ‘bullying’ as it is used in this context describes a specific behavior pattern of intimidation and varying, sometimes escalating, use of violence. The objective is often nothing more substantial than the feeling of mastery over another individual making the behavior traditionally associated more with boys than with girls. â€Å"Bullying is characterized by bigger and stronger youngsters’ ‘victimizing’ their peers through the repeated use of negative actions, such as physical, verbal or relational aggression† (Pellegrini & Bartini, 2000: 700). While there remains a marked difference between the number of male versus female bullies, this is changing with the increased number of women expected to enter into the competitive social sphere. According to Maccoby (1998), the traditional gender difference was determined to have been largely the result of a culturally stronger male association with physical aggression as an appropriate means of establishing and maintaining peer status or dominance. Whether victim or bully, though, the patterns for an individual’s later social treatment and behavior in school are typically first established in the home. A study conducted by Schwartz, Dodge, Pettit and Bates (1997) discovered children who grew up to be aggressive victims in elementary school had usually experienced punitive, hostile and abusive family relationships during their preschool years. Children who become involved in aggressive acts have usually witnessed greater incidences of adult aggression at home and act out what they’ve seen as they

To my unapproachable husband, Don Juan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

To my unapproachable husband, Don Juan - Essay Example Can it be that you have deceived me with false promises Looking back on our relationship, I wonder how I could be so innocent as to believe you would always be faithful. I have been told of your transgressions and as much as I want to dismiss the frivolous gossip, I cannot completely do so without your returning to me and putting the lie to these words (33). My servant Gusman has tried to ease my pain but even as he speaks he confirms your infidelity. How could I be so blind to your coldness (33, 41) Why have you left me Why can you not face me and defend yourself Let it be known that I can give you any number of excuses and can place the words on your tongue that would convince me that what I have been told is merely hearsay and not your true actions. I will continue to pursue you and when we meet once more, I would ask you to say the words I wish to hear. I ask only that you explain yourself, that you tell me you adore me and that nothing but death can tear us apart. I need to hear you convince me that urgent business called you away, and nothing less than that would separate us. Please make it known that you will return to me as soon as you can and that you live with the thought of being with me once more. Your honeyed words brought me into our nuptial bed, but now you would seem to be without the language of love, more tongue-tied than smooth in speech (41-42). I must tell you, t I must tell you, though it breaks my heart to say it, that my brothers are on a quest to find you and to kill you (69; Fort & Kates 47)). As heart-sore as I am at your leaving me, I do not wish to see you dead. It is my hope that Gusman can deliver this letter at least to your manservant so that you will be warned of danger. Gusman has told me that my devotion to you might be met with poor return should I find you. He has tried to convince me to stay at home, but I have not chosen to listen. Surely, you would not wrong me in this way. Do the holy bonds of matrimony have no meaning to you-you, to whom the sacred doors of the convent were no barrier (34; Fort & Kates 47). Sganarelle, your loyal servant, has called you a scoundrel. Can that truly be At our last meeting, you neglected to clear my mind of doubt, and it was I who invented a hundred good reasons for your sudden departure. Should you, at the very least, choose to answer this letter, you can swear your heart is unchanged and you still adore me. You can tell me how sad you are that business keeps you from returning home for some time, and if I simply return home quietly, you will follow me as soon as your affairs will allow it. If you cannot face me and say these words, at least in a letter they would soothe my pain. The stories I have heard about your infidelity are difficult to accept, and you could so quickly put my doubts to rest. There is talk of a peasant girl, in fact more than one peasant girl, with whom you have dallied (49; Gethner, para. 9). Tell me it is not so. If you can but convince me of fidelity and love, I will erase all of the accusations I am making against you and will love you forever. I have spoken with your father, and he assures me though you have sinned in the past, you have seen the error of your ways, and it is my strongest desire that since our marriage, you have been loyal to me. With hope for our future.

BioPure case :: essays research papers

BioPure Corporation, which was founded in 1984 by entrepreneurs Carl Rausch and David Judelson, is a privately owned biopharmaceutical firm specializing in the ultra purification of proteins for human and veterinary use. In 1998 Biopure pioneered the development of oxygen therapeutics using â€Å"Hemoglobin†, a new class of pharmaceuticals that are intravenously administered to deliver oxygen to the body's tissues. Biopure's two products, Hemopure for human use, and Oxyglobin for animal veterinary use, both represented a new Oxygen based treatment approach for managing patients' oxygen requirements in a broad range of potential medical applications. The factor distinguishing Biopure’s two products from other blood substitute products being developed by two possible rivals, Baxter International and Northfeild Laboratories, is that its hemoglobin based source is bovine rather than human and was derived from the blood cells of cattle. Both of Biopure’s blood substi tute products were in the final stages of the approval process of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1998. Oxyglobin had just received the FDA’s approval for commercial release declaring it safe and effective for medical use. Hemopure was entering final Phase 3 clinical trials and was optimistically expected to see final FDA approval for release in 1999. The FDA approval of Oxyglobin and its possible subsequent release into the veterinary market caused concern over whether the early release of Hemoglobin would impinge BioPure’s ability to price Hemopure when the product finally received approval. Given that the two products were almost identical in properties and function, it was thought that the early release of Oxyglobin would create an unrealistic price expectation for Hemopure if released first. Although blood transfusions in the veterinary market are infrequent and the market scope is limited, Oxyglobin has the potential to become a lucrative investment for Biopure. Based on the approximate 355,000 blood transfusions (please see Exhibit 1 for the calculations behind this estimate) performed on animals in 1995, a definite opportunity exists for Oxyglobin within the veterinary blood market. Since the number of blood transfusions conducted in 1995 represented on average only 2.5% of animals suffering from acute blood loss, increased availability of animal blood could possibly stimulate the market.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to estimate the possible impacts of introducing Oxyglobin as a major product, it was assumed that Biopure would be able to produce and sell its full capacity of 300,000 units per year. As can be seen in Exhibit 1, the results of such an aggressive marketing strategy would yield a positive gross margin of between 49% and 66%, assuming the product was sold at a price of $100 to $150 per unit.

The Joy and Pain of Raising a Child with Special Needs

The Joys and Pain Of Raising A Child With Special Needs Donna McFadden ENG121 English Composition I Mr. Jonathan Alexander, Instructor February 18, 2013 The Joys and Pain Of Raising A Child With Special Needs Even though I am not the only parent of a child of special needs this is my personal journey into the world of special needs. No one could have told me that at the age of forty three I would be experiencing motherhood again to a child born with Cerebral Palsy. In fact, I was just preparing to celebrate my 25th high school reunion when I got the news that I was pregnant.When faced with the complex challenges of single motherhood you will soon find out that love is all you need. Allow me to give my account of this life altering phenomenon that totally changed the course of my mindset and direction in life. After an extremely emotional pregnancy and delivery by C-section, my son Nathan took his first breaths into a world of chaos and confusion. Being rushed to the neo-natal intensi ve care unit weighing only 4 lbs 3 oz, being probed and pricked by doctors and nurses to help stabilize the very life he stepped into.The thoughts of what my little angel endured coming into this world shows me his strength and determination as he begins his fight on this journey to manhood. Life began for my son spending his first few weeks of life in a NICU as they call it in the hospital with incubators and feeding tubes combined with the constant care from doctors and nurses assigned to his care. How traumatic for both mother and child to experience the separation and disconnect that is being substituted by machines. I forced the hospital to allow me an opportunity to stay in a room so that I could be as close to my son as I could.I was there for every feeding, every diaper change, all the testing I would sit in the NICU beside his bed and sing to him to reassure him that I was there. I was determined to be with my child as much as I could through this torturous ordeal. The inst ructions that we had to follow when we got home were intense, because of his prematurity and low birth weight many important things were still developing. I had numerous classes and seminars that I had to attend and complete before leaving the hospital. I even had to purchase a new car seat because the one that I had was not sufficient for a premature child.We immediately began having to parade through doctors offices on a weekly basis to be tested and examined and this process required a lot of patience and dedication. At five months olds we were back in the hospital so that Nathan would have his first surgery to repair three hernias. Once he recuperated it was then time for the next round of surgeries and this rollercoaster ride seemed to go on for months. Throughout this process you’re trying to find those opportunities to enjoy your child, those memorable moments of accomplishments and milestones.During these months I had no idea my son has Cerebral Palsy, nor had I ever experienced anyone who had been diagnosed with this disability. When we got the diagnoses of Cerebral Palsy, Nathan was fourteen months old and a very happy, determined little toddler, actually to look at him you would never know that he had brain damage. For me, not really knowing what it meant to have Cerebral Palsy actually played to my advantage because I didn’t have an opportunity to get upset, but more of a determination to educate myself on what I needed to do to help this baby grow into a wonderful productive person.Just like when he was born we were thrown into the arena of occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy more doctors and test after test after test. This process is extremely daunting, however necessary. I was just trying to tackle each obstacle as it came day-by-day with all the optimism I could muster. I had a determination to not think negatively or get in that place of despair or asking â€Å"why me? † How do you balance the range of emotions that not only go through your mind, but the minds of your family and friends about the hopes and fears of the destiny of your child?I am so grateful for my faith and belief system to help me sustain my strength and emotional well-being because I have no idea where I would be without it. This was truly one of the most difficult times of my life combined with an element of gratitude for the life and well-being of my son. Even though we are still on this journey a lot of progress has been made from that first day of life in July. My positive attitude about my son’s disability has been engraved in him and I am quite encouraged that through it all he will be such a positive example of how the challenges of Cerebral Palsy will not dictate his life.