He calls once a week, eager to hear about what I’m doing + what’s new. He always has new friends, cracks jokes you can’t believe he just said, and is laughing that vibrant, one of a kind squeal. Ever since Coop came into my life, it hasn’t been the same. I thought those were good enough reasons to fly out to Greenville, South Carolina + capture a day in his life.
This is Coop’s story.
“EVERYONE HAS A DISABILITY, YOU CAN JUST SEE MINE.”
“I was fortunate enough to be born into a Christian family 39 years ago. When I was growing up, my parents never treated me any different than my older brother Sean. Although physically, we were very different. While my brother was a healthy, athletic guy, I was born with cerebral palsy + scoliosis, and in a wheelchair.
I was taught that God put me on this earth, into this family, for a reason. I wasn’t any different from anyone else in God’s eyes.”
“My dad always made things adaptable for me to participate in life as best as I could. I backpacked in the mountains on his back, I swam in the lake like a fish every summer, and I spent hours upon hours on the family ski boat in a specially strapped seat. My brother made a special adaptive table for me to control video games. I was normal–but I wasn’t.
I had a disability + I knew it. But what I didn’t know was how important that would be to others as I grew older.”