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Hoover High student rises to the Occasion
Student with Cerebral Palsy leaves his wheelchair behind.
By Christina Vance / The Fresno Bee
06/09/07 04:38:49
Face reality. You’re going to be wheelchair-bound for the rest of your life.
Kevin Vu heard those words as a boy. On Friday night, he received his diploma on his feet.
The Hoover High School graduate — who has cerebral palsy and normally uses a wheelchair — crossed the stage at his commencement ceremony using crutches. It took about two years of physical therapy to achieve that level of mobility.
To Vu, the moment was a vindication.
“I have a lot of people to prove wrong,” he said earlier this week.
During the high-spirited commencement ceremony at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, most cheers for graduates came from thousands of family members and friends above in stadium seats.
But a rousing shout after the reading of Vu’s name didn’t come from above. It came from the floor — from his own green- or white-robed classmates. Vu returned to his seat, grinning, with a diploma case in his hand.
Friday isn’t the first time Vu, 17, walked across a stage in front of his peers. He also stood and spoke at the school’s recent baccalaureate service. His principal, Toby Wait, called the speech profound.
“He’s a very good kid,” Wait said. “He’s an advocate for other students with disabilities.”
Vu says he wishes to become a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves. It’s what his mother did for him years ago as a Vietnamese immigrant trying to learn a new language.
His mother’s English, Vu says, was “like a car on a bumpy road.”
But Kimmy Nguyen-Vu didn’t have any trouble expressing her hopes that her children will give back to their community. She believes her son’s experiences will help others.
“We want to share the story to educate the people,” she said.
Someday, Vu hopes to carry his passion for advocacy to the White House as president of the United States. But for now, he is focusing on helping those around him.
Wait said he recently had a “very frank” meeting with Vu to discuss struggles the senior faced during his years as a Fresno Unified student. The meeting was to give Wait ideas to help other students with disabilities.
“It’s hard for us to understand what they go through on a daily basis,” Wait said.
The principal said he is taking at least one of Vu’s suggestions.
He hopes to create school awards for students with disabilities who have overcome personal obstacles, on par with the athletic and academic awards handed out each year.
Some of Vu’s story isn’t pleasant. He described difficulty in getting medical and educational support. He sometimes feuded with district administrators. He said society often is cruel.
“When you’re disabled, you have to fight for everything,” he said.
Besides that, disabilities make some people uncomfortable. Vu said he is used to people avoiding eye contact with him. Or assuming he is not intelligent. Or doubting that he is as capable of doing a job as an able-bodied person.
“There’s nothing wrong with me,” he said. “My brain’s smart.”
Probably the most common misconception about people with cerebral palsy is that they aren’t intelligent, said Jamie Marrash, executive director of United Cerebral Palsy of Central California.
“You can have normal intelligence but be inside of a body that doesn’t quite work the way you want it to work,” she said.
Earlier this week, Vu wore a black suit, a dress shirt and a red tie to school. The senior said he always dressed professionally because he considered school to be his workplace.
Wait put it another way.
“He wears a suit and tie every day — dresses better than the principal,” he said.
Vu said he’s old-fashioned and believes society should be a place where people genuinely care for one another. He said he plans on living that vision out — even in a world where the weak are crushed by the powerful.
Said Vu: “That’s why there are people like me who will speak up for them.”