Many people know English Second Language teacher Tyler Darnell as the guy with the cane, but he is more than meets the eye. The world wasn’t made for him, yet he adapted, growing to be mentally and physically strong throughout his whole life.    

Cerebral palsy is a condition that is developed during birth known to affect movement and muscle control due to abnormal brain developments. Mr. Darnell struggles with primarily moving his left side. This meant he finds seemingly simple tasks to be hard, such as getting out of the car, trying to find an elevator, but especially walking. “I didn’t walk till I was four, and I was walking on my tippy toes because my tendons were so tight. I had two major surgeries: one at five and one at 16. They cut my legs open in the front and back, stretched out my tendons, and I had to retrain my brain to walk both times,” stated Mr. Darnell. 

As a five-year-old, while other kids his age are preparing for kindergarten, Mr. Darnell was still learning how to walk on his own. He recalled, “I’m on these parallel bars, and I’m crying in pain. My poor mother was trying not to cry on the other end. She’s trying to say, ‘it’s fine’, but it doesn’t feel fine to me.” 

Mr. Darnell felt different from those who were around him. This was especially in seeing his twin brother learn normally while he was missing classes for endless checkups. He stated, “I thought about how [my brother] can do this, and I have to do this. I feel like I got into the ‘AP class for disabilities’ in high school because I had to go through a lot of physical therapy and work to get where I am today.”

Mr. Darnell had to make some tough decisions about his future during his high school years. For his physical health to improve, he had to put his education on a brief pause. He recalled, “I was using five to six times more energy than the average person just walking in a circle [during pre-surgery tests]. My concern for the future in terms of college and professional work life made me realize that [walking] would be beneficial in the long run even though it wasn’t going to be fun, and it’s going to be a lot of work.”   

During this long uphill process, Mr. Darnell saw positivity in every situation. He knew that there were physical limitations he could not change no matter what, but he tries adapt through asking for help. “I have to be willing to be awkward because there’s no other option. It’s going to look different from others, but the value is being able to get where I need to go,” explained Mr. Darnell. For example, Mr. Darnell finds it difficult to tie his shoes, so he isn’t afraid to ask for help.  

While people might find having cerebral palsy as a challenge or limitation, Mr. Darnell hones in on his intellectual interests. He spends his free time writing novels for the next generation. Mr. Darnell explains, “I’ve been writing children’s fiction for the last four years. I have two middle grade novels and one young adult novel. My first book was called ‘Super Palsy’, and the next book I’m working on is called ‘Inescapable Joy’.”

Mr. Darnell doesn’t see his condition as a struggle, but it was a way to adapt to life. In his eyes, this is an art. Despite what might seem like a hindrance to society, Mr. Darnell has been able to shine through and embrace who he is as a person.