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Best foot forward

Chattanooga State student doesn’t let cerebral palsy stop her from achieving

By: Karen Nazor Hill
(Contact)

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Staff Photo by John Rawlston
Lyndsey Fairbanks participates in a computer design class at Chattanooga State Technical Community College. She uses her foot to operate her computer due to cerebral palsy.

Lyndsey Fairbanks doesn’t often take “no” for an answer. Her mantra was yes I can long before the words became a chant in the 2008 presidential election.

Ms. Fairbanks, 20, a Chattanooga State Technical Community College Web-design major who plans to go to law school, has cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that hinders body movement. A wheelchair allows her some mobility, though she can walk short distances unaided.

Because she has limited use of her arms, Ms. Fairbanks uses her feet like most people use their hands.

“I wanted to play Nintendo with my dad, so when I was 4, I taught myself to use the controls with my feet,” she said. “By the time I got to elementary school, I was using a typewriter.”

Today, Ms. Fairbanks can type about 40 words per minute with her toes.

“It’s easy for me,” she said. “At school, I use computers on desks like everyone else. I do, however, wear pants to class.”

Chattanooga State mass communication teacher Will McDonald said Ms. Fairbanks is a good student.

“Her disposition is very proactive,” Mr. McDonald said. “She’s always prepared.

“I struggle with understanding what she’s saying, but if you tune in, you can follow,” he said.

Life has been and will continue to be a challenge, Ms. Fairbanks said. “But I’m ready for it. I can’t let cerebral palsy control who I am or what I do, and I can’t feel sorry for myself or ever give up on anything.”

At 15 years old, Ms. Fairbanks lobbied for a wheelchair lift in her 100-year-old high school in Paris, Ill. She was told, at first, that the school couldn’t afford the lift.

“They told her she would have to attend all of her classes in the basement of the three-level school throughout her four years of high school,” said her mother, Lesa Fairbanks.

But early in her sophomore year, Ms. Fairbanks began a communitywide campaign to have a wheelchair lift installed in her school. She wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper and distributed leaflets around town. Less than a month later, a lift, funded through grants, was installed.

About the same time, Ms. Fairbanks was also instrumental in getting handicap parking spaces at the local YMCA.

“I don’t give up,” Ms. Fairbanks said. “Whatever I set out to do, I’ll get it done eventually.”

Ms. Fairbanks said she plans to attend University of Tennessee at Chattanooga after she graduates from Chattanooga State. She also hopes to live in a dorm.

“Her father and I have never set limitations for Lyndsey,” Mrs. Fairbanks said. “But she has trouble feeding herself, and until I’m comfortable knowing that she can, in fact, eat, she’ll continue living at home. But I have no doubt, she’ll figure out a way.”

Q&A

Q: What have been your biggest disappointments?

A: “I’ve had two. I got my first and only job last April taking tickets at a local theater. I couldn’t tear the tickets, so I’d ask the people to tear it for me. Everyone was willing to do it, but the manager said I should be tearing the tickets, so he fired me after one day. I really want to work, so I was very disappointed. The second disappointment is that I can’t drive. I really want to learn to drive. I know that I can do it.”

Q: What are your limitations?

A: “I can’t feed myself and I can’t fix my hair.”

Q: What do you do for fun?

A: “I don’t have many friends because people don’t realize what I can do. People have to get to know me to know that I can do many things. I do have one good friend, who also has cerebral palsy, and we go to movies together. She lives in Dayton and is equally as motivated as I am. We encourage each other.”

Q: What are you long-range plans?

A: “My biggest goal is to become a lawyer who specializes in disabilities issues. I want to be an advocate for people with disabilities.”

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