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f you look up the word disabled on Google this is the definition you will get “having a physical or mental condition that limits movements, senses, or activities”. When you shut your eyes and visualize a person with a disability, a vision that may come up is a person that is unable to execute activities that an able-bodied person can, maybe walking without
been defying the word “disabled” since early on in their lives. Diagnosed at the age of one with Cerebral Palsy, Doc and Joni (parents) were told that Denton may never walk on his own, and if he did, he would always need an assisted device. After meeting with a physical therapist one day for an evaluation, something that was said by the therapist stuck in the back of their minds and it has stayed with the parents through the 18 years of raising these boys. The therapist uttered out of shear frustration from a previous appointment “I wish that the mom would just LET the kid TRY instead of doing everything for that child. Just because the child is disabled, doesn’t mean he is unable”.
That right there became the Stapleton family’s motto. “Our goal when raising the twins has always been tomake themthemost independent people they could be.We alwaysmake them try the task at handfirst, and then if they can’t physically do it, then they must ask for help.” Said Joni Stapleton. Doc adds, “Sure, is it sometimes easier and faster to complete the task for them, absolutely but that wouldn’t teach them they can do things on their own. Most of the time, they figure the task out and feel a huge sense of accomplishment because they were able to complete it without assistance.”
an assisted device, playing basketball, riding a horse, showing a calf, and the list goes on. Sometimes, that vision is not always the case. Denton and Clayton Stapleton of Clinton IL have
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