Article originally posted in the Panama City News Herald.
PANAMA CITY — DJ Franklin sits on a loveseat in the living room and waits for his stepfather, André Hanks, to take him to summer school at Chautauqua Charter Academy. As he waits, he drums the air with pantomimed drum sticks.
“He’s always been musical,” says his mother, Sonya Hanks. “You’ll find him in his room, listening to three things at once, picking out each rhythm perfectly.”
André hands DJ his cane, and they walk to the car. DJ has cerebral palsy, caused by a right hemispherectomy he received to stop seizures as an infant. This, and his left hip socket not developing fully as an infant, has presented DJ with challenges he will have to face for the rest of his life.
At Chautauqua, he is greeted by classmates and professional caregivers. To gather materials for a cooking lesson later in the day and give the students practice taking public transportation, director Cynthia McCauley decides to send a group of students to Walmart with a paraprofessional from the school.
On the trolley, DJ sits with his friend Mariah Moore. The two talk and joke as the trolley makes its way from 15th Street in Panama City to the North Tyndall Parkway Walmart in Callaway. At the store, the nearly dozen students help paraprofessional Carissa Boston find taco seasoning, meat and tofu.
There was a time when Sonya and DJ’s doctors were worried DJ would not have this level of independence. Depending on the brain’s ability to reassign functions to other parts of the brain, people with hemispherectomies have a wide range of outcomes after surgery. Still, it is unlikely that DJ will be able to have a fulfilling career.
“That’s why Chautauqua is so important,” says Sonya. The charter school provides a level of meaning and activity that the work force would not realistically be able to provide, considering his disability. After finishing a post-high school four-year program at the charter school, DJ will attend the adult program at Chautauqua and navigate the byzantine world of services for adults with disabilities.
As the trolley approaches their stop, Carissa pulls the cord, and the bus lets off the students. While other students rush back to the school, Carissa, Mariah and DJ talk as they gradually make their way back with bags in hand.