MIXED BLESSINGS

This is the extraordinary story of Sonya Hill.

Born on the 10th of May, 1967, following a traumatic birth, Sonya suffered a lack of oxygen, causing permanent brain damage, and a lifelong venture with Cerebral Palsy.

Taking you on a stirring rollercoaster ride of both highs and lows, she has now crafted her own personal account of what growing up with a disability has been like for her.

Sonya’s story takes you through the challenging days of early infancy grappling with enormous struggles in feeding, mobility and using her hands.

Aged 3, still being unable to communicate with anyone except her Mom, an assessor denied that Sonya had any educational future at all.

At aged 4, however, after embarking upon a lengthy campaign, her mom finally secured Sonya a place at Victoria School, a lovely special school situated in Northfield, Birmingham.

Leaving the preschool years behind the reader will then be taken on a charismatic and touching voyage, heading along the great labyrinth of Victoria’s corridors, entering each class and department to slowly reveal the amazing infrastructure which is finely tuned to deliver the best possible education and treatment for each of their very special pupils.

Familiar with dealing with the typical dexterity problems of children with Cerebral Palsy, Sonya is very soon introduced to her specially adapted typewriter with which to complete her schoolwork. She then makes quite an unexpected, but intriguing detour to Dudley College, where she studied Information Technology, English Language, Cookery and Art, exploring lots of new, innovative ideas and thoroughly enjoying student life.

She later moved with her mom to dwell in a quiet coastal region of Scotland, where she joined family and friends for her quite spectacular 50th birthday celebrations at her parish church. Sonya also enjoyed acting as Barn Owl, assisting with their action-packed brownie group.