Man With Cerebral Palsy Writes Book Using Head

A man who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a condition caused by early brain damage that effects movement and speech, wrote an entire book about his life using the side of his head.

Jason Michael Nelson doesn't have the ability to speak, or type, or use his hands to write. But he does have a “head switch” that allows him to scan the alphabet, pick a letter, and display it on a computer screen with only three taps of his head.

According to Nelson's stepfather, it took him about 20 minutes to write a sentence using the special software, but he never gave up. His book, “A Voice No Longer Silent,” tells his life story in 1,804 sentences.

Nelson was born in 1975 with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. Eighteen months later, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy that left him quadriplegic and mute. His story tells about the procedures he's endured to fix his crippled body, about his bouts with bronchitis and pneumonia, his family problems, and his friends' deaths, which greatly impacted his life.

“It just amazes me,” says Nelson's editor Susan Wenger. “Most people can't write a whole book.”

“A Voice No Longer Silent” has been printed by Hats Off Books in Tuscan, Arizona, turning Nelson into a published author—an amazing feat that has surpassed his condition. He says that by writing this book, he hopes to encourage people to pursue their dreams and not get discouraged by others.

“People think his brain should be like his body, but it's not,” said Nelson's aunt Cindy Byrum. “They think he's mentally retarded, but he's not.”

If your child sustained a birth injury which led to the development of cerebral palsy, contact a cerebral palsy lawyer, your child may be entitled to obtain compensation.