Davra

Davra

I recently dug up a picture of my late sister Davra and posted it on FB for sibling day.  There were many who posted remembrances of her and I thought I would remember too. Davra was one of identical twins. She was born with Cerebral Palsy which left her quadriplegic. She did not have coordinated movement of her arms or legs and her speech was mostly unintelligible. As the youngest in the family I was born into a family with a handicapped child so this was my normal but for my older brother and Davra’s twin this was probably not the case. Life was chaotic and definitely felt a little different than my neighborhood friends’ lives’.  Floor time play truly meant playing prone on the floor with Davra as she could not hold herself upright. Furniture was moved so the wheel chair could maneuver, the “standing table” took prominence in the den and other equipment had to be moved about. I remember Davra’s helmet with a long pointer and the Language tray on her wheel chair covered in letters and words. She learned how to try to control her head movements so she could communicate however if you really knew her you could read her eyes. She would communicate yes and no with moving her eyes up and down but you could also see beauty, love, laughter, sadness and anger in those eyes. Davra would light up a room and had a bravery about her. My mom did a great job treating her just like the rest of us especially in a time period where many special needs children were institutionalized. She was dumped on a blanket on the front lawn and played outside with the rest of us.  Davra collected people. Most who met her quickly fell in love. We had a nanny/babysitter at one point named Renee who was Jesus ‘love to our family who even named her daughter after Davra. Another person wrote a poem about her and won a national contest. The worst part about her being handicapped to me was having to go door to door with a can to raise money for the Cerebral Palsy Association during the Telethon weeks. A particularly difficult time was when my parents split and Davra had to live away,  but that too became my normal. Visits to her school were very special. She loved to go to the Cantina and have burnt toast and milkshakes.  At one point Davra and I both became typical teens and we would go for walks to get away from the “rents. Not too long after that time period she passed away unexpectedly at the age of 19.


Please Feel free to share any memories you have of her with me.