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Geri Jewell, 39, is an actress, comedian, public speaker and writer, who is probably best-known for her role as "Cousin Geri" on THE FACTS OF LIFE, a television sitcom of the early 1980s. Jewell continues to perform stand-up comedy, but has also embraced a key role in the community--consulting to Fortune 500 companies on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Jewell says, "I'm trying to increase awareness and the potential of hiring people with disabilities, valuing people of all walks of life and realizing that we need to take advantage of all our assets."
Jewell lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband, Richard, and two stepchildren, Ben, 18, and Holly, 27. The following was adapted from an interview between Jewell and EXCEPTIONAL PARENT intern Amanda Young.
I was born prematurely. It was a very traumatic birth; my mom was hemorrhaging, so they were trying to save her life. They thought they had lost me because they couldn't find a heartbeat. But somehow, I was still in there. I weighed three pounds when I was born, then I began losing weight. The doctors didn't think I was going to live. Finally, they figured out that bananas were the only thing that would put weight on me and keep me alive. I ate bananas for the first three months of my life, then they released me from the hospital. And now, I hate bananas.
From the time I came home, my parents knew intuitively that there was something wrong with me. But, doctors would say, "She's only 16 months old. What do you expect her to be doing?" Out of frustration, my mom called around and found out that, at that time, the leading hospital in detecting birth defects was UCLA Medical Center. So, we moved from Buffalo, New York to California. When I was 17 months old, I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
An imaginary fence
My education began at 18 months of age, in a private school for children with cerebral palsy, where I remained through first grade. After that, I attended a special education program in the public schools. I felt very separated and isolated. The special education school was on the same block as the regular elementary school, but...