Profile-by-RebeccaW

While I sat in the Righetti’s nicely furnished home, I watched Natalee giggle and stand up to allow her mom to sit. The resemblance was uncanny. I had just spoken with Natalee and was excited to hear about her from her mom’s perspective. I asked her to tell me a story about Natalee. She had the same look that Natalee had when she was thinking. They looked to an upper corner, smiled and exclaimed, “UUUUMMMmmmm...”.

She later said, “I can’t think of these on the spot! I’m sure you could get tons from her siblings, Wesley or Nicolette.” After some more thinking she finally said, “Well, okay, one thing I will never forget about Natalee as a kid was her desire to be like her brother”. She explained to me that whenever Wesley was playing a sport, Natalee was insistent on playing with him. However, due to her condition, her parents had to tell her no. Kandice

distinctly remembered Natalee’s “adorable” expression when this familiar event occurred. She’d cross her arms and have an exaggerated pouty face. Who could blame her?

I loved hearing Kandice’s, Natalee’s mother’s, story about her desire to fit in with her brother. I learned that from a young age Natalee never wanted to alienate herself. She saw no reason to be treated differently. Natalee later addressed this story from her mom by laughing and imitating the face she’d make.

She explained how upset she was because she so badly wanted to fit in and be able to participate in her brother’s activities. Even though she was describing a time that really frustrated her, she described it with a smile. In fact, she was always smiling. It wasn’t just any grin, it was infectious. The energy in the Righetti household was an optimistic vibe with a lot of affection and gratitude in the air. When I entered their house to begin my interviews, their whole family came down to greet me. They asked me about my family, school and the project.

While I know they had busy lives, they had no problem with going out of their way to make me feel welcome.

Natalee Righetti, one member of the Righetti triplets, was born with a condition, cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement and motor skills. Natalee was born

with slight paralysis on the left side of her body. This means it’s difficult for her to use the left side of her body, limiting her from certain activities. Natalee says she has the assistance of her mom and sister to do daily activities such as cutting food with a knife, doing her hair, and so forth. However, from years of practice she has learned to do many things on her own. One limitation that especially upsets her is her inability to partake vigorously in some sports. This has been “I kind of pushed through and forced myself to be positive because you have to when you have a challenge.

People want to make you feel less human at times”

emotionally difficult for her seeing as her father, Dave Righetti, has spent all of his life working on his athletic career. While it has been an emotional struggle, Natalee has taken away a lot from her experience.

She is now an extremely optimistic, grateful person who believes she can overcome any challenge. She believes that since she’s able to use her right side easily, she’s blessed.

She takes advantage of her capabilities to inspire others to have the same outlook on life that she has.

Natalee now does motivational speaking, helps with community service, and most importantly, has written a book. She feels it’s her responsibility to help out, since she has had such a wonderful outcome thanks to her positivity.

The day the triplets were born, the Righetti family had obstacles to face. When they were born, Dave and Kandice were told that their youngest, Natalee, had cerebral palsy. Statistics have shown that it’s not uncommon for triplets to come with birth defects. Kandice tells me now that having kids with special needs is a whole other realm of parenting. Her experience as a mother was completely different from most mothers. She had the responsibility of loading the kids in the car, taking them to the doctors or physicians, taking them home, unloading them. This was a constant routine that she says was entirely worth it. Even though it was a different style of parenting, Kandice says it’s much more rewarding. The little accomplishments seem so much more monumental. Natalee had to visit physical therapists for her condition. When I asked her how she felt about it, she responded, “ I never really liked it. It was fun when I was younger but still hard and scary”. She explained that as a child, she had to climb a ladder; but, as she grew up, the activities became more challenging and

less “fun”. All her life, though, Natalee had a passion for sports.

She believes this was mostly due to her father’s career. When I asked how her father had influenced her opinion on sports, she said to me, “Him being in baseball made me love it so much.

I see his passion in the game and how much he works and it inspires me.” While she was able to teach herself a lot of tricks in sports, she still faced challenges.

When she was in her softball phase, she had to learn how to catch and throw with the same hand. She ended up acquiring this skill, but that doesn’t mean it was easy. In high school, she became interested in volleyball.

At one point, however, it became too difficult and decided to quit.

This was one of the most disappointing times in her life. She never gave up on anything, but she had a weak moment and let go of a challenge. According to Psychology Today, the element of initiative is usually acquired during the adolescence period. Based on their environment, the child will obtain lots of motivation to keep trying hard. Fortunately, Natalee was raised in these conditions. “I’ve always been pretty positive. I was less positive with my challenge with volleyball. That was my lowest point. But then, I read this book called Purpose Driven Life. It really opened my understanding of my disability and purpose. I came to accept everything that happened. There’s more

that I could be good at. Sophomore year was hardest because of not playing volleyball.” She decided to re-join the athletic field, and since then has worked very hard to remain optimistic and contribute to the disabilities community.

I had the privilege of joining Natalee at a National Charity League event. They asked Natalee to give a speech on her book. I met up with her in Woodside and we walked into this beautiful old home. She was in there, nervous.

She, her sister, Nicolette, and her mother were dressed up in lovely sun-dresses. I knew Natalee cherished their presence during her time of her nervousness because of how she described their relationship earlier. She had explained to me before that Nicolette and she were huge parts of each other’s lives. Nicolette being hearing impaired has faced obstacles just like Natalee. She told me, “Having disabilities has really connected us.

It has helped us cope with it. We say our disabilities are our strengths”. Nicolette has played a huge role in Natalee’s current character.

Nicolette and Kandice both kept saying supportive things to Natalee to calm her nerves.

I later left to set up my camera and minutes later saw Natalee approach the podium. As always, she had that infectious grin on her face. She began speaking about why she had written her book. There were at least 200 interested faces staring at the inspirational 21-year-old. Natalee explained her experience growing up with cerebral palsy and how the littlest bit of confidence and positivity took her a long way. The title of her book, “Beautifully Different”, addressed her belief that you can look at issues in several

different ways. However, in Natalee’s case, looking at “disability” in a positive manner can turn it into an “ability”.

When she was done speaking, there was a roar of an applause. She began to accept questions. Several mothers wanted more information on her experience and her plans for the future. When she was finished, she handed out copied of her book to eager, inspired listeners.

In high school, Natalee was given the opportunity to attend Camp Everytown. This program is directed towards difference in society. It teaches students about accepting all kinds of people. To be able to participate, you must be nominated and then go through the interview process. Seeing as it’s selective, not everyone

gets to have the same experience that Natalee had. Natalee wanted others to understand and be knowledgeable of what she and others go through on a daily basis. She didn’t believe that people were discriminatory, but just uneducated on what it was like to have a disability. This was when she came up with her idea of Disability Awareness Day. This was focused less on the “disability” itself, but the concept of being different in general.

She asked her principal, Keith Moody, and he approved her request. She wanted to give an “opportunity to open up to one another”. Natalee doesn’t want disabilities to be an elephant in the room. She told me an interview she wants people to be comfortable with others being different. There’s a lot of controversy on what

the etiquette is when discussing disabilities. There are still barriers between people with disabilities and people without disabilities. These are usually due to over-concern for being politically correct, failure to recognize their rights, negative attitudes, lack of awareness, and misconceptions. These reasons for the barrier are what stimulated the concept of disability awareness, in general. Natalee has now gotten involved in this movement and has now made her contribution to Mountain View High School. She’s proud to have left something behind.

Natalee has high hopes for her future. She plans on continuing to volunteer at the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, an organization that facilitates athletics for people with special needs. She feels it’s important that others have a fortunate experience, just like she did. She also recently was hired by Via Services. This is a non-profit organization that helps people with special needs live fulfilling lives and achieve greater self-sufficiency. She also will continue publicizing her book and spreading the word so more people will hear her message. When she spoke at the NCL event, she said that she may write another book; what it will be about exactly, she isn’t sure.

Natalee is certainly going to keep on contributing to the community and spread her message.

While her experience certainly hasn’t been a breeze, Natalee has made it a necessity to constantly think positively. Thanks to her high spirits, she has been able to accomplish what she never thought was possible. She now doesn’t view her disability as handicapping. Now that she is satisfied with her work and her future, she wants to help others feel the same way. She wants to preach what she’s learned so others can benefit as well. In the words of Natalee herself: “There’s a lot of judgment. I feel helping others understanding people with disabilities is my way of contributing to society. I feel I can help anybody see that it’s okay to be different. The truth is everyone’s different. I feel I could help others accept the world and that everyone’s different because I think thats a good thing!”