True Happiness is Possible In a Broken Body. Are You More Than Your Reflection?

Guest speaker, Carla Towns is a twenty-one year old independent author, poet, and business-minded Entrepreneur. 

Writing since the tender age of seven, her work is mostly based on her experiences in life, and how she dealt the loss of her mother as a young girl, and afterwards changing living arrangements several times. From ages sixteen through eighteen she was in foster care which she says was one of the single hardest battles she’s had to overcome - even now that she lives on her own. 

Carla was diagnosed with Infantile Cerebral Palsy after her mother gave birth to her, due to three strokes which led up to her brain Injury. Doctors said that Carla would not be able to talk, hear, speak or breathe on her own. They were wrong! She can do all but one of those things and doesn’t see it as a roadblock. 

Because of the Cerebral Palsy she is wheelchair bound; but she refuses to be held back. Carla wakes up with a smile, with dignity and a plan to reach out to other individuals overcoming their individual challenges –whether they be able bodied or in wheelchairs. She has a passion for life and fights toward equality for everyone. 

On May 2011, Carla was aired on her local news where she spoke to a crowd of individuals with developmental disabilities. She both encouraged and inspired the crowd. She was quoted saying “Just because [we] don’t look the same doesn’t mean we don’t have the same heart.” Carla says that she will keep writing and continue to inspire others.