ANNIE WEBER | NEWS EDITOR
Tim Wambach rolled Mike Berkson’s wheel chair on to the Reilly Room stage. Wambach has been Berkson’s aid for the past 15 years.
“It’s been like a marriage, a lot of ups and downs,” Wambach said.
He and Berkson went back and forth cracking a lot of jokes like this during their hour-long show on Monday night. More than 350 Butler University students filled the Reilly Room.
Students were asked to label themselves via a blank name tag and marker.
While the pair were lighthearted and humorous, the message itself was serious and clear: improvise, adapt and overcome to disable the label.
Berkson was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby.
“People tend to treat me a certain way,” Berkson said. “They treat me like a stereotype, like when you label someone. Stereotypes can hurt, even when you don’t mean to.”
Wambach described their first trip to the mall together. He said people avoided being around the then 12-year-old Berkson.
“They didn’t see the light in Mike’s eyes, his razor sharp wit, his charm, his infectious laughter,” Wambach said. “They saw a deformed kid in a wheelchair. They never saw Mike.”
After the mall, Wambach experienced his first feeding experience with Berkson at Taco Bell. It was an absolute disaster.
“He had cheese in places you don’t want cheese,” Wambach said.
“We’re still finding cheese to this day,” Berkson said.
In the moment, Wambach said he was discouraged and upset. The meal at Taco Bell became a pivotal moment in their relationship when Berkson said to Wambach, “Tim, no need to cry over spilt Taco Bell.”
Wambach said in that moment, it made him realize Berkson was more than his disability.
“Whether you have a disability, handicap, whatever you call it. Whatever situation you’re in, there’s no such thing as a mistake, only a learning experience,” Berkson said. “It’s not about what people say you can’t do, it’s about what you know you can do.”
Four years later, Wambach, Berkson and Berkson’s twin brother, David, traveled from their homes in Chicago to Disney World in Orlando.
When the trip was over, Berkson and his brother flew home. Wambach decided to run. He ran 717 miles to raise awareness for those living with physical disabilities. He created the Keep On Keeping On Foundation to continue these efforts.
Wambach will be doing another run starting in late August. He will run 30 miles per day for 40 days straight to raise money and awareness for the foundation.
After sharing multiple humorous anecdotes. Once Berkson was wheeled in a gurney down Chicago’s Michigan Avenue — after a life-threatening spinal fusion therapy — so he could go to the movies. Berkson listed advantages of living with cerebral palsy.
- Always have a place to sit
- Never wear out a pair of shoes
- Can cop a feel and blame it on spasms
- Never have to reach for the check at dinners
While Wambach has taken care of Berkson since 2001, Wambach relies on Berkson.
“I don’t know where I’d be if Mike hadn’t rolled into my life,” he said. “When he believes in me, it gives me the courage to march forward, to keep on keeping on.”
Berkson and Wambach travel around the country, speaking to various schools and organizations through their production company, Handicap This!
After the speech, Sara Midura, president of Butler’s chapter of Answers For Autism, asked students to take of their name tags and crumple them up, disabling their label.
