Most teenagers can't wait to move out on their own and gain independence from their parents.

Katie Cottingham is one such teenager...no different from those her age. She has plans to attend college and eventually live on her own and learn to drive. Her ultimate goal is to become a newspaper reporter.

But Katie isn't your average teenager. She has lived all of her life with Cerebral Palsy, a disability that affects the body's nervous system. At the age of one she was diagnosed with quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy, which means that all four of her limbs are affected.

She admits her dexterity is not good, and her handwriting is wobbly, which are just two of the challenges she lives with on a daily basis. Her legs can only take her weight for a short time, she can only walk with assistance and so it is easier for her to get around in a power wheelchair.

Even so, a determined and upbeat 18-year-old has emerged from all that as members of the Lions Club discovered one night last week when she shared with them what it is like to live with the disability, which affects approximately one in 400 people.

Katie is in Bermuda as a guest of Sandy Mitchell, whom she met while the two were sailing on the tall ship Lord Nelson last summer in Europe. They were on the same watch for the Norway to Denmark leg of the race and struck up a friendship.

Mr. Mitchell, too, has lived with Cerebral Palsy since childhood so they have something in common.

"Towards the end of the trip he asked me if I would like to come to Bermuda and talk to his Lions group regarding my disability and how I have overcome my disability," explained Katie who lives in Lincoln, England. I'm very glad to be here, I'm honoured to have such an experience. It's not something I ever imagined I would be doing."

Katie attends a school for the disabled called St. Francis which has a student body of about 100. The students are taught to be as independent as possible.

"The brunt of what I wanted to say was that anything in life can have its difficulties and downfalls as far as disabilities are concerned," she explained. But if you are prepared to take the time and you have the support of your family and friends to encourage you, anything can be achieved. I believe it is important to appreciate your own limitations, but I also believe able-bodied people have limitations and it's important for them to realise that everybody has a disability in some way. It's just a case of finding ways to overcome it.

"By knowing your own limitations, you can set yourself achievable goals, either long term or short term."

Katie's talk was well received by the Lions members.

"I find it very emotional to know I can affect people in such a positive way," she said. She was told by one woman that she motivated her to go ahead and do something she had been putting off. She had a skin complaint which she normally kept covered up, but she said as a result of listening to me talk she wasn't going to be afraid to show her skin. She said as a result of hearing me speak, she wasn't going to keep it covered up anymore," Katie explained.

"As I told her, there is much more to a person than a disability, and people need to see beyond it."

Mr. Mitchell calls her an amazing young lady, to which she responded politely: "And he's an amazing gentleman. I'm lucky to know him."

Katie, who was accompanied to Bermuda by Karen Snutch, a learning support assistant at the school, credits her parents and the school for the determination she possesses.

"The majority of it has to be due to my parents who have always encouraged me to be integrated within society and be aware that I can achieve," she explained.

"They have always encouraged me whenever I found it difficult to continue trying more than once, and they have allowed me to make my own mistakes, which is important."

Her goals are clearly defined!

"At this point my main aim in life is to become as independent as possible, and I think I am slowly achieving my mental independence, making my own decisions and choices in life.

"Now I need to focus more on physically being able to live alone and to drive and be responsible for my own actions. That is something that is very important to me and that is something I hope to achieve by going to a specialist college, where I can learn to live on my own - gradually - through a scheme where they have a series of houses both on and off the campus that I can life in with different degrees of help and support.

"Eventually the further I go away from the campus the less support there will be for me, so eventually I will ultimately be independent which is my main aim at the moment."

In a speech she gave in the UK, Katie explained how she has "never known anything other then not being able to walk".

"As an older baby I attended a special playgroup, which I cannot remember, but I am told I did not enjoy. "Another part of my life which, at first, caused my great distress," she shared.

She explained that each person with Cerebral Palsy suffers differently.

"I had some speech therapy which, as you have probably gathered, worked wonders and now it is almost impossible to stop me from talking," Katie said without shame. I went to my local mainstream school where I was the only disabled child for a long time. I was lucky in that I did not suffer any bullying or ridicule as a result of my disability, everyone was very friendly. I forged some friendships that have lasted to this day and have happy memories of that time in my life. However as I grew older I felt I became more and more left out. This was not on purpose or anybody's fault, it was because of circumstances. People were talking to my one-to-one support and asking her questions that they really wanted to ask me but were afraid to because she was there all the time. So I felt very isolated from my peer group."

Katie has done her GCEs and is going on to do her GNVQ classes in creative and performing arts, with a long term goal of attending university as the final step before a career.

"That (university) will be in about three years' time and ultimately I would like a career in