For most of Subash Jamuna's life, everyday activities like walking up a flight of stairs or crossing the street have been major challenges.

But neither he nor his family has allowed these difficulties to hold him back in any way.

Jamuna has cerebral palsy, a condition that affects his brain and results in a group of disorders that affect movement, balance and posture.

His latest achievement is succeeding in getting a law degree and being called to the bar last month, an academic journey that spanned almost two decades.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday, Jamuna, 38, said he was excited to enter a new phase of his life as an attorney and believes the lessons and experiences he learned have equipped him with the strength and skills to excel.

Born and raised in El Socorro, Jamuna says despite his condition he was fortunate that his family treated him like any other person, encouraging him to do tasks on his own, sometimes without assistance to develop his strength.

"My parents treated me like any other child.

"My dad wouldn't pick me up and carry me up the stairs, sometimes he would encourage me to climb up the stairs on my own, so they didn't cuddle me.

"They always challenged me to develop my own independence."

Jamuna later attended the El Socorro Hindu Primary School where he had his first interactions with other children.

While some children can be mean-spirited towards people that look differently, Jamuna said he had good experiences with his classmates. During his school day, he had to use a walking aid to attend classes.

[caption id="attachment_929186" align="alignnone" width="683"] Subash Jamuna says growing his family and schoolmates never treated him differently and encouraged him to be self-reliant.- PHOTO BY SUREASH CHOLAI[/caption]

This support from his peers continued through secondary school when he attended St George's College, Barataria, and his friends encouraged him to be self-reliant.

"Even my friends in form four or five would assist me with my bookbag or going down to the cafeteria ever so often but they would also urge me to do it on my own.

"They knew they wouldn't be doing me any favours if they continued to wait on me, they would say 'You know you should try and do it on your own,' and I did."

The difficulties caused by his condition would not be the only hurdles in the way of Jamuna during his time in secondary school as he also admits to feeling unmotivated to study.

While he enjoyed learning about literature, Jamuna said, he preferred to read and learn things at his own pace rather than following a rigid class schedule, but gradually focused on schoolwork with encouragement from his parents.

"As a student, I struggled academically. I had a hard time learning. I just wasn't focused at all that was when I was 12 to maybe around 17 years old.

"In high school, I saw schoolwork as a chore, it wasn't something I enjoyed, this was before the internet so I used to visit the school's library and read the encyclopaedias and learn facts about history and so on.

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