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10 Life Without Limits

assimilating into the United States school system. We waited in
Queensland for over eighteen months for Dad’s three-year work
visa to be arranged, finally moving in 1994.
Unfortunately, the move to California did not work out for
several reasons. When we left Australia, I had already started
sixth grade. My new school in Agoura Hills was very crowded.
They could only get me into advanced classes, which was difficult
enough, but in addition the curriculums were very different. I’d
always been a good student, but I struggled to adapt to the change.
Due to different school calendars, I was literally behind before I
even started my classes in California. I had a difficult time catch-
ing up. The junior high I attended also required students to change
classrooms for each subject, which was unlike Australia and added
to the challenges of my adjustment.
We’d moved in with my uncle Batta, his wife Rita, and their six
children, which made for a pretty crowded house even though they
had a large home in Agoura Hills. We had planned to move into our
own home as soon as possible, but home prices were much higher
than in Australia. My father worked for Batta’s real estate manage-
ment company. My mother did not continue her nursing career
because her first priority was to get us settled into our new schools
and environment, and so she had not applied to become licensed to
practice nursing in California.
After three months of living with Uncle Batta’s family, my
parents concluded that the move to the United States just wasn’t
working out. I was struggling in school, and my parents had dif-
ficulty arranging for my health insurance and overall handling the
high cost of living in California. There were also concerns that we
might never be able to secure permanent residency in the United
States. A lawyer advised my family that my health challenges
might make it more difficult to win approval because of possible
doubts about my family’s ability to keep up with medical costs and
other expenses related to my disabilities.

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