AZ Over the Rainbow

AZ Over the Rainbow, 11 years in the making. This is the story of the Connie Azbell Connolly that you never knew - The Connie before she moved to Celebration, Florida - The Connie whose life was changed forever by a bump on the head. Separated from her family at an early age, she was classified as mentally retarded. She was raised in a variety of state hospitals, foster homes, and group homes. Her life was filled with incredible highs and devastating lows, but she came through it all even though she still had the mentally retarded label. But some of the people who knew her best saw something that the others didn't and fought to have her retested. At the age of 29 she was reclassified from mentally retarded to cerebral palsy and allowed to start her formal education. In 1996 she got her High School Diploma - not her GED - her High School Diploma. This is her story, in her own words.