For all practical purposes, Amanda Webb is a typical 14-year-old girl.

She tells jokes, watches television in her room, makes good grades at school, and is a member of both the Junior Beta Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

But this Ketron Intermediate School seventh-grader does have one challenge not faced by her classmates — Amanda has cerebral palsy.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the term cerebral palsy refers to any one of a number of neurological disorders “that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination but don’t worsen over time.”

Though cerebral palsy affects muscle movement, it is actually caused by abnormalities in parts of the brain that control muscle movements. Effects from the disease vary from person to person.

In Amanda’s case, the disease has caused physical limitations that confine her to a wheelchair and prevent her from speaking. Mentally, however, Amanda is quite above average.

“That’s what you see when you first see Amanda — you see this poor little child in a wheelchair,” said Sherri Parker, special education coordinator at Ketron.

“Quickly, I figured out ... she’s more than she lets on. ... She has been in resources classes and normal classroom inclusion ever since. She has done wonderful. She is one of our top language arts students in seventh grade. She reads everything. She reads her own tests.”

To communicate with others, Amanda uses a device called a DynaVox. Essentially a computer with a touch screen, Amanda can type in words and touch phrases that have been saved in the DynaVox.

With her device, Amanda said that she wants to be a “preacher.” She even tells jokes and shows off “age appropriate” phrases such as “later, dude.”

The DynaVox also allows Amanda to be more independent. She can use it to surf the Internet and control her television. She can also enter her tests and homework into the device, which can then be hooked up to a printer to produce a hard copy of her schoolwork.

Though her DynaVox allows her to communicate and do school work, Amanda still needs help with physical activities, such as going to the bathroom and taking baths.

At school, she has a personal assistant. At home, however, Amanda’s condition is further complicated by her family’s health. Her mom, Brenda, suffers from lung cancer, which spread to her brain. She has undergone brain surgery and radiation treatment and now faces chemotherapy. Due to her condition, Brenda cannot lift Amanda or help with her personal hygiene needs.

Her father, Jeff, suffers from hepatitis B and C, as well as stage three cirrhosis. He has been unable to work for the past four years.

Other than insurance, the Webbs say they have received no real financial help for Amanda’s needs.

Since Brenda became ill, Amanda spends all of her time at her grandparents’ house. Her family knows, however, that this isn’t a permanent solution.

“I don’t want anything to hold her back,” Parker said. “Right now, I see the plight that her mother and father and grandparents are in. The child can go to college, and she will do very well in college. She does have the physical disabilities. ... I know when she graduates high school she’s not going to have a personal assistant, but if she could, somehow, it would be wonderful.”

Since Amanda does not suffer from mental retardation, government-funded services are not currently available to help with her physical needs. Amanda is served by TennCare, but her family said nothing dealing with personal hygiene — such as a bath chair or “potty” chair — are covered.

“She can’t sit in a tub like most children, so there’s a special need for that,” Jeff said. “TennCare won’t pay anything to do with that. They recommended that we sponge her off once every three to four days. Would that sit well with you?”

That’s not the only service unavailable to Amanda.

“I’ve checked into different places that can help,” Parker said. “And if she were mentally handicapped, there would be a ton of places for her to go. But just because she’s physically handicapped, there’s nowhere. There’s nothing out there for kids like her that have mental abilities out the roof, but they’re just physically impaired. ... It is unfair. Just because you’re wheelchair-bound, it doesn’t mean you’re mentally retarded or that you don’t deserve a chance at life.”

In 2000, the Tennessee General Assembly revised Title 33 — laws dealing with mental health and mental retardation — which made people with any developmental disability eligible for government-funded services. The law took effect in March 2002. However, until this point there has been no plan in place to take advantage of federal funding or to make services available to those with other developmental disabilities.

There may be some hope for people like Amanda, however.

A bill currently in circulation in the Tennessee legislature could potentially help people like Amanda who have developmental disabilities other than mental retardation. According to the Tennessee General Assembly’s Web site, the bill — House Bill 2569/Senate Bill 2561 — would require “the Division of Mental Retardation Services to establish an ongoing planning process to guide the development and evaluation of home and community-based services for people with developmental disabilities other than mental retardation.”

Among the requirements listed would be the “establishment of a program to provide long-term care services for persons with developmental disabilities other than mental retardation that takes advantage of available federal funding.”

During fiscal year 2008-2009, the program would serve approximately 560 additional people from the waiting list for “the family support program” and 100 others at an average cost of $1,785 per person. Total additional expected expenditure from the state would be $2.3 million.

On April 2, the Tennessee House placed the bill “behind the budget.” Also on April 2, the Senate General Welfare, Health and Human Resources Committee recommended the bill for passage and referred it to the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee. No action has been taken since that time.

But the legislation has powerful people on Amanda’s side.

Nearly 70 House and Senate lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill — including Republican Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey of Blountville and Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh of Covington.

The Webbs say it’s imperative that this legislation be passed — not just for Amanda, but for others in similar situations.

“We really need these two bills passed, so Amanda can carry on with her studies and life without too much interruption,” Brenda said. “That’s my main reason. I really want it passed for her benefit, so that she can continue on through high school and college and anything else. ... (I’d tell the legislators) to please, please pass this law, so that not only Amanda, but all handicapped children can have a chance at life. ... Unless they get these two bills passed, they really don’t have a chance.”

“Amanda’s our main focus,” Jeff said. “Her decision to want to go into the ministry wasn’t anything we pushed, it was her decision. ... She’s wanting God to send her around the world to tell about his love for all of us. I really admire her for that, and I know that she’s mentally capable of doing that. ... Children like Amanda won’t have near the chance or the opportunity even though they are capable.”

Times-News staff writer Hank Hayes contributed to this report.