I have cerebral palsy (cp), I was born with it but it wasn’t diagnosed with this when I was 10 months old (I think, I'm not sure!) but when I was 8 months old my mum saw my right arm get stuck in one of my toys, so she ask my doctor and he examined me and they found out I had cp. my sort of cp is called hemiplegia, which affects my right side.
So, what is cerebral palsy?
Cerebral palsy is a disorder which affects the part of the brain that controls the nerve messages to muscles. Normally, the brain sends messages to the muscles to do something and they do it. But in my case, the messages get scrambled so my right arm goes into spasm (goes shaky) which can sometimes be scary for people who don't understand cerebral palsy, but I have some ways of control by folding my arm up. Because cerebral palsy affects the brain it can also make these things difficult:
Hearing
Speech
Eating
Walking
Talking
What causes cerebral palsy?
Well, Doctors don't know exactly want causes cerebral palsy; they do know that it's the result of brain damage- either the damage is caused while in the womb ( which is what happened to me) or a year or two after birth.
Babies are more likely to get cerebral palsy if they are born early or underweight when born.
Also have lack of oxygen when born have a higher risk of getting cerebral palsy. But I am no doctor so if you are worried ask your gp.
Ok I want to make one thing clear, cerebral palsy IS NOT contagious!!!!
Like all children, children with cp go through puberty.
These changes like rapid growth cause teens with cp wobbly-ness, in my
experience this can be very embarrassing in font of friends without any
disabilities.
As a pre-teen myself, I am in and out of school going to
hospital appointments seeing what seems like hundreds of professionals ,
telling me to do things to help me - this can be daunting sometimes!
Kids with cerebral palsy have social lives too. Like any
teen I like too:
Do after school activities
Listen to music
Hang out with mates
Read
Going shopping
I'm naming just a few of the things I like to do but other
children will like different things
Helping someone with
cerebral palsy
Ok how to help, just treat the person like anyone else - I
would like to point out DONT be patronising we aren't dumb! Children with cp have the average IQ as
anyone else and in some cases higher than average IQ so we aren't dumb. Also
don't make a big deal with helping out with things, most teens with cp don't
want to stick out of their friends. Would you?
Don't be afraid to ask them about cerebral palsy. Most
children don't mind and are sometimes better at explaining cp then doctors!
Now I have got the factual bits out of the way, I want to
express my thoughts and views on cerebral palsy. To start with some truths
about my disability:
It affects 1 in 400 children in the UK
1 in 3 children with cp can’t walk
People with cerebral palsy use up 3-5 times the amount of
energy to get around (that’s why I use a wheelchair)
Cerebral palsy is brain damage to the part which controls
the muscles
When I explain cerebral palsy to my friends I say ‘basically
cp is like when your muscles speak Spanish and your brain speaks English, the messages
that get carried get muddled up so the muscle don’t know what to do!’ This is a
very basic explanation. Doctors can give a more detailed version but I’m no
medical student!
Ok, I disagree with the term ‘special needs’ because we are
all special in different ways, aren’t we? So why categorize ‘special needs’ to
disabled people? Society says don’t
label people or put them in boxes, which is very true, but then it’s schools
and places that label disabled children as special needs children, just because
they need a little more support.
If you ask me ‘what’s the worst thing about being disabled? I
would say not the revolving door of the hospital which somehow I’m always going
through, or the stupid wheelchair that makes me stick out of my friends. I would say discrimination because even if
it’s a stare or even a laugh, it hurts!
I may look like a different sort of person but I have feelings! Would
you like it? No, I don’t think so!
My views on this topic are purely my own I am not
representing all disabled people. I’m sorry if I have offended anyone by doing
this but this is my views on disability, like I said I’m no doctor! So if you
are worried about anything talk to your doctor or GP. I only know about my sort of cerebral palsy –
and at best just a few facts it. So I’m
no expert. I’m just a child with CP wanting to explain what I know about my
disability. Thank you for reading.
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