Life Lessons From Cerebral Palsy

Image by U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jilleanne Buda via Wikipedia

It is true that cerebral palsy affects everyone differently, but a common thread has come from talking to friends with it. There seems to be common questions among readers, that I am going to try and answer and although I can only comment from a specific nature about my life I feel it important to look at these themes.

Social Isolation

I have written about this on this blog before but because I don’t have a completely ironed out answer that will create a solution for every person one hundred percent of the time, I feel it important to write about it here. I am not sure that social isolation can be avoided in its entirety. I think that a lot of it comes from a child’s perspective. I perceived that my peers as being entertained by their ability to leave me out of social interactions simply by running away from me. That was a harsh lesson in that my functional mobility was slower than them.

Education

I have written about my experiences in school, it seemed that as I got older, my disability was secondary to which I was, in the school setting. I think this is in part because as I got older my ability to advocate for myself, with self advocacy improved.

Self Advocacy

When I think advocacy, I immediately think of problem solving. The ability to seek help and learning advocacy doesnt have to be just when there is a problem, for as long as I can remember when I was old enough to understand how the telephone worked, I was in charge of calling and booking my own babysitters.

I hope you enjoyed this article – whether you agree with everything or not, send me your comments. opinions, suggestions and experiences – your input is very welcomed and much appreciated!

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