Happy World Cerebral Palsy Day 2024! I’ve been wanting to do another World CP Day post for several years now but have just never had the chance so it feels good to be writing one again this year. I also want to find my passion for blogging again so what better way to kick it off than by going to my CP grassroots – obviously, occupational therapy will be mentioned though!
I find this year’s campaign ‘Uniquely CP’ quite fitting as CP appears differently on everyone just as any disability and we are unique. Yes, when using phrases like ‘unique’ you always have to be critical to make sure society doesn’t mean myself as unique and go down the inspirational porn route. So before we break it down let’s be clear – my experiences of disability are unique I am personally not ‘unique’ or let’s just say it whilst I’m at it ‘special’.
Anyway, now the soapbox bit is done let’s get on to the good stuff…
This year World CP Day has given us 4 principles to change the perception of disability, In this post I will break this down adding my own spin on this. The four principles of World CP Day can be found on the website: https://worldcpday.org/portfolio-item/2024-campaign-guide/
Celebration not sympathy:
Yes, yes, yes and this is why I got on my soapbox earlier on because often disabled people are pitted in the media but I personally don’t want sympathy I love my life! I think as CP is more commonly thought of as a childhood disability (news flash it doesn’t go away in adulthood) it is often pitted more but disabled kids don’t want pitting either. Yeah, I’ve had some rough times but please don’t call me inspirational I’m just living my life and I platform this to raise awareness and be an activist not to be pitted!
Solidarity not stereotypes:
Yet again no two disabilities are the same and there is no ‘look’ for disability. I can’t believe I’m writing this in 2024 but people often assume that disability is a ‘look’ and I just don’t get why. The disabled community is the biggest minority in the world and the reality is most of us will become disabled at some point in our lives so how can disability have a look? We need solidarity and allyship, not stereotypes. We know we’ve got disability wrong in the past but let’s work on this together rather than living in denial because I guarantee we would make a bigger impact!
Celebrate individuality:
Again, this is similar to the point above but disabled people are individuals! How CP presents on my friends with CP is different to what it presents on me and that’s normal. Yes, if you’re an occupational therapist working with people who have CP and you come across something you’ve not seen it can throw you off but again that’s okay! No one knows everything! It’s okay to say I don’t understand but will try my best to put myself in your shoes because we’re all individuals and no one will truly understand what another is going through.
Focus on strengths:
I’ve said this so many times when talking about positive disclosure but disability does have its strengths. Yeah, some days can be rubbish but being disabled give us so many strengths at work or being able to be good at planning and being our own occupational therapist (not that I’m good at OTing myself as an OT but many disabled people are so creative). Disabled people have so much to give so please learn from us!
I hope this blog is useful as these are four key things we need our allies to consider. There is a long way to go in challenging misconceptions but engaging in these principles is a good start as the rest we can do through collective action!
Thank you reading. Happy World CP Day 2024!
Georgia x
