This March, we're celebrating Cerebral Palsy awareness month and bringing our community together, virtually, for a month of learning and sharing.
Throughout the month, we'll be discussing Cerebral Palsy and your individual experiences through our conversation hashtag - #letstalkcerebralpalsy, opening the floor to our community to share their own stories and end the stigma and misinformation.
Many of us are finding it hard to maintain our mental health wellbeing during the lockdown. Here are few tips to help yourself cope with this pandemic situation.
Focus on your body:
As always the safety of our clients is our top priority. We wanted to give you an update on our services following the government’s latest announcement of a second lockdown. Taking into account the feedback from our clients and we have been working hard to make sure that we can continue to provide the support and services that our clients require.
You may have read on our monthly newsletter that we have teamed up with a group of volunteer researchers to help us get a better understanding of the services that our supporters need. We are keen to evaluate the Bobath services that we provide to our supporters, both current services and new. Our hope is that by looking at what services our supporters need, we will be able to bridge any gaps and ensure that our supporters have a voice!
The survey is now open and we’re eager to hear from you as soon as possible as we plan to present our findings by November 9th.
It was wonderful to have reopened our centre for hands-on therapy and our therapists are delighted to be treating in-person again. Thank you and welcome back to everyone who has visited our centre and followed our new safety guidelines.
During lockdown we were delighted to be able to offer virtual sessions to those in need of therapy at the heavily subsidised rate. These virtual sessions were specifically for those who needed sustained support throughout the lockdown period and supplemented rather than replaced in-person therapy.
My Story – Living with Cerebral Palsy
I was born with Cerebral Palsy, spastic diplegia. But this was unknown until I started taking my first steps. In this type of CP, I have stiffness in my muscles and it affects my arms as well. I have difficulty walking, the tightness in my hips and leg muscles causes my legs to pull together, turn inwards and cross at the knees, which is also known as scissoring. Walking in this way, to me, was normal and whilst growing up I adapted the best I could to continue living my life.
My name is Lucy Reynolds and I am a public speaker, academic researcher, writer and advocate for disability rights. I am passionate about changing perceptions of disability through sharing the insights and knowledge gained from my PhD research and first-hand through my own experiences.
After months of fundraising and stressing over what or where might be best to help Charlie we arrived in London to start 2 weeks of therapy at the Bobath Centre.
My type of cerebral palsy, spastic quadplegia, means that I have increased muscle tone and weakness in all four limbs including my abdomen. Hence my need for a wheelchair as I cannot walk unaided.
I work in a bridal shop full time as a receptionist and have a Jack Russell Terrier called Bobby.
My true passion is creating online content on Youtube to educate, empower and encourage individuals with and without disabilities to watch my life and value their own.