Celebrating Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month

Celebrating Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month

We’re celebrating cerebral palsy awareness month in March!  How can you help raise awareness for the 17 million people with CP? Start by wearing green!

Before becoming a selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) advocate, I didn’t know March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. In addition, I had no idea March 25 is National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day in the U.S. Plus, I hadn’t heard that World Cerebral Palsy Day is celebrated annually on October 6.

31 Cerebral Palsy Facts

Cerebral palsy is the most common childhood disability, however, we don’t hear about Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month or National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day in the media. I’ll post facts, pictures and videos on social media all month long. My goal is to educate, raise awareness for CP. I wrote to President Obama, and The White House responded!

Here are Firefly’s 31 cerebral palsy facts for each day of the month:

1. “Cerebral palsy isn’t contagious. Relax”
2. “Cerebral palsy is caused by the bit of your brain that controls your muscles.”
3. “Over 90% of Cerebral Palsy cases are caused pre-birth.”
4. “Cerebral Palsy doesn’t necessarily mean learning disabilities. People with CP often have an equal or better IQ than everyone else.”
5. “Most people with CP have a similar life expectancy to everyone else. We’re not leaving anytime soon.”
6. “Cerebral Palsy doesn’t mean never walking. Many can, many will.”
7. “Cerebral Palsy can impair communication but we find ways.”
8. “Kids with CP are still kids. Nothing more, nothing less.”
9. “About half of kids with CP are born prematurely.”
10. “There’s no cure for cerebral palsy yet. But nobody is giving up.”
11. “People with cerebral palsy can lead completely independent lives.”
12. “Many kids wth cerebral palsy can, will, & should go to mainstream schools.”
13. “Cerebral palsy doesn’t always save you from a stressful, high-pressure job.”
14. “Cerebral palsy doesn’t necessarily improve or worsen on its own.”
15. “There’s nothing ‘wrong with me,’ I just have cerebral palsy.”
16. “You’ll see many competitors with cerebral palsy in this month’s winter Paralympics.”
17. “There are four types of CP: Spastic, Dyskinetic, Ataxic, & Mixed.”
18. “Cerebral palsy is the most common childhood disability.”
19. “CP affects about 17 million people, equivalent to everyone in the Netherlands.”
20. “Around 350 million people are connected to someone with CP.”
21. “Every case of cerebral palsy is as unique as the person who has it.”
22. “1 in every 500 babies is diagnosed with CP.”
23. “Two thirds of kids with CP can walk.”
24. “4 in 5 kids with CP can talk (some too much).”
25. “Only 1 in 10 kids with CP have severe visual issues.”
26. “CP can affect all limbs or just some of them.”
27. “Parents raising a child with CP do not get the huge financial support many people think.”
28. “One child every hour is diagnosed with CP.”
29. “3 in 4 kids experience recurring pain as a result of cerebral palsy.”
30. “Most people with cerebral palsy don’t want sympathy, they want opportunities.”
31. “Raising a child with CP isn’t the parenting journey I expected, but I don’t resent anyone else’s.”

Thanks to Firefly for educating us about cerebral palsy! Visit their FB Page to view the postcard gallery. I look forward to celebrating Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month with you on my CP page!

**This blog post was re-published by The Mighty.**