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Go Green for CP
Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy
- SDR FAQS

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Cerebral Palsy Awareness + Education

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About Nicole
Book
Go Green for CP
Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy
- SDR FAQS

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Press

MEDIA & PRESS

Daily Mail EXCLUSIVE: Florida nursing home from hell where 14 people died during Hurricane Irma when air conditioning stopped is sued over ANOTHER ‘wrongful’ death

Yahoo: 10 Reasons to Wear Green for Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month
Yahoo: Why You Should Go Green on World CP Day
World CP Day: Cerebral Palsy is Lighting Up The World

NBC 6 South Florida interview about my poetry book.
WPLG Local 10: Local women lead awareness efforts for cerebral palsy and epilepsy
ABC6: Pawtucket river bridge shines in green for cerebral palsy awareness month
KGWN TV: Cheyenne goes green for World Cerebral Palsy Day
Sun Sentinel: Plantation author advocates Cerebral Palsy surgery
Orlando Voyager: Life & Work with Nicole Luongo
BKReader – The Power in Disability Pride: A Conversation

David’s Cerebral Palsy and Fitness Channel: #whatCPlookslike ft. Nicole Luongo
Diversability Amplified, Ep. 9: Chronically Candid with Nicole Luongo
Thrive: What Disabled People Want You To Know About Disability Pride
Stylist: How to boost confidence: Disabled women on exercising for joy
Good News Network: Woman With Cerebral Palsy Braves Controversial Surgery So She Can Ride a Bike – Now You Can’t Stop Her
CerebralPalsy.org: One Woman’s Cerebral Palsy Story Should Encourage Sharing Your Own

Meet Nicole

Welcome! I created What CP Looks Like to raise awareness for cerebral palsy, the most common disability in childhood.

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Medium

whatcplookslike

I love meeting new people. Rob’s a great guy! DM

I love meeting new people. Rob’s a great guy! DM him to help him reach his goal of meeting 10K people!

#Repost @robs10kfriends with @use.repost
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5074. “I was almost 40 years old and I was like wait a minute, why haven’t I ever heard of this surgery? So it really became my life’s mission to get the word out about this surgery.” Born 2.5 months premature, Nicole Luongo came into the world at 2 lbs 13 oz. “I was my mother’s last and 11th child.” She was also born with cerebral palsy, and therefore had to have heel cord lengthening surgery at 4.5 years old. “So I believe I didn’t walk ‘on my own’ until I was 5.” Always resourceful, though, Nicole constantly found ways to get around by putting shoes on her hands. “That’s how I am as a person where if I can’t do it the traditional way, I’m just gonna find some other way.” As she grew older, Nicole graduated with her Business degree from @floridaatlantic; however, she’s been most fulfilled when being an advocate. At 39 years old, she underwent a selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR surgery), which changed her life. Afterwards, she had more mobility, including better abilities to climb stairs unaided and walk backwards. Wanting to spread the word, she shared her story in @huffpost only after staying persistent and reaching out to @ariannahuff directly. Nicole also managed to get 48 of 50 states (2 of them forgot) to light up green for CP in March of 2019! Now, though, she’s thinking of other ways to spread awareness by joining groups like @diversability and thinking of starting her own podcast! So nice to meet you, @whatcplookslike! #10kfriends #philly #fortlauderdale #florida #cerebralpalsy #advocate #resourceful #fau #sdrsurgery #huffpost #gogreenforcp #podcast #whatcplookslike #somegoodnews #robs10kfriends #meetingpeople #SDRChangesLives
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How we met: Nicole came across my project via her friend, @imtiffanyyu (#3846), and then DM’ed me to meet!
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Swipe to hear more about how Nicole spread the word about selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR)! 🌎✍🏼
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Click the link in my bio if you’d like to support me via Patreon! 🙏🏼

From my blog post (link in bio): “The Disability

From my blog post (link in bio): “The Disability Pride flag was designed by Ann Magill, a disabled woman.

The flag has a black background with five zig zag lines diagonally across the flag in blue, yellow, white, red, and green. The lines symbolize a lightning bolt and each color represents the following:

The black background represents the suffering due to ableism or violence; it’s also the color of rebellion and protest. The lightning bolt represents how individuals with disabilities must navigate barriers, and demonstrates their creativity in doing so.

The five colors represent the variety of needs and experiences in our community: Mental Illness, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Invisible and Undiagnosed Disabilities, Physical Disabilities, and Sensory Disabilities.

The parallel stripes represent solidarity within the disability community, as well as all of its differences.”

Click link in bio to read my Disability Pride Month poem or go to https://nicoleluongo.com/disability-pride-month-poem/

[ID: A picture of the Disability Pride flag designed by Ann McGill. The flag has a black background with five zig zag lines diagonally across the flag in blue, yellow, white, red, and green.]
#Disabilities #DisabilityAwareness #DisabilityPride #DisabilityPrideMonth #Poetry #Poems #CerebralPalsy #whatcplookslike #RepresentationMatters

So honored to be a part of this! #Repost @r.a.r.e.

Dr. Park changed my life nine years ago today when

Dr. Park changed my life nine years ago today when I SDR (selective dorsal rhizotomy) surgery) in St. Louis.

How do you thank the world-renowned doctor who had such a profound impact on your life? Well, ever since I found out about SDR (about six months before my operation), I’ve shared my journey so other adults and families with CP children are aware, can choose this life-changing surgery, too.

Learning about Dr. Park, SDR put me on the path to advocacy. I’m proud to be the first (and only to my knowledge) person to publish an article about SDR on @huffpost in 2014. So many adults + children (just the one’s I know of; I’m sure there are more) from around the world have had SDR because I got mad, and decided to do something about it.

I didn’t think it fair that people in the CP community stumbled upon this information — just like me. Hopefully, they find out about it much sooner than I did. I was almost 40!

Want to learn more? Click the links my bio or visit my website at nicoleluongo.com. P.S. This picture was taken at my four-month follow-up appointment after my surgery on 3/29/13.
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#NicoleLuongo #DisabilityAdvocate #Advocacy #whatCPlookslike #CerebralPalsy #LifeChanging #MakeADifference #SDRChangesLives #STL #ThankYou #UseYourVoice #MyWhy❤️

[Image description: A photo of Dr. Park and Nicole taken at his office at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in 2014.]

I’m #whatCPlookslike on @local10news!
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#NicoleLuongo #CerebralPalsy #CerebralPalsyAwarenessDay #GoGreen4CP #Florida #SFLA #ABCNews #WPLG #RepresentationMatters #SDRChangesLives

@davidscpfitness Thanks for having me as your gues

@davidscpfitness Thanks for having me as your guest for National #CerebralPalsy Awareness Day!

Shoutouts to @mauricebenard @mbstateofmind + @wawosorg. Link in our bios and/or stories.
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#NicoleLuongo #CerebralPalsyAwarenessDay #CerebralPalsyAwarenessMonth #CerebralPalsyStrong #GoGreen4CP #IfICanDoItSoCanYou #YouTube #Podcasts #whatCPlookslike #SDRChangesLives

As we celebrate National Cerebral Palsy Awareness

As we celebrate National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day today (March 25) let’s remember…

#Repost @whatcplookslike with @make_repost
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Say it louder for the ableist people in the back…
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#NicoleLuongo #Ableism #CerebralPalsy #Disabilities #DisabilityQuotes #FlashbackFriday #FBF #whatCPlookslike

[ID: A green background with a white quotation mark. In the center, there’s a quote from Nicole in black text. It says: My disability doesn’t define me. I do. Nicole’s Instagram @whatcplookslike is below the text, in the center. There’s a small, black vertical line at the bottom of the graphic.]

#whatCPlookslike • • Watch this space for a sp

#whatCPlookslike
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Watch this space for a special NATIONAL CEREBRAL PALSY AWARENESS DAY podcast with host @davidscpfitness (give him and his YouTube channel a follow) and me on 3/25!
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I’d love to send you a personalized message on @cameo! Link in bio. 😉
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#NicoleLuongo #GoGreen4CP #CerebralPalsy #CerebralPalsyAwarenessMonth #CerebralPalsyStrong #DisabilityAdvocate #DisabilityPride #Podcasts #QVCBeauty #CameoFameo

[Image description: Nicole is an Italian woman with short, straight dark brown hair. She’s wearing a green State of Mind Shirt @mbstateofmind from @mauricebenard.]

This is how much 💰 the CEREBRAL PALSY FOUNDATIO

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