Kevin was three months old when he was diagnosed with Athetoid (dyskinetic) cerebral palsy. Now 24 years’ old, Kevin is Making His Mark as an author. Kevin’s CP impacts the use of his hands, and his spasms meant many of the ways other people with CP use technology didn’t work for him. “I was introduced to a head pointer by my occupational therapist at around 10 years old, but the metal gave me a headache after a while. Then I used my nose one day and realised I was more in control and more efficient. From then on I used my nose,” shared Kevin. Kevin loves to write, and is using his unique pers ..read more

An article by Jessica Burke I believe research is the perfect way to educate and create awareness of cerebral palsy and its relation with psychological health. As a young adult with CP, conducting research in the field of psychology and providing insights that have important implications for intervention, paediatrics, teaching and clinical practice is not only significantly important but very exciting and powerful. it gives me a voice and hopefully a voice for others with cerebral Palsy. My experience of living with Spastic quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and the impact it had on my psychological ..read more

An article by Tylia Flores It’s no secret that technology has taken over the world in the way we had to connect with the world and adapt to the many things around us. I have always had to use different types of technology to help me adapt to the world around me as someone with cerebral palsy. I first got introduced to using technology to help me adapt to my everyday life was when I was in the first grade when my teacher noticed that I had a difficult time with handwriting due to my lack of mobility. So after many failed attempts of trying to occupational therapy to correct the issue of having ..read more

Matilda was 26 years old when she played her first game of football. Now 28, she’s moved across the country from Western Australia (WA) to Canberra in Australia to follow her dreams of being part of the first female football team to represent Australia at the 2021 IFCPF World Cup. Matilda, who works in IT for the National Disability Insurance Agency, is part of the Canberra United All Ability Academy, training twice a week with her developing team and has been training with Canberra United’s Under 15s team. She was introduced to football when she was invited to a Western Australian cerebral pa ..read more

A story by the Tauri Foundation, Bangladesh The life of Afia Kabir Anila is full of struggle, determination and achievements. She is a volunteer of Tauri Foundation,Bangladesh currently a student of Law in North South University, a disability rights activist & motivational speaker and a recipient of “Distressed Children International’s (DCI) Young Leadership award in 2017 in the USA. She also received “Successful Person with Disabilities 2019” award handed over by the Honb’le Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Her birth brought unfathomable joy and happiness to her parents. But soon the joy tu ..read more

Meet Xian Horn, a teacher, speaker, beauty advocate and Forbes blogger who is Making Her Mark through her contribution to adaptive fashion, and the self-esteem of people with disabilities all around the world. Xian’s cerebral palsy manifests in muscle tension, muscle weakness, poor balance and coordination and dragging her left foot. She walks with adapted two ski poles for balance, which she says she occasionally dresses up to compliment an outfit, for example, black Satin for prom. Through stories, workshops and mentoring, Xian works to contribute positively to self-esteem and the collective ..read more

Twenty-nine year old Maxim Kiselev lives in in Moscow, Russia, with his beautiful fiancé, Natalia, and lives with spastic tetraplegia which mainly affects the left side of his body. Maxim is a wheelchair dancer, and does both ballroom style dancing and figure skating on ice. He initially took up dancing at 14 years’ old as a way to try to strengthen his left side – in particular his left arm and fingers which had limited functionality at the time. “In the beginning I was simply excited at the thought of doing something new that doctors thought could improve my quality of life,” Maxim said. His ..read more

In 2014 I was a part of a research program at the Ability Centre (was known before as the Cerebral Palsy Centre) to see how running could change someone with CP (cerebral palsy). This was a 10-week program at the centre filled with running drills and gym equipment that we as the participants used. After the first couple of weeks my parents could see a massive difference in me, not only with my walking and my speech, but also my schoolwork improved, I was less tired during the day, I was happier and so much many more things started improving. As a result of me being more active and through ..read more

Makenna Presnell Advocating for Changes in Nursing Makenna Presnell is a nursing student from Spokane, Washington, USA and she wants the world to know that nurses with disabilities are the ultimate resource for patients. Like most people with CP, Makenna understands the patient experience, having spent plenty of time in hospitals and therapy centres throughout her life. Makenna says she’s wanted to be a nurse since she was seven years old, and excitingly, she’ll graduate in May 2021. While she’s thrilled to work in her dream job, she also has other goals. Makenna is Making Her Mark through adv ..read more

Dr Olaf Verschuren has been working with the Centre of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, the UMCUtrecht Brain Centre, Utrecht University and De Hoogstraat Rehabilitation in the Netherlands for over a year to tackle the challenge of poor sleep, nutrition and physical activity in children with CP. The doctor and his colleagues started by interviewing the parents of 15 children living with CP. The clinicians wanted to know what concerns existed around making sure their children received proper sleep and nutrition, and that they were getting enough daily movement. It quickly became clear to ..read more