If you just found out that your child has cerebral palsy, you’re going to face some challenges. Your child will face even more.
If you want to get an idea of what people with cerebral palsy sometimes have to deal with, it only takes looking around your hometown and seeing what it would look like to you if you had this condition.
Bad Sidewalks and Walkways
People with cerebral palsy quite often have significant mobility impairments. For example, ataxic cerebral palsy is well known to cause a distinctive, shaky walk in the people who suffer with it. Many of them end up in wheelchairs. The next time you’re in your local business district or out shopping, take a look around and see how different the scenery would look if you had to accommodate a mobility impairment. You might be surprised.
Being Misunderstood
Many people with cerebral palsy have speech impairments. They also may have trouble hearing, which compounds the issue. At the same time that many people with cerebral palsy have these problems, many people with cerebral palsy have their full cognitive abilities. This can make it incredibly frustrating for them to deal with people, as people sometimes have a hard time understanding people with cerebral palsy when they speak. The best way to minimize these issues is to make sure that the child with CP gets proper speech coaching from an expert.
Being Underestimated
There is a certain type of person out there that gets validation from being condescending to people with disabilities and treating adults like children. For many of them, it seems as if this appeals to their own image of themselves as a selfless individual, always willing to help. Of course, adults with cerebral palsy do not need to be spoken to like a child, and many of them get by fine on their own.
Other people’s attitudes are sometimes the most challenging things that CP sufferers deal with. Remember that as your child gets older, they’re going to have to deal with people who automatically assume that your child is completely incapable. Make sure that your child gets the same opportunities to develop a healthy self-esteem that any other child would get. The methods you employ may be a bit different given the circumstances, but overcoming challenges is rewarding for people with disabilities in the same way it is rewarding for people without disabilities.