March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month.
In honor of Cerebral Palsy (CP) Awareness Month, Mariam Ndegwa, Upili’s Campus Liaison, shares about CP as she is one of the 17 billion people worldwide living with the condition.
In Mariam’s words:
To clarify, Cerebral Palsy is not ‘one thing’ as it refers to a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture.
There are four main types of Cerebral Palsy:
• spastic
• dyskinetic
• ataxic
• mixed
Spastic Cerebral Palsy, the kind I have, is the most common type and affects about 80% of people with CP.
People with spastic Cerebral Palsy have increased muscle tone which essentially means their muscles are stiffer than a typical person’s.
This stiffness and increased muscle tone can result in awkward body movements.
I have worked hard and overcome a great deal to achieve all I have achieved.
Much of this is thanks to great people who helped me in different capacities: from Kenyatta National Hospital., Naru Moru Children’s home and AIC Kijabe Hospital.
All the people at these institutions are the reason I can walk unassisted and live an independent life.
Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month is important as it helps people understand what CP is, grasp that there are ways to manage it through physiotherapy, and see living and thriving independently is not an impossibility!
I’m grateful to my current employer, Next Step Foundation and Upili for seeing beyond my disability from the day they met me, giving me a chance to show my capabilities, and allowing me to become economically independent as a result.
