World Cerebral Palsy Day: campaign to ensure those with the disability have equal rights

A campaign for people with cerebral palsy was marked today in a bid to ensure those with the disability have equal rights.

World Cerebral Palsy (CP) Day is a movement of people with cerebral palsy and their families, and the organisations that support them, in more than 50 countries.

Their vision is to ensure that children and adults with cerebral palsy have the same rights, access and opportunities as anyone else in their communities.

Campaigners found doctors and therapists don't have the latest information on diagnosing cerebral palsy and ask for our help to change this,

With over 17 million people living with the condition, it is the most common physical disability in childhood but isn't always understood.

Robyn Cummins World CP Day Manager explains:

We talk to people with CP, their families and organisations around the world and find incredibly frustrating similarities. The same issues keep coming up again and again.

However, the organisation has found researchers and clinicians with initiatives that will not only inform the medical and therapy community, but empower people with CP and their families to insist on the most effective treatments.

Early diagnosis

There is no single test that offers a definitive diagnosis of CP. Effective diagnosis may involve a combination of tests such as a CT scan or MRI (which are not widely available globally). The net impact is that CP is often diagnosed too late. That means that children miss the vital care and motor enrichment during the critical months of brain development after birth and, possibly, the opportunity to lessen the impact of CP.

Effective treatment

While many governments offer healthcare for all, access to specialised therapy is not universally available. There are very specific physical, occupational, speech and cognitive therapies that have proven most successful for people with CP.

Even when the condition is diagnosed early, too many people members lack access to the therapies they need. Not just during monthly, weekly or daily clinical visits, but for the other 99% of a person’s life when they are at home with family members and caregivers.

The organisation believes that more progress must be made in CP research but we can also have an immediate impact by simply providing better information to the critical medical and therapeutic specialists that are on the front line of care.

Tools and guides that translate evidence for these professionals (and people with CP and family members) that cut through the noise and provide clarity about CP diagnosis and treatment are vitally important.

Gill Edwards, Senior Solicitor in clinical negligence at PotterReesDolan, said:

In some cases, cerebral palsy is caused by a lack of oxygen around the time of birth and where this has occurred because of negligence, the child is entitled to compensation which is used to access care and therapies.

Whilst a certain level of care and therapy is provided via statutory funding, often the resources are limited and compensation can be used to improve provision. Early intervention at the right level can optimise a child’s development and quality of life and we work hard for our clients to help in this process.

Lesley Herbertson also commented on this campaign and why she believes that if more can be done to ensure that all children with cerebral palsy gain access to better levels of support, in terms of medical and therapeutic input and appropriate equipment, that can only be good.