CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Dr. Heather Riordan, Director of the Phelps Center for Cerebral Palsy at the Kennedy Krieger Institute discuss dyskinesia.
As spring approaches, millions of high school seniors get one step closer to their career and to becoming the person they have dreamed about growing into since they were children. Receiving college acceptance letters is one of the most profound experiences in a young adult’s life. Moving out of your childhood home and stepping into the real world is a majorly exhilarating life event.
Welcome to the second part of my travel series! In the previous post, I wrote about how I found my love for traveling through my trip to Madrid and Paris. Looking back, not only do I realize that these trips took place during very different phases of my adult life, but they also mark the different phases of my CP in recent years. Although CP is the result of a non-progressive brain injury, many folks experience a decline in their physical abilities in their adult years — the inevitable effect of aging, not just for those with disabilities, but for everyone.
In the next couple of blog posts, I’ll write about some of my favorite trips that I took over the years. I’ll travel down memory lane of all the new places I explored in recent years and eagerly wait until my next trip.
My cousin, Reeva, had recently moved to Kyoto, Japan to learn Japanese for a year, and she convinced me to visit her there. I didn’t know anyone else living in Japan and Reeva was going to be there short term, so I couldn’t possibly pass up going! I was admittedly pretty nervous about traveling all the way across the world— a 24-hour long plane trip, including a layover— especially to a country that uses a language that isn’t remotely like anything I was used to. But, again, I wasn’t going to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Minnelly Vasquez, Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the Weinberg Cerebral Palsy Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, discuss mental health care for individuals with cerebral palsy and caregivers.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and psychologist Gili Segall, PhD discuss mental health during these constantly changing times and how to create strategies to help everyone in the family thrive.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Christina Smallwood talk about parenting, raising a child with cerebral palsy and helping her learn to advocate for herself.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Jason Benetti talk about his hard work, misperceptions, resilience, and his experience with cerebral palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Xian Horn, author and disability advocate discuss breaking down stereotypes.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Weinberg Cerebral Palsy Center social worker, Jan Moscowitz, discuss strategies for coping with anxiety and depression, especially during times of isolation.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and occupational therapist Lorene Janowski discuss OT at home.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Dr. Paulo Selber discuss the ins and outs of gait analysis for cerebral palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Dr. Mary Lauren Neel, MD discuss Life after the NICU.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Chris Modlesky, PhD discuss exercise, fitness, research, research funding and his current research.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Mary Gannotti, PhD, PT discuss pain across the lifespan in cerebral palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Lily Collison with Kara Buckley and individuals from the book Pure Grit, talk about what it takes to be successful with a disability.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne talks with Lily Collison and her son Tommy about their journey with Cerebral Palsy, Lily's new book, Tommy's work and much more.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Peter Trojic, professional dancer with the Heidi Latski dance Company in New York City, discuss dance and disability.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Jocelyn Cohen, Vice President of Communications and Engagement at Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation discuss collaboration in research.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and physical therapist, Jennifer Jezequel, PT, discuss exercise and fitness for children with Cerebral Palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Byron Lai, PhD, discuss exercise and fitness for individuals with Cerebral Palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and speech therapist, Kristen Allison, PhD, CCC-SLP discuss communication and Cerebral Palsy.
CPF Executive Director Rachel Byrne and Peter Rosenbaum, MD, developmental pediatrician and CPF Scientific Advisory Council member discuss how current thinking about Cerebral Palsy has changed over time with advances in research.
Mental health care should be included at the outset, as part of discussions around physical, occupational, and speech therapies. I’ve seen studies on cerebral palsy’s effect on caregiver mental health — and that is important. Caregivers are part of the cerebral palsy community, too. It’s an interdependent one. There’s not enough about the nuance around how having cerebral palsy affects mental health.”