For as long as I can remember, I dreamed of being a mama and for equally as long, I just couldn’t comprehend the dream coming true, for me. Yet, I had NO frame of reference or role models for mamas with CP.
Discover how living with cerebral palsy has made me a more patient, adaptable, and intentional mom—and why disability can be a strength, not a setback.
Ian "Two Guns" Cannon shares his story of overcoming adversity and empowerment through adaptive boxing.
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.
Jerron Herman, dancer, actor, trainer and more describes how he moves with spastic hemiplegia...and it might just surprise you!
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.
This webinar is with Ketrina Hazell, Ms. Wheelchair 2018, a young woman with cerebral palsy and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program. This webinar is about Ketrina's lived experience in the school system and community and what worked or didn't work as she was growing up.
This webinar with Rachel Byrne, Ashley Harris Whaley and Debbie Fink, focusses on the shifting attitudes towards disabled individuals and authentic representation in media, social media and more.
This webinar with Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of CPF, Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement at CPF and individual with with CP, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program, focusses on concepts and definitions addressing disability and how language has evolved.
This webinar, with Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement, Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of CPF, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program, focusses on the terms "ableism" and "allyship" and ways to facilitate making connections in the schools and communities.
This webinar with Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program.This video series is a partnership with the New York City Department of Education and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation "Just Say Hi" Disability Education Curriculum. This series is meant to educate and empower parents of students with diverse needs.
This webinar with Jennifer Lyman, Content Manager for CP Resource and parent of a teen son with with CP, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program. This webinar aims to help parents adapt and support academic success and participation at school and in the community.
This webinar with Ashley Harris Whaley, Director of Communities and Engagement, Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of CPF, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program. It It aims to provide an overview of disability history and laws.
This webinar with Jacqueline Wentworth, Pediatric Occupational Therapist and individual with with CP, and Debbie Fink, Vice President of Education and Inclusion at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, overseeing its flagship “Just Say Hi” program. This webinar aims to help parents adapt and support academic success at home.
Jen Lyman provides a parent perspective on powered wheelchair standing devices as it relates to Dr. Lisa Kenyon's research article.
Living with CP taught Dr. Kathleen Friel much about educating others about her disability and now about her life threatening diagnosis of Metastatic Breast Cancer.
Powered mobility can offer users young and old a level of freedom and independence that may not be achieved through manual wheelchairs or other mobility devices.
Growing up with Cerebral Palsy I often wondered if I would ever experience my happily ever after. The fairytales my mom read me always followed the life of a beautiful princess falling in love with a handsome prince. You never read about a prince and princess in wheelchairs or with any type of disability for that matter.
The hardest part of raising two children with Cerebral Palsy is the fact that we live in a world that refuses to adapt to anything beyond ordinary. And I have always -- always -- known that Benjamin and Mason were far beyond ordinary.
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), operated by the Department of Education, can be utilized for their many tools to aid those with disabilities in the preparation for the job search, finding gainful employment, and maintaining this employment.
Author David Stoner provides insight into his experience with Personal Care Attendants through the years as his needs and his family's needs have changed.
We got the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy when Lelia was 18 months. I was really happy, as we didn’t know what was wrong with her before then. She had low tone. She couldn’t roll over. She couldn’t sit up. Of course she didn’t walk. The diagnosis gave it a name, something I could work with, and I became a kind of vigilante mother, determined to get the best care for my daughter.
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.”
