Too often, people with disabilities are relegated to being passive when it comes to the arts.
A lot of people with cerebral palsy will experience pain over the course of their life. Through better assessment we can provide better interventions, which will lead to a better quality of life.
Though the initial insult or injury to the brain that causes cerebral palsy is non-progressive, aging with cerebral palsy and lack of physical activity during critical periods of development can impact biologic and metabolic function for adults with cerebral palsy.
There are multiple factors that impact bone health, including birth weight, nutrition, medications for seizures and/or reflux, genetics, and physical activity. Targeted exercise to improve bone health in childhood can be sustained into adulthood, and childhood is the best time to promote bone health.
For women with Cerebral Palsy, self-advocacy is probably the most important part, but it's also probably the hardest part because most of those doctors have not encountered women with disabilities. You really have to tell them what you need and tell them what to expect.
When scheduling and preparing for an OB/GYN appointment, women with Cerebral Palsy have additional challenges to consider and address when both scheduling the appointment and once they go their appointment.
For women with Cerebral Palsy, finding a new OB/GYN can be difficult for a variety of reasons: accessibility (both to the building and in the exam rooms), staffing and supports for additional physical needs and more.
I spent many years and many hours learning how to make the body work better, how to bring it out of pain. But that's not the human being alone.
5 things for women with Cerebral Palsy to consider when preparing for their OB/GYN appointment