Cerebral Palsy Scotland

Shape the new National Care Service by joining Lived Experience Experts Panel

You can help shape the new National Care Service in Scotland and represent people with cerebral palsy by joining the Scottish Government’s new Lived Experience Experts Panel.

Following the introduction of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament on 20 June 2022, the Scottish Government is now developing a new National Care Service (NCS) in a bid to achieve changes to the system of community health and social care in Scotland.

The Scottish Government have committed to establishing a functioning National Care Service by  2026.

As part of this process, the Scottish Government wants to co-design the new National Care Service by working alongside the people who use and deliver health and social care services, and the organisations which represent them.

Join the Lived Experience Experts Panel

Applications are now open to take part in the Lived Experience Experts Panel. This is open to anyone living in Scotland who has views on how the future NCS should look.

The Lived Experience Experts Panel is a group of people who will help to design the NCS by taking part in different kinds of research and design activities, including:

  • surveys
  • being interviewed
  • helping come up with ideas about what changes the Scottish Government might make
  • helping the Government understand what their evidence is telling them
  • helping the Government understand if the suggestions made will bring about the changes needed within health and social care that people have asked for

How to apply

You can apply to join the Lived Experience Experts Panel online on the Scottish Government website.

TalkTime Scotland

TalkTime Scotland has been providing free professional counselling since 2015 to young people across Scotland aged 12-25 who are either physically disabled or have a long-term physical health condition. We offer support in-person from our base in Leith as well as by phone and online.

Cerebral Palsy Scotland

Cerebral Palsy Scotland is a charity that improves the lives of children and adults with cerebral palsy through specialist therapy, support and information.

We’re ambitious for people with cerebral palsy. For over 25 years our therapists have worked alongside people with cerebral palsy, their families and carers, helping them develop practical skills which transform daily life.

Read our autumn newsletter

Read our autumn newsletter which is packed with stories about how your fundraising is helping to support children and adults with cerebral palsy in Scotland reach their full potential.

In this edition, we share the story of three year-old Mohammed. Mohammed’s family recently moved to Scotland from Kabul, Afghanistan, and our therapists have supported the family to understand how Mohammed can incorporate therapy into his daily life and play.

Thanks to determined fundraising, we now have a clinical psychologist available at Cerebral Palsy Scotland who is providing psychology support sessions to people with cerebral palsy when they need it most. In this newsletter, Marion discusses how she has benefitted from these one-to-one sessions.

The newsletter also lets you know about how you can register for our annual conference taking place on 6 October, and how you can support people with cerebral palsy by taking part in our firewalk on 8 October.

Read autumn newsletter

Raising cerebral palsy awareness in education

We all know how important it is to raise awareness, whether it is a cause or a disability and there are many ways to make your voice heard.

Let’s turn to cerebral palsy – there are still a lot of people who don’t know what the disability is or how it affects individuals who live with it. Society is getting better at understanding disability but there is more to be done and throughout this blog – I will be talking about how a school marked cerebral palsy awareness day and about how raising awareness in education settings can make a difference.

Earlier this year, Debbie got in touch with us at Cerebral Palsy Scotland to let us know what she had done to mark national cerebral palsy awareness day on 25 March 2022. Debbie lives with cerebral palsy and attends Millburn Academy in Inverness – Debbie was keen on getting her school on board to help raise awareness about her disability – setting out ideas and plans herself for the day.

Debbie and her friend smiling at the camera

Debbie, along with the support of her school, put so much work and thought into the project by making posters with information about the disability and how it affects people including sharing facts. They created a presentation about what cerebral palsy is with a brief explanation using bright colours and images. On the information sheet, there were different links to websites relating to cerebral palsy teenagers including a YouTube clip which fully explains the different aspects of the disability.

All these creations made a difference for the school pupils, helping them to understand what CP is and everyone came together to support the awareness day. The pupils were asked to come into school in non-uniform and to wear green on the day – the colour of cerebral palsy awareness. The presentation was sent out to all the classes and a message went out over the schools tannoy.

We were delighted to hear about this awareness day which was organised by Debbie and as a cerebral palsy charity, a big well done to everyone who put the effort into marking the day – a heartfelt thank you to Debbie and everyone at Millburn Academy.

Cerebral Palsy Scotland welcomes anyone to raise awareness of cerebral palsy. The more people who know of it, the better. We would encourage education settings especially primary and secondary schools to get in touch to find out what they can do like Millburn Academy to raise awareness and educate young people about CP and disability in general. It is very important that pupils understand different things relating to the subject around disability and we can support you to use the right resources.

Get in touch here: getinvolved@cpscot.org.uk

Blog written by Bernie Hunter, Cerebral Palsy Scotland volunteer