Our latest newsletter is arriving in supporters’ letterboxes soon. In this edition you can find out how our team of specialist therapists helped support Jack and Dixon, two boys with cerebral palsy who are working hard to make the most of their abilities.

Read our Spring 2024 newsletter

You can also read about how our therapists worked with staff at a care home for people with physical and learning disabilities, to help one of the residents move well and maximise their enjoyment of participating in different activities.

The newsletter also highlights how we’re raising the voices of people with cerebral palsy for Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month in March, how we are supporting people’s mental health through developing our psychology support service, as well as letting you know about different ways we can provide information and advice to people with cerebral palsy and their families.

Plus, there’s also lots of information about different ways you can donate or fundraise, so that we can keep supporting people with cerebral palsy to thrive.

Read our Spring 2024 newsletter

 

March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. Keep an eye on our social media channels, where across the month  a team of volunteer content creators will be sharing their lived experience of cerebral palsy – talking about their day-to-day lives, and sharing tips and thoughts on what needs to change so that every person with cerebral palsy can achieve their potential.

Be a part of the change this March

• Like, share and comment on the content from Cerebral Palsy Scotland on your own social media channels – we want as many people as possible see the content so we can raise awareness of cerebral palsy
• Create your own content on social media for Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month – be sure and tag us in your post, and use the hashtags #TeamCPScot and #CerebralPalsyAwarenessMonth
• Raise awareness at your school by hosting a class session or assembly. Download our short PowerPoint presentation aimed at primary schools, explaining what cerebral palsy is and how it affects each person who has it differently. You can also visit our All about cerebral palsy webpages for general information.

Get moving for March – join our Walk ‘n’ Roll virtual challenge

Why not get moving for March and join our Walk ‘n’ Roll virtual challenge. Set yourself a challenge in a way that works for you – using your wheelchair or powerchair, walking frame, frame running bike, trike, feet, or body!

The Walk ‘n’ Roll challenge will help to raise vital funds to power our work so that every person with cerebral palsy in Scotland can reach their full potential.

At Cerebral Palsy Scotland we continue to advocate for policy change at national level, pressing for everyone with cerebral palsy to have life-long access to knowledgeable, compassionate services and support.

Over the course of 2023, Cerebral Palsy Scotland participated in a number of umbrella bodies and organisations to raise the profile of the needs of people with cerebral palsy to service providers and policy makers.

As Chair of the National Advisory Committee for Neurological Conditions, our Chief Executive has steered the committee to encourage Scottish Government to continue to support the implementation of the Framework for Action for Neurological Conditions (2020-2025) and to begin identifying future priorities once the funding for the Framework has finished. Service providers across Scotland are being encourage to self-evaluate their services against Health Improvement Scotland’s General Standards for Care and Support for People with Neurological Conditions and submit their findings to Scottish Government by the end of March 2024. Cerebral Palsy Scotland will be conducting our own evaluation of our services, (so keep any eye out in the New Year to see how you can contribute to this work).

During the year Cerebral Palsy Scotland have also worked with the Managed Clinical Network for Children with Exceptional Healthcare, to look at how children with CP transition into adult services, the Health and Social Care Alliance to support their self-management programme and the Neurological Alliance of Scotland, who, following survey work, have drawn up five recommendations regarding the need for those who support people with neurological conditions to consider mental health and wellbeing needs within services.

Our Chief Executive has met with Ministers and officials, both in Edinburgh and London to discuss health data and the identification of people with CP. Together with other cerebral palsy organisations across the UK, we continue to call for the NICE guidelines for adults with CP to be implemented. (It is possible that the self-evaluation of services in Scotland will provide evidence that this should be addressed with some urgency).

Cerebral Palsy Scotland Look to contribute to government consultations as they arise. This year we have submitted evidence to the UK government on their Disability Action Plan and the SEND Improvement Plan. We have submitted evidence to the Scottish Government regarding the development of the National Care Service, the Adult Disability Payment (mobility component) and to the Scottish Parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee on the employment gap for disabled people. We have met with Social Security Scotland to understand how children in receipt of disability support payments transfer to adult disability payments.

The Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry has been in touch on a number of occasions throughout the year as they are keen to include our experience of the pandemic and the impact the restrictions had on people with CP and their families in the Inquiry. We have provided written evidence, our Chief Executive gave oral organisational evidence and we are meeting with the team preparing for a set of hearings on education and certification shortly.

All of these are issues that we will be continuing to monitor during 2024 to ensure people with cerebral palsy are represented and acknowledged.

Take our survey – tell us what you think about social care and Self-Directed Support for people with cerebral palsy in Scotland.

We’re ambitious for people with cerebral palsy and continue to advocate with government and policymakers for the cerebral palsy community to have life-long access to knowledgeable, compassionate services and support.

In early 2024 the Scottish Parliament will debate the health and care system in Scotland. We want to make sure that the experience of people with cerebral palsy and their families is included in these debates and raise awareness amongst MSPs of the challenges the cerebral palsy community is facing.
 
Please participate in the survey below and share your experiences. Your insights will be invaluable in shaping discussions and improvements in Scotland’s care system.

Take the survey