Nada came to Cerebral Palsy Scotland for the first time as an adult.
I’ve been living in Edinburgh for the last 25 years. I came over to Scotland from Palestine when I was eight years old, without my family, to attend a school for disabled children in Renfrewshire.
I got an Honours degree at the University of Edinburgh as a mature student, and when I was at university I began to explore my passion for dance. Ever since then I have gone to classes and performed. During the pandemic I was selected to perform in a dance production that will be part of the Edinburgh Festival and will tour after that.
I’ve had cerebral palsy since birth, which affects the lower half of my body. Over time, it has now taken its toll and I feel the strains in my muscles and in my arms.
I felt I really needed some sort of advice in terms of getting physically ready for dance performances, to develop my stamina and strength. I had heard a lady talk about how helpful Cerebral Palsy Scotland had been to her as an adult, so I thought I should do the same! That was when I approached Cerebral Palsy Scotland.
The sessions with Lesley have been very helpful, because I hadn’t had any kind of physical therapy on a regular basis since school.
In the sessions Lesley and I first looked at my seating, my wheelchair, to see how that could be improved as the basis for then going on to work on some of the physical goals I have in term of my stamina. We have also looked at exercises that really target the specific issues related to my physical condition. Lesley has also given me some advice about my dance wheelchair and how the seating can be improved in that too, by putting me in touch with a specialist company in Scotland. That has been incredibly helpful.
I had a long gap of not looking at my disability. I’ve gone through life just getting on with it, just being independent, just pushing, without sometimes really looking at my situation. Lesley’s guidance has been so helpful in terms of looking at my disability as an adult in a more informed way.