If you know someone with cerebral palsy or a disability, make sure you are patient, understanding, and helpful. Treat them with kindness and equality. Be their friend.
Stephanie, 14
Keep doing what you’re doing
I think they should not worry about their legs and just keep going and doing what you are doing.
Just be yourself. Don’t worry about what other people have to say.
Charlie, 8
Advice for kids without cerebral palsy
Well, I think that if they have a friend with my issue, they should take it into perspective and respect your friends and treat them well; treat them like other kids. And they’re just like every other person in the world. It’s just that they have different abilities and they have different ways of learning and different things to help them. So, you know, I think they should respect them like every other person in the world.
Just remember if you work hard in life then it’s going to bring you good things in life. It’s going to bring you to the goals you want to do. And you have to set goals and put a lot and a lot of effort into it like I’ve done in the past ten years.
Madison, 10
Focus on the positive
I understand how you feel, you wish you were different. If people are shy, try to introduce yourself and make a conversation. This way they will have no reason to be afraid. It can be frustrating when you can’t do certain things. Try adapting things to make them easier for you. Always focus on what you can do, not what you can’t. Try not to worry about what other people think. It can be hard to be accepted. Try your best to be social and make friends. Always try your best in therapies, too. It can be hard, but trust me; it’ll pay off in the end. FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE!!!! Even though it may feel like it sometimes, you are not alone. There are people like you and me everywhere. You were given this life for a reason, so get out there and live it! One of the most important things you should remember is to accept yourself. Remember, you are beautiful and special in your own way. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
Stephanie, 14
I’m trying not to say something that is totally cliché that has been said in a thousand books about cerebral palsy. Ok, basically we’re not just like everyone else. But, I’ve got the same problems as they do. I get mad at my parents. I’m a confused, angsty teenager just like they are. Just because my leg and my arm are kind of messed up doesn’t mean I have to be walked up to all slowly and talked to all slowly. Oh, I hate when people talk down to me. If you meet a person with cerebral palsy, please don’t talk down to them. It drives them nuts. Every person with cerebral palsy that I’ve met, even if they’re deaf or something’s wrong with their hearing and speech, they just know when people talk down to them and they ignore them.
Ruby, 15
We come up with the best stories
We really have no control over it. I remember some kids just thinking that I just walked that way because I want to and I don’t. Yes, we write slower than normal kids do, but we still come up with the best stories.
Ruby, 15
Please don’t single us out
Teachers, do not single us out every time we’re tested. Please do not say, “Ruby needs to go down to the Special Ed room.” And do not think that we’re just thrilled to be down there because we’re not. We’re truly not. And to the kids, don’t think we’re getting special treatment when we’re taken out of the room and have to go into hospitals. Do not think we’re lucky.
Ruby, 15
Keep going and try
One thing kids need to know is to keep going. Every day, when you wake up and cannot get up, just keep going and try. You will find some way, somehow to get up.
David, 18
I was at camp and I teach a merit badge at camp. I teach disability awareness, first aid, and cooking. And I had a Boy Scout, he was about 10. He looked at me and he went, “I have a question.” And there’s no stupid question I’ve heard them all. So I was like, “OK.” And he goes, “If you could go back and change and make it so you didn’t have a disability and you were completely normal,” whatever that is “would you?” Completely weird and messed up question. So I sat around and I was like, “Wow, I need to time to think about this.” So I’m in my room at camp thinking about it. He came back the next day and he was like, “Would you?” And I’m like, “No.” And because I said no, he sat back for minute and was like, “Wow.” And he said, “Why not?” And I said because I think my obstacles make me the person that I am because if you have a lot of stuff that I don’t, you appreciate stuff differently.
Robert, 21
Appreciate what you have when you have it
If you can impact somebody with the way you think in a positive way, then you’re doing your job. If you think in a negative way and you try to push it on people, don’t even try because people have negative thoughts anyway. I get asked by a lot of people, “Do you ever think negative?” I think everybody thinks negative now and then, but I never really get caught up in it. You need to appreciate what you have when you have it, and how you have it because things could be a whole lot better, but they can be a whole lot worse.
Robert, 21
We are all equal
People with cerebral palsy might have to overcome obstacles and challenges through life, an extra step in life. But like me and others with cerebral palsy, we are just like other people without cerebral palsy. All people all over the world are created equally.
Karthik, 27