Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensation, vision, hearing, and speaking. Often, babies with cerebral palsy do not roll over, sit, crawl or walk as early as other children of their age. Other symptoms include seizures and problems with thinking or reasoning, which each occur in about one-third of people with CP. While symptoms may get more noticeable over the first few years of life, underlying problems do not worsen over time.
Scope is a disability charity in England and Wales that campaigns to change negative attitudes about disability, provides direct services, and educates the public. The organisation was founded in 1952 by a group of parents and social workers who wanted to ensure that their disabled children had the right to a decent education. Originally focused on cerebral palsy, Scope now embraces all conditions and impairment. Scope subscribes to the social model of disability rather than the medical model of disability – that a person is disabled by the barriers placed in front of them by society, not because of their condition or impairment.
The medical model of disability, or medical model, is based in a biomedical perception of disability. This model links a disability diagnosis to an individual's physical body. The model supposes that this disability may reduce the individual's quality of life and aims to diminish or correct this disability with medical intervention.
Spastic diplegia is a form of cerebral palsy (CP) that is a chronic neuromuscular condition of hypertonia and spasticity—manifested as an especially high and constant "tightness" or "stiffness"—in the muscles of the lower extremities of the human body, usually those of the legs, hips and pelvis. Doctor William John Little's first recorded encounter with cerebral palsy is reported to have been among children who displayed signs of spastic diplegia.
Skallagrigg is a 1987 novel written by William Horwood and influenced by Horwood's relationship with his own daughter Rachel, who has cerebral palsy. It is notable in that it foresaw the importance of adaptive computer technology in the lives of future generations of disabled people. It is also an early example of discourse on disability politics, treatment of the disabled throughout history, and hit-or-miss relations and perceptions between the disabled and non-disabled communities.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is a Government of India ministry. It is responsible for welfare, social justice and empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalised sections of society, including scheduled castes (SC), Other Backward Classes (OBC), Manual Scavengers, LGBT people, the disabled, the elderly, and the victims of drug abuse.
ADAPT – Able Disabled All People Together is an Indian non-profit and non-governmental organization, working to help people with neuro-muscular and developmental disabilities. It was started on 2 October 1972 by Mithu Alur, to provide education and treatment services for the "spastics".
In medicine, the adjective spastic refers to an alteration in muscle tone affected by the medical condition spasticity, which is a well-known symptomatic phenomenon seen in patients with a wide range of central neurological disorders, including spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as conditions such as "spastic colon." The word is derived via Latin from the Greek spastikos.
Over time, the approach to cerebral palsy management has shifted away from narrow attempts to fix individual physical problems – such as spasticity in a particular limb – to making such treatments part of a larger goal of maximizing the person's independence and community engagement. Much of childhood therapy is aimed at improving gait and walking. Approximately 60% of people with CP are able to walk independently or with aids at adulthood. However, the evidence base for the effectiveness of intervention programs reflecting the philosophy of independence has not yet caught up: effective interventions for body structures and functions have a strong evidence base, but evidence is lacking for effective interventions targeted toward participation, environment, or personal factors. There is also no good evidence to show that an intervention that is effective at the body-specific level will result in an improvement at the activity level, or vice versa. Although such cross-over benefit might happen, not enough high-quality studies have been done to demonstrate it.
Multiple disabilities is a term for a person with a combination of disabilities, for instance, someone with both a sensory disability and a motor disability. Additionally, in the United States, it is a special education classification under which students are eligible for services through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. Not every governmental education entity uses the classification, however.
Cerebral Palsy Alliance is an Australian nonprofit organisation helping babies, children, teenagers and adults living with cerebral palsy and other neurological and physical disabilities. Its therapy teams work with individuals and families to maximise their participation in the community.
Spastic cerebral palsy is the type of cerebral palsy characterized by spasticity or high muscle tone often resulting in stiff, jerky movements. Cases of spastic CP are further classified according to the part or parts of the body that are most affected. Such classifications include spastic diplegia, spastic hemiplegia, spastic quadriplegia, and in cases of single limb involvement, spastic monoplegia.
Spastic hemiplegia is a neuromuscular condition of spasticity that results in the muscles on one side of the body being in a constant state of contraction. It is the "one-sided version" of spastic diplegia. It falls under the mobility impairment umbrella of cerebral palsy. About 20–30% of people with cerebral palsy have spastic hemiplegia. Due to brain or nerve damage, the brain is constantly sending action potentials to the neuromuscular junctions on the affected side of the body. Similar to strokes, damage on the left side of the brain affects the right side of the body and damage on the right side of the brain affects the left side of the body. Other side can be effected for lesser extent. The affected side of the body is rigid, weak and has low functional abilities. In most cases, the upper extremity is much more affected than the lower extremity. This could be due to preference of hand usage during early development. If both arms are affected, the condition is referred to as double hemiplegia. Some patients with spastic hemiplegia only experience minor impairments, where in severe cases one side of the body could be completely paralyzed. The severity of spastic hemiplegia is dependent upon the degree of the brain or nerve damage.
Mithu Alur is the founder chairperson of The Spastic Society of India – now rechristened ADAPT – Able Disable All People Together. She is an educator, disability rights activist, researcher, writer and published author on issues concerning people with disability in India.
The Self-Help Group for Cerebral Palsy (SGCP) is a non-governmental and non-profit organization in Nepal dedicated for helping and educating children and adults with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder that is caused during childhood which permanently affects body movement and muscle coordination. The organization has one rehabilitation center established in 2005, situated in Dhapakel, Lalitpur that consists of a team of medical professionals, trained teachers and social workers.
Malini Chib is an Indian disability rights activist and author who has cerebral palsy. Chib wrote the book One Little Finger over the course of two years by typing with only one finger.
Rajesh Bhola is a social worker, psychotherapist, journalist, author, columnist and writer on spiritual subjects from India. Bhola also contributes to Inner Voice of the Hindustan Times
Narayan Seva Sansthan is a non-profit charitable organisation based in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. It is known for providing philanthropic services in the field of treatment and rehabilitation of polio affected people without discrimination of religion, region, caste, or gender. It was founded on 23 October 1985 by founder chairman Kailash Agarwal. The NGO is helping underprivileged people and disabled community to uplift and bring them in mainstream society. The NGO is helping in diagnosing, treatment, and rehabilitation in 480 branches of India and 49 in other part of the part for disabilities and improving physical disabilities, and socio-economic rehabilitation issues.
scosa is a South Australian organisation providing a range of supports to children and adults with disabilities. Initially it focused on people with cerebral palsy. In August 2019, it was announced that scosa was to merge into Novita.
