World Cerebral Palsy Day was on Sunday 6 October 2019. This day is all about raising awareness and highlighting achievements for people with Cerebral Palsy (CP). We wanted to celebrate this day by getting to know a little bit about Thomas, who is living with CP and attends NeuroMoves in Lismore.
Hi Thomas, tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a project manager at TAFE NSW managing several SharePoint sites. In my leisure time, I enjoy 4×4 driving, camping, hand biking, and of course spending time with my lovely wife and kids. I have had CP since birth in 1969.
How long have you been attending NeuroMoves?
I started attending late 2017.
Do you have any milestones and have you seen any improvements in the time that you had been attending NeuroMoves?
NeuroMoves has been a great support before and after my hip surgery. Since my surgery I’m making great progress, increased my walking distance immensely and my mobility in general. Overall I’m feeling much healthier than before attending NeuroMoves.
World Cerebral Palsy Day is all about raising awareness and visibility and highlighting achievements for people with CP – what is some of the key areas you think need to be addressed or improved for people with CP in your community?
There needs to be much more awareness that CP is predominately a physical disability and not necessarily a mental one. Unconscious bias is still a massive problem in every community I believe. People with CP have the (same) aspirations as everybody else. They want to be accepted and meaningfully participate in the workforce and community.
We love sharing our clients’ and customers’ stories, a lot of whom are living with conditions other than spinal cord injuries, such as Thomas. We believe it is important to create a powerful voice for those living with Cerebral Palsy to change their world and create solutions to problems they face on a daily basis.