Ataxic Cerebral Palsy What is it?

 Ataxia is a word for a group of disorders that affect coordination, balance and speech. Any part of the body can be affected, but people with ataxia more often have difficulties with balance and walking. So they look like they are wobbling. As shown in the video

Ataxic cerebral palsy is a type of cerebral palsy that affects a person's balance, coordination, and depth perception. The definition of, Ataxia, means “incoordination” or being “without order.” This type of cerebral palsy is the least diagnosed type.

So there are lots of different styles of walking one of which is shown in the video above. The one I have is

That is not me walking but a video of someone else doing the same type of gaited walk. which is called Tip Toe/Equinus Gait.

However, there are ways to help this.

• Physical Therapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Speech and Language Therapy

Physical therapy is done in the same way as physiotherapy is done for spastic cerebral palsy but concentrates on what movement there is and changes the way of doing it.

Occupational therapy is done by using aids such as gait walkers and splints to change the way to do it.

When I was small the occupational therapy included plastering my feet into a different way. and the plastering was left on for 12 weeks at a time and was done 3 times. I was made to be walking like Charlie Chaplin.

And this actually worked very well. As I am still walking although I do use night foot splints to ensure that my feet don't turn in as they were as a child. Similar to the picture below.

My feet still turn in at night so I use a set of nighttime splints to ensure that they don't get too bad. But I am extremely lucky in the sense that I am aware of what my condition is and does it to me.

Speech and Language Therapy is used to help with speech and language as it is often difficult to understand. If it cannot be improved enough through the therapy then the person is given equipment such as the ones below.

which was made famous by the great Professor, Professor Stephen Hawking who had Motor Neurone Disease (ALS) and died in 2018.

This does not mean people with cerebral palsy are not the same as anyone else we just have added challenges that we have overcome to do what we want. I mentioned this in my post

Challenges Ahead Part 1

 You're 20 years old and in some respects. You have the rest of the world and your life ahead!

You have had a lot of physiotherapy sessions all through your childhood. It stops as soon as you become an adult. What is next? That is the question.

You don’t know what you’re going to do next and how you are going to do to keep yourself as agile and fit as possible?

All your life had to be split between going to physio sessions and school.

Now that’s all over you’re meant to get on with your life on your own.

You are half excited and half scared witless. You know that physio has stopped. It means it's up to you to do the work no one nagging at you to do your exercises. All you want to do is be normal!

What do you want to tackle first?

Work?

Life in general?

Physio?

Work

This is going to be a choice of options for what you can do physically, or not. Yes, that is the reality of the world. It's not what you want to hear. Some so many people are ignorant of the condition.

It's your chance to prove that we can do whatever we set our minds to.

In the USA, 9 main famous people who have the condition Josh Blue a comedian, Abby Nicole Curran; Pagent winner and founder, Dan Keplinger Artist and Speaker; Geri Jewell author, actress, comedian and speaker; Christy Brown artist, poet and author; RJ Mitte actor, producer, model and activists; Bonner Paddock athlete and advocate; Jhamak Ghimire writer; Maysoon Zayid Comedian and activist

. To find out more about them check out 9 famous people with cp.

In the UK, there are not as many well known, but Hannah Cockroft MBE Paralympian, David Smith MBE Paralympian

, pic British Paralympic Association, Lee Ridley comedian are just a few.

That doesn’t mean you can’t be whatever you want as long as you know your own limitations without being negative or restrictive.

I never really wanted to do anything business-wise. I was a creative child making my jewellery other things.

However, it was thought that I would be best at doing office work but started as a cashier for local stores while training to be an office administrator.

It wasn’t what I really interested in doing and my own dreams were not really heard.

It is only now in my late 40s that I actually managed to do what I wanted to do which is writing in various forms. To prove the point I have a series of poetry books published and I write this blog, intending to educate people about cerebral palsy with my take on it. You can get my books from here Questions, More questions and The monster within

But the choice is yours and not what other people want you to or expect you to do.

Once you have decided what you want to do either short term or long term.

Yes, you may want to find your own home. So that might have a bearing on your dreams as well but that depends on your own circumstances.

Life in General

What’s next? You are on your own and are single. You have not really considered what is your next move because you are not sure what you want personally. So think about what you want!

1. Partner
2. Family
3. Pets.

Or are you in a situation where you need constant care? That doesn’t matter. You can still do things for yourself. You are your own person. You have your own feelings and wants. It's your life, it's your body you are living in.

Being disabled doesn’t mean you can’t have a partner. The attraction is attraction whoever it is you want to be with. You need to show the person that you are just the same but yet have some challenges that they don’t have.

Do you want pets? Think about, what can look after yourself, rather than leaving it to the people who care for you. The choice of a pet has to be something that you love but look after it on your own.

Physiotherapy

Has this gone out the window? I bet it has. It certainly did when I was your age. You know what though, you need to do it. Yeah, it's a pain in the backside but you need to keep doing it. You feel like your body is invincible and you can do almost everything everyone else is doing but truthfully in the next 20 years, things will begin to change. Your body will change a lot quicker than the average person. I talk about my own life in common questions for me and Life with Diplegic Mixed Cerebral and how it has changed so far. Seriously though stick with them because as you get older your body does wear out quicker and you will become tired quicker. But to maintain your tone and everything