Ghana will join the world to observe World CP Day on Thursday, 6th October 2022
World CP Day is used to celebrate and support those living with cerebral palsy, embrace diversity and to help create a more accessible future for everyone.
“There are over 1 billion people around the world who live with a disability and yet we still navigate a world that is not designed to be accessible,” the World CP Day Organisation says.
Cerebral palsy is a neurological condition that affects the movement and sometimes the speech of a person and is considered the number one cause of disability in childhood
There are more than 17 million people across the world living with cerebral palsy. Another 350 million people are connected to a child or adult with cerebral palsy.
It is the most common physical disability in childhood and is a permanent disability that affects movement, with its impact ranging from a weakness on the one hand, to a complete lack of voluntary movement.
It is a complex disability: one in four children with cerebral palsy cannot talk, one in four cannot walk, one in two have an intellectual disability and one in four have epilepsy.
Cerebral palsy is a lifelong disability and there is no known cure.
Cerebral palsy is one of the least understood disabilities and people with cerebral palsy are often out of sight, out of mind and out of options in communities around the world.
In Ghana, members of the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy issues will take to social media to educate the public about cerebral palsy and the need for the government to formulate policies that support children with cerebral palsy and their families.
The Centre for Learning and Childhood Disabilities (CLCD) will also organise a free health screening exercise for children with cerebral palsy on the 8th of October to mark the day.
Cerebral Palsy Awareness, another organization championing CP issues will celebrate the day with families at the Shai-Osudoku Health Directorate
World Cerebral Palsy Day on 6 October was created by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance in 2012 and now brings together people living with cerebral palsy, their families, allies, supporters, and organisations across more than 100 countries
The aim is to ensure a future in which children and adults with cerebral palsy have the same rights, access, and opportunities as anyone else in society.
The theme for the celebration is: Millions of Reasons.
