#11 Stigma

My last week in Paeds ended with an experience that will stick to me for a lifetime. It was about a teenager that I've met recently. She has Cerebral Palsy*. While some of my groupmates talked to her mother, I had a chat with her. Well, more like I talked to her and she responded to me with sign language (her father became my translator). She could comprehend whatever I was saying and she could only conversed by just using one hand as her other hand was weak. When I asked her to teach me sign language, she was more than thrilled! She thought me how to spell out alphabets using one hand. And now, i know how to spell my name using sign language! Okay, it wasn't a big deal but still it was cool. Her father mentioned that she can also communicate by using a keyboard and she knows how to use the Internet. In fact, she learnt sign language by herself! Her father bought her a book on sign language for alphabets and she mastered it within a day. She goes to a special school and her academic performances are good. Moral of the story is that whenever you see someone who doesn't seem like "a normal person", don't think of them as mentally retarded. If they have the chance to have a normal life, they might excel better in life than us. End the stigma.

*Cerebral Palsy is basically a non-progressive disorder which affects movement, posture and coordination.There are many spectrums of CP where the patients can come in with variable symptoms and they may not come in with intellectual disabilities. They are usually diagnosed when they are in the womb or in the first few months of life. Their symptoms such as walking disabilities will just remain static (won't get worser) throughout their lives unless they undergo treatments and have better quality of life.

#cerebralpalsy #stigma #positivity