Walk the talk with cerebral palsy kids

BANGALORE: Many of them were confined to the wheelchair. They came with their parents and doctors. Still, children with cerebral palsy were made to wait for more than one hour in front of Raj Bhavan on Sunday.
A walkathon to observe National Cerebral Palsy Day was scheduled at 10 am. Children and parents started arriving at 9.30am, but the governor, who was busy with Congress leaders, flagged it off only at 11.30am.
However, parents did not complain."The walkathon was to start at 10.30am. Since the governor was at a meeting, he came at 11am. The event was organized to create awareness on cerebral palsy. It damages the brain; the body doesn't listen to the commands of the brain. Many are not aware of this," Thilothama Shetty of Spastic Society said.
BREAK THE MYTHS
The governor joined hands with hundreds of children living with cerebral palsy, their parents, doctors, medical experts and rehab professionals in taking a pledge to fight the disability, which affects mostly children.
Indian Academy of Cerebral Palsy (IACP), an academic body formed by doctors and rehab professionals from across the country, observed October 3 as the first National Cerebral Palsy Day. Cerebral palsy, incidentally, is perhaps the commonest cause of childhood disability in India.
"It has become an added responsibility for many persons and their families due to lack of awareness, even though several interventions are available to improve quality of life of those with the developmental disability. Incidence of cerebral palsy is not decreasing in spite of improved healthcare in India and the world over as much as expected, especially in rural areas. It's high time we worked proactively to help those affected and their families by providing proper information about the available management options and training in coping with the impairment," said Dr S Mahadevaiah, paediatric neurologist, Spastic Society of Karnataka.
Dr Gautam Kodikal, orthopaedician, Nova Medical Centres, Bangalore, said: "There are both social and medical myths about cerebral palsy. The greatest is that it is a disease caused by medical negligence and is not curable. We need to drive home the scientific truth that it is a developmental difference, resulting in difficulty in movement. The goal is to improve their quality of life and not fix the disability or normalize them."
With appropriate and timely help and assistive devices, many can lead a near-normal life. "We need to make people realize that disability needs to be tackled with a `care model' of health and not a `cure model'. Energetic public health education is the only way out."