What a beautiful statement “Enabling people with disability to live life their way”. I absolutely agree with this statement and when i met the voluteers at Daxtonbury Festival I couldn’t have met a nicer group of people. They had young people of the charity voluteering their time to help things run smoothly and although the festival certainly didn’t get as messy as Bedford River Festival there were a few litter bugs and the charity was helping keep the festival clean and tidy. Because when you are living with disability everything is made worse even with what would be considered a mild issue to those without disability. But getting around in a wheelchair is made a million times more difficult when there is lots of litter on the ground. So please if you are going to a festival this year then please pick up your litter. If i as a wheelchair user can do this then so can everyone else.
When i worked as a nursery nurse, one of the nurseries i worked as a bank nursery nurse had a child with Cerebal Palsy. I remember that he seemed a really happy child. He always had a smile on his face. He was approximately 2 year old when i met this child he was unable to sit up on his own so required a lot of support. But it was wonderful when we used to go out into the garden. He had a special walker that was more stable than your average baby walker. I would lift him out of his indoor support device and sit him in his walker which had numerous velcro straps to hold him upright. It was like a tranformation every time he got to wizz around the garden in his walker. I had the privalige to know this person for a few hours of his life when he was very young.
So lets get you sorted with how to find out more about this condition and how you can support the charity. I know everywhere is asking for money right now this country doesn’t support it’s citizen’s substancially so we have to rely on charity. There just something a little sickophantic about that and maybe even a litle toxic. Oh look at me i’ve just donated to a charity for 5 seconds. But no one takes the time to find out what it is like for families that manages with the difficulties of disability day in and day out. Humanity, especially the UK, need to do better at supporting people who require more support. Whether that be from birth, early adulthood, midlife or senior years we all require help sometimes but some of us require more help than the average. I will still never get why we have to be so horrible to each other and why some people have to take advantage of the kindness of others just to make themselves feel good.
Here are some links to the charity website and social media sites and a link to explain what Cerebal Palsy is.
What is cerebal Palsy – I hear you ask.
Now maybe i have hit a nerve with my previous comments about charity. I am certainly not saying that you shouldn’t support charity if you can and this one is a very worth while charity. The volunteers of Bedford and District Cerebal Palsy Society that i met were absolutely lovely, incredibly caring and absolutley needed a great deal to help families living with disability everyday because there is no day off for someone with a disability. We can’t take a holiday from our disability and we can’t always switch off the pain whether that be physical or psychlogical pain. I will say this again and again until you are all listening! Disability can happen to anyone at anytime throughout their life so everyone should be involved with disability. It can be temporary or perrmanent. It can get progressivly better or progressivly worse over time and then of course we all meet our senior year eventually where we are even more prone to disability and illness. So I have a request of you all, please be kind to everyone you meet you never know when disability might be your turn.
I forgot the photographs of me shamelessly promoting myself at Daxtonbury. So here is three of the photographs that i took at the festival.
Philippa Fleming Activist 
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