Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy, or CP for short, is defined as “a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture.” Cerebral means having to do with the brain, and palsy means weakness or problems with using muscles.

There are four types of cerebral palsy: Spasticity, dyskinesia, ataxia, and mixed conditions.  

Spasticity is the most common type of cerebral palsy, occurring in about 80% of individuals with cerebral palsy. This type occurs with increased muscle tone, creating stiffness in the muscles. Spastic CP can also be described by the area(s) of the body that are affected by the condition.

• Spastic diplegia/diparesis: stiffness is mostly, if not only, in the legs.

• Spastic hemiplegia/hemiparesis: only affecting one side of the body. 

• Spastic quadriplegia/quadriparesis: most severe, affecting all four limbs. Often associated with intellectual disability, vision, hearing, and/or speech impairments. 

Dyskinetic CP involved difficulties controlling the movements of hands, feet, arms, and legs. This can include slow or more rapid movements, and can shift from day to day, or even within a single day. This condition can make it difficult to walk or sit, and can even affect the face and tongue, bringing additional discomfort and difficulties in use of the mouth for speech and eating. 

Ataxic CP involves difficulties in balance and coordination and it can also affect control of the arms and hands. 

Roughly 1/3000 people have Cerebral Palsy. In addition, Cerebral Palsy is the most common motor disability. Most cerebral palsy occurrences are when there is brain damage before or during birth, which is referred to as congenital CP, although a small percentage of CP can be caused by brain damage acquired more than a month after birth, otherwise known as acquired CP. 

​Myths

Myth 1: Individuals with Cerebral Palsy always have an intellectual disability.

This is not always the case, as the brain damage causing CP occurs with each individual in a different part of the brain, hence sometimes affecting motor disability vs sometimes affecting motor and intellectual disability. It varies in each individual instance. 

Myth 2: individuals with cerebral palsy always need a wheelchair.

This is not true, as the information provided above details that motor capabilities vary by each individual. Some individuals with CP will need a wheelchair, but certainly not every individual with a developmental disability. 

Myth 3: Individuals with Cerebral Palsy have a short life expectancy

The life expectancy is usually the same in individuals with Cerebral palsy as it is in individuals without the condition, although the severity of CP one has may affect other health areas as well. 

People with CP use 3 to 5 times the amount of energy to move when compared to people without CP. To add, national research funding for CP was significantly lower than most developmental disabilities. Cerebral palsy is more common in boys than girls as well as being more common in black individuals than in white individuals. To conclude, it's important that we take the word "spazz" our of our vocabulary, as this naively or ignorantly hurts those with cerebral palsy, especially individuals with Spasticity CP.