So to preface this, I have mild CP in my right side. It mostly affects my walking, however I had quite a serious knee injury that has caused Patella tracking disorder, arthritis, a miniscus tear, and patella alta in my right knee. Along with this and some personal reasons, I made the decision to switch my career aspirations a couple of months ago. However, for other a year now since I graduated uni in July 2023, I have not been able to secure any sort of job apart from the sparse freelancing I was doing with my previous career path. These jobs are entry level positions, and granted most of them do have a physical component to them, but I have never got past the first interview.

All in all, it is really getting to me. It got to the point where I've had to move in with some friends in a small town about an hour away from my hometown (London), as while I was there I was eating away at savings just to survive. I am actively working very hard everyday to complete my career transition into software, by working on projects to complete a portfolio by the end of this year and studying as much as I can regarding programming and computer science, normally amounting to 6-7 hours a day. I've applied to all the apprenticeship opportunities I can to try and give me at least some stability while I'm in this transitory period, but I've had absolutely no response from any of them.

I do keep myself active and busy on top of this; I workout 4 times a week, make sure to do 10,000 steps a day, and walk in one of the nearby nature reserves once a week. I meditate and journal everyday too, along with keeping engaged with my friend group here by doing a board games night once a week, and making the effort to meet new people by playing Magic the gathering each week in the local games shop. All this on top of studying Russian, and maintaing my guitar skills. However, the rejection from the jobs makes me feel a bit useless and is really affecting my self-esteem.

It's compounded by the fact that while the friends I live with have said I welcome here as long as I need to get myself back on my feet, I do feel like a burden to them. I do contribute to the bills with the PIP payment and UC I get each month, but man it does make me feel like I'm just stuck too. They never complain about me being here, but I don't want to have to live here indefinitely either.

This has turnt into a bit of a rant/vent, but I'm not sure what to do anymore in terms of job hunting. I will never stop trying, but all in all it has been a rough year, and I'm doing my best to make 2025 better.

If any of you are from the UK, do you have any advice on what I could to improve my job prospects? I do apply to Disability confident employers now where possible, but sadly most of the opportunities here have requirements that are not safe for me to do while my knee is untreated, or are very very specific in terms of the skills they require.

Thank you for reading :)

I am 24M with mild left hemiplegia, and I have never formally told my work about my disability. For the past 2 years, while attending university, I have worked a part-time, at home, call center job for a large nation-wide retail store. About 9 months ago, I was assigned to a new boss (we'll call her Julia). Julia has been pushing me to improve my metrics from being at  “Developing” status to being in “Contributing” status which means my metrics need to be within 10% of the average stats. I will note, my previous bosses were always helping me improve but never wrote me a warning, I didn’t think my stats were a major issue.

Last financial quarter, Julia gave me my first ever formal written warning that I am not meeting the metrics. During that meeting I said my cerebral palsy makes my typing and movement slower than normal, so I naturally have a hard time meeting the metrics. She said that that was strange because she knows people with cerebral palsy, and they seem to work just fine. They even are athletic and compete in the paralympics. The whole conversation seemed very condescending, I did not feel comfortable to ask about accomodations or the HR process and Julia did not offer any help or information. 

Last week I had this quarter's review. Julia expressed she didn't see the improvement she spoke about last quarter, and she will write another improvement plan and formal warning that I am not meeting the correct metrics. She asked me if I can meet the metrics. I reiterated that my cerebral palsy is a stumbling block in reaching the goals the company needs me to reach. Julia told me I had declined to receive assistance last quarter review but she will email me some documents to help me receive accommodations so I can start reaching those metrics. It has been a business week, and Julia has not sent those documents to me, nor has she sent the written warning.

I think, after this warning I have one more official warning left, and then they can fire me. My call and chat handle times are the only metrics where I struggle. I feel like my boss has been extremely insensitive, condescending and dismissive of my disability and improvement. I feel targeted by her since I never had issues like this with my other bosses. I am wondering if any of you have advice on how I can proceed. Am I being too sensitive? Should I wait or contact HR about accommodations myself? What accommodations have you received in the past that could help me be faster at my job? Should I report my boss?

TL;DR I am a 24M with mild left hemiplegia working from home at a call center, and my new boss has been issuing formal warnings about my performance metrics despite knowing that my cerebral palsy affects my typing and movement speed. With the risk of termination approaching and promised accommodations not yet provided, I'm seeking advice on whether to contact HR myself and what accommodations could help me improve my job performance.

Spastic Cp 21. Instead of normal life friends, college, girlfriend. I’m stuck living with dad like a child still. Surgeries etc. I’m I that big of a burden. Nobody wants to be my friend or whatever. Starting to think I’ll die alone

I think this is very important for parents to teach their children( if there children can) and that is how to clean out their wheels. I have a walker and a wheelchair and a lot of disgusting stuff was in my wheels. And recently my dad have been teaching me how to clean out my wheels. Now it’s important to know that I have the motor skills to do this my cp doesn’t affect me greatly. If your child has minimal motor skills issues and has a wheelchair or a walker i think it’s very important to teach them how to clean their own wheel. Not only is it an important skill, but it gives them sense of accomplishment and independence.

I know it's against the sub rules to ask for a diagnosis and that is not what I am doing here - I am only asking to see if there's any point in me going to my doctor over this.

I was diagnosed with "sensory movement disorder with hypermobility and hypotonia" as a kid. I've since been told the first part is a substitute for saying dyspraxia.

My symptoms hit like, every mark for those three things - hypermobility, hypotonia, dyspraxia. It makes sense, it covers everything, and I doubt a doctor would consider other options as a result.

However, my mum has mentioned multiple times now that she wouldn't be surprised if I had mild cerebral palsy, because I did not have a regular birth, and because I am weaker on my right side (she says being weaker on one side is a symptom but I am not sure how common this is or where she specifically got her info from. By weaker I mean my right side is where I tend to get more of my issues both with hypotonia and with hypermobility - more knee pain, my arm strength is weaker, etc.) However, she did ask the doctor about it yeaaaaars ago, and they said my birth was down as normal in my records and so they wouldn't look into it (even though mum has recollection that the birth was not normal, she almost had to have a c-section and the midwives seemed panicked at points, from her memory).

I have done the basic googling of symptoms, but usually the ones I check off are just the ones that my existing diagnoses cover. However I know hypotonia is often a symptom rather than a lone diagnosis, so I wouldn't be surprised. Is it possible I could have cerebral palsy (not in an asking for a diagnosis way, in a "should I go ask my current doctor about this" way) and what symptoms of mild CP differ from what I'd see listed for hypotonia/dyspraxia? Any and all advice/experiences/etc is welcome.

TLDR already diagnosed with dyspraxia/hypermobility/hypotonia, mum had a difficult birth, she has brought up the idea of me having mild CP, is it possible or is it just my current diagnosis, should I see a doctor

Supposed to get Botox November 25. Spasticity driving me crazy. How many rounds of Botox and how many units until I get relief. I take tizaindine and usually get 200 units. Do I need more. It think so any information or experience helps

Person born with Cerebral palsy, is more intelligent that Ai.

Hey r/cerebralpalsy friends!

I'm Ritvik, a 24-year-old UX designer and computer science nerd from Karnataka, India, living life with cerebral palsy. My CP mainly affects my speech and motor skills, but I’m out here working, walking, and living independently—and figuring things out my own way!

I'm just here to chat, share stories, and meet others who understand the ups and downs of life with CP. Always curious to learn from others, so if you’ve got tips, funny stories, or just want to share what you’re into, hit me up!

Looking forward to connecting with some cool folks here.

Catch you around, Ritvik

On November 2nd i recieved 3 letters all the same from disbility determinations. Telling me they need to hear from me by november 8th. Otherwise they would determine if disabled by their rules. I called them with the number provided. Monday throu Friday i left a voice mail with my case id, name and phone number. They never called me back. Im unsure how this will affect my case. I dont know where to go from here.

On November 2nd i also got mail from the social security admin that they are no longer reviewing my case at this time.

I live in florida and cant work do to my CP and im worried im gonna loose my ssi. Any advice on what to do would be helpful.

I am in college for bachelor's they push hard for internships and jobs but how am I supposed to when I come back from school I am exhausted and if I get a job I could lose my benefits I am exhausted after i really like college but I am numb or depressed I am exhausted by the time I get home it's exhausting

How did you leave your house and toxic house hold and leave while your in college and on SSI it's impossible

So I wanted to vent something that kind of felt off to me. I have cp and use a wheelchair to get around. Other than not really walking it doesn’t affect me much. I booked myself a facial and massage today and the esthetician asked me for a medical clearance from my doctor. She ended up denying the services. I thought this was weird because I’ve gone other places and got it no problem. Soon I might need a clearance to get a haircut lol. What do you think? Did I overreact or was the lady wrong ?

My son (3m) falls often. He has mild cp, hypertonia in his legs. When he slips and falls sideways or backwards, he goes stiff and his arms go out, like a t-pose

Is that normal?

A note: his OT thinks his moro reflex is intact. Could this be related to that?

Thanks

Hi all. My daughter was diagnosed with PVL few weeks after birth when cranial ultrasound was performed. Doctor briefly explained that flaring of the white brain matter represents damage. However once we repeated the carnial ultrasound few months later no flaring was visible. My question is, if the real damage actually occurred wouldn't the flaring still be visible months or years after or does the flaring diminishes over time even though the damage remains? I hope I worded it understandably. Sorry English isn't my first language.

I’ve been a student my whole life and you know in school you get taught to be understanding and be accepting of disabilities, when you enter the workplace there’s a bunch of awareness courses you take- but in reality, I feel like that’s all it is and it doesn’t actually manifest in the real world.

Like people are nice, sure most people would not dare call me an ableist slur- which of course is nice, but the reality is I’m slower physically and mentally than most people in due to my CP and I can tell it bothers people. Nobody would ever say it, but I keep making mistakes, I keep messing up and I hate it and though it is valid to say my CP part of the reason or the reason why I continue to make X mistake, or why I’m not as quick as you in this regard- but at the same time you don’t want to become seen as that person who blames their disability for everything, even though you’re not blaming your anything on CP or and you’re not saying you can’t work round it- that’s how it’s perceived by most people whether we like it or not. I hate that even though I could simply be explaining why I made a certain mistake (learning difficulties probably linked to CP), or why I’m slow at certain things- it’s going to get seen as me blaming everything on it. So no, it doesn’t feel like I can actually be open about my disability unless it’s to “inspire” someone. And it makes me feel really alone.

Disability acceptance or whatever just means we can exist without getting sworn at for it.

And I feel like the physical affects of CP get validated way more than the cognitive affects. Like people will be way quicker to understand if walking a certain distance is too much for me, because they can see me limp but when I’m learning or doing a non-physical task- if I say how it affects me they just look at me like they don’t understand because they don’t, and the gist of it is always: “Well you’re on your own with that one” or nodding because saying it’s bullshit would mean they’re breaking the Equality Act and could face consequences for that, but you can tell by the way they’re nodding they think you’re bullshitting. It’s like: “What do you mean learning difficulties? You just walk with a limp.”

But people don’t understand CP is brain damage. I didn’t until a few months ago! The other day my mum refused to believe it until I pulled out a book about the brain and read the literal section on CP to her and even now she still doesn’t fully believe it!

I hate the lack of CP awareness. I hate that CP almost always is seen as a physical condition and that’s it. I hate that we live in a world that preaches acceptance but doesn’t practice it.

I’ve just had a long frustrating week and I’m tired.

Hi, I use my wheelchair mostly than my walker. I got my current chair in June of 2022 and I love this chair, but the one thing that I don’t like and every one complaining about is how short the handles are( they aren’t adjustable). Is there something that can raise the handles?

Does anyone have a heath app they love, especially one that you feel is a adaptable with CP or other diagnosis? Or apps that you feel just help in your day to day life? I have narcolepsy and CP, amongst plenty of other things and I would love to know what apps have helped you. I'm currently using Samsung health because it works with my watch and helps track my sleep. I also have used my fitness pal in the past but not super recently. TIA

hey everyone, I am a 15 year old female with cerebral palsy.

Mine signs of cerebral palsy were delayed milestones and low muscle tone. After being diagnosed with cereal palsy when I was 3-4 years old, I found myself sensitive to loud nosies, low hand eye coordination, I always struggled with fatigue and tiredness. I am wondering if some of you guys are expecting the same thing as me. I will only keep on touch with my comments and I won't show my face due to privacy!

I (24, F, Ohio) know this is for CP only but wanted to share because I had no idea that you could have other chronic illnesses aside from CP and in general I have no idea what to do.

I saw my pain management doctor on Monday and told her that I was in 10 out of 10 pain. That I still was experiencing lower back pain, pain in my legs (burning & tingling) but also that sometimes its separate where its pain in my lower back and knees to feet (burning & tingling pain). And that over the weekend on Saturday my right shoulder all the way down to finger tips and chest was very painful (tingling, burning, and felt heavy) and that I could not move my arm at all. However, I also was experiencing chest pain but only on my right side (I didn’t tell my doctor that). However she said that what was going on with my shoulder wasn’t of concern. She went over my lower back MRI (the one with contrast the radiologist has not gotten to yet) and said I had mild Degenerative Disc Disease and said that she has never seen that in someone so young. She also said I have Mild Arthritis in my lower back. She kept saying that it’s common as we age but honestly I don’t even think I was processing what she was saying because I kept thinking and wanted to say “this is as we age, I am 24 and my body is giving up on me” I just kept on thinking that I am somewhat young and this shouldn’t be happening. All this time my rehabilitation neurologist said this back pain was herniated disks when that was never the case. The doctor said when I see the movement disorder doctor on the 16 of December the doctor is going to put needles or pins on my legs to see where the pain is coming from.

After when I got home I looked at my notes and she says she suspects its possibly fibromyalgia. It’s weird that I possibly have an answer to all of this pain but sad that this pain will not go away and that we (the doctor & I) are still waiting for results to still figure out what’s really going on.

keep getting girls interested in me and they either gosht me or they just drop off last minute when they know I have Cp

Hi M 20 here I have Cerebral palsy, Sciatic nerve damage and was a late bloomer. Recently I met my girlfriend not too long ago. We recently have become more sexually active which is great but unfortunately I’m having some issues. Getting erect is not an issue but actually feeling stuff is a problem. It’s not numb, i can feel what’s she’s doing, it just doesn’t give that pleasure sensation

Like it’s fine when i masturbate but not when she does anything it can feel it

I’m abstaining from pornography and masturbation, hopefully to fix my sensitivity but also because it wasn’t good for my mental health.

Sorry if this is a lot I just wanted to ask if anyone had advice or experience with this issue

I have mild cp and my neurologist has approved me for my Botox injections. For those who have been through it what do you think the advantages and disadvantages are?

Hi. I was told that because my son has spasticity he may have muscle spasms at some point. I'm going to ask for more info at his next Dr.'s appt, but muscle spasms sound so painful. I hope it's not as painful as a Charlie horse because that hurts like hell and I don't want him to be in a lot of pain. If you have muscle spasms, what has worked for you? I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, but I would love to hear experiences if you would like to share. Hope everyone is doing well. ♥️

https://www.reddit.com/r/CerebralPalsy/comments/1fd7fpb/trying_these_shoes_on_clouds_cloudmonster_will/

I went from about 5 minutes of standing in a day or about 2,000-2,500 steps in a day to being able to stand for 10 minutes straight without pain and walk for about 4,000 steps in day before pain begins. And that was before I got my custom soft foam inserts last week with cutouts for all of my calluses, so hopefully that will help.

I no longer use my AFO as it was not helpful for pain, before anyone asks. I expect it would fit but I also think it would then negate the function of the shoe.

The super cushioning and the fact that running shoes are built to absorb shock and impact much better are the contributing factors, I think, along with these shoes having a "bounce" and forward roll to them that makes walking and standing just...easier.

As the title says , my daughter has always participated in PE. we switched schools and ever since I just found out the coach is not letting her. He just now has given her board games & she isn’t even allowed to go during free play. Now yes my child falls , she walks with crutches at school and sometimes without them. I reached out to vice principal and the physical therapist at the school , and all that has been done is he has added cornhole for her 😵‍💫. I asked him outside directly this morning and met with pretty much I know enough to not give her straining activity’s and simply “I don’t want to get sued” I asked if she could atleast run around during free play like everyone else and he said “I have a few friends come play with her”. I honestly was shocked , bc what he is doing now is a crime. Do I waste my time communicating with the school itself or go to the school board. Where do I even start. Sped department ?? I am so scrambled I’m sure I have more questions. Any advice please.

I want to thank this community for all they do and share. The knowledge received here has helped us better plan. Most importantly your personal experiences are what helped us navigate through vast spectrum of cerebral palsy.

Hi guys - my son, who has a mild CP affecting his left ankle/foot dorsiflexion, has worn a nighttime AFO since he was a little older than 2. As we approach his 3rd birthday, all of a sudden, he will happily have it put on and fall asleep and then after two or three hours, wake up crying and ask that it be taken off. There is no sign of pain (although sometimes he will say it hurts and point to his toes) - but of course I worry that its causing him some.

Any suggestions on working with him on wearing it through the night?

Hi I’m currently trying to figure out a way to gain weight with mild CP. Any suggestions on what to do? I greatly appreciate it 🤗