Katy’s story My relationship to postural care and my body generally hasn’t always been great, but it is something that now, as an adult with Cerebral Palsy (CP), I am taking control and ownership of. Growing up, my experiences of the various health interventions were quite negative – often things were done to me rather than with me.
My early experiences of medical interventions were rooted in the medical model and gave me the message that I was wrong and needed to change by standing straighter or walking steadier. This wasn’t helped by being surrounded by non-disabled children who I longed to be like. The interventions designed to improve my posture made the divide more obvious because I had to sit in my supportive green chair whilst everyone else sat in red chairs and I was strapped into a standing frame whilst everyone sat on the carpet. I understand children don’t always have the level of capacity to be fully aware of the reasons for things but I was shut out of the discussion so much that it made me resentful and rebellious. Interventions often felt as if the goal was to ‘normalise’ me rather than being embedded in my everyday life with a focus on enabling me to do the things that mattered to me. Maybe if I had been given an age-appropriate understanding of why things were needed and been included more, my splints wouldn’t have been “lost” on so many occasions… 34
