Cerebral palsy people often face challenges as part of their daily lives. However, they are not the only one facing the daily challenges. Parents of children with cerebral palsy faces challenges every day and some issues had been brought up by parents.
The first issue brought up by parents is the negative reaction from other people about their child. Ms. Mutmainnabibi Angullia, whose child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, faces challenges when boarding a public bus to go to her son school. Half of the bus drivers she met did not allow her and her son to board the bus citing safety reason despite her showing proof that he has a disability (Goy, 2016). Some people lack awareness about the different disability that they end up hurting the disabled as well as their family member’s feelings. In my opinion, people should be educated about the different disabilities exist so that we can help and respect them instead of pushing them aside so that they will feel included.
Another issue is children with cerebral palsy future. For Mr. David Heng, instead of wanting his son with cerebral palsy to do well in school, he hopes for his son to be independent. Mr. Heng worries that it will be difficult to care for his son when he grows old hence they train him to be independent even though it is difficult (Ying, 2016). Many parents with disabled children worry about their child’s future because they cannot care for them forever. At the same time, they do not want to burden their other siblings to take time to care for them. Being independent is tough for children with cerebral palsy therefore there should be help given to them to encourage independence in the future.
Lastly, financial issue is common among parents of children with cerebral palsy. In order to educate their children, they enroll their children in classes and the overall cost may be expensive especially for parents who gave up their job to provide full-time care for their children. According to housewife Juliah Kasiman, education for her son with cerebral palsy is still expensive despite government subsidies (Goy and Teng, 2016). Enrolling special need children in special schools for them costs extra more as the workers the school is specialised to care for their children special need. Therefore, it will be difficult for families to cope with living expenses especially if there is only one sole breadwinner in the family.
Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS) is an organisation that serves as an intervention for children and adults with cerebral palsy and multiple disorders since 1957. Through this organisation, children will be taught based on their developmental needs through programmes and classes as well as promotes independence for children and adults with cerebral palsy. CPAS provide financial assistance schemes for low-income families so that the cerebral palsy receives the education they deserve (Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore, n.d.).
Characteristics, Issues and Challenges faced by Children with Cerebral Palsy 