WORLD CP DAY
OCTOBER 6TH
Like so many disabilities Cerebral Palsy is
misunderstood. The movements of someone
with CP are consistent with someone who suffers a brain injury or stroke. These impairments are a result of damage to
the brain due to loss of oxygen. CP is a
lifelong disability, marked by loss of brain function in the early years.
It may surprise you that Cerebral Palsy is a
physical disability that in a small percentage of individuals is accompanied by
an intellectual impairment. CP covers a
wide range of loss in body functions, and thus the appearance of individuals is
determined by which area of the brain cell function is lost.
I AM 1 IN 1 BILLION
World CP Day seeks to build community knowledge
on the true facts around one of the worlds most common disabilities. I AM ONE IN 1 BILLION people who are
diagnosed with CP. But I am so much more
than my diagnoses. Loss in brain
function can affect the entire body or be restricted to one side of the body;
or the upper or lower body.
I am a quadriplegic with some loss in function to
all areas of my body and my speech is also impaired, fortunately my hearing,
sight and intellectual function escaped impairment. World CP Day is marked by individuals and
families sharing their individual journeys and then connecting on social media
to give the world a better picture of CP. On October 6 I will be in IPSWICH,
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA and this in my story.
I AM HERE AND THIS IS MY STORY
DEBBIE CHILTON
ARTISTS, POET AND WRITER
IPSWICH, QUEENSAND, AUSTRALIA
In so many ways I live an ordinary life, yet it
is also extraordinary. From the age of
eight I attended a local school and went on to graduate from university. After
that I worked as a youth worker, until illness interrupted my life. Prior to this I would say I was aware of my disability,
but it didn’t impact my life. Uni life
had somewhat separated from society and I was just another student on campus.
Living, partying and sometimes studying, thus was my ordinary life.
What I refer to as my extraordinary life began
when I commenced publishing my poetry and was a freelance writer for a Sydney
based publishing company. During this period, I was involved in church ministry
and the Ipswich Poetry Feast, and other committees. At this time my disability appeared to be ‘a
problem’. As an accomplished public speaker, I was taken back when people
started to raise opposition to me speaking in public and suggested that it
wasn’t appropriate.
The consensus was that the pearls of wisdom in
my written work, were lost when I spoke them.
For me this was a societal problem not my disability. My
speech is no different to struggling to speak to someone for whom English is
the second language, as a society we have lost patience with others and everyone
is in a hurry to be somewhere, including me.
I was myself confused and confronted by a disability I have lived with
for 35 years.
After self-publishing a children’s book, a life
of book launches, festivals and workshop presentations terrified me. By then I also had a seizures due to a brain
tumor. Even for me climbing the hurdles of my disability and writing was not
worth the rewards. Somehow publishing a
book that flopped ticked for me that bucket list item. Yet I have half-a-dozen incomplete manuscripts
sitting in the bottom drawer. Well . . . Never say never!
For many years I worked unpaid in the
disability sector, in Australia people with disabilities face discrimination in
employment. While I understand my own
predicament (living with uncontrolled seizures), I don’t understand the lack of
willingness of employers to employ people with disabilities. I am extraordinary in relation to accepting
work without payment, and a community you will never value my training, skills
or experience.
Transformations Art Exhibition
Gresser Gallery Brisbane
Opening Night
In 2013 I discovered my true passion as an
artist. ‘Let me talk art . . .’ people
said I would come alive. It never occurred to my support service to usher me
into a support art studio. They fully
encouraged me to work as an independent artist.
Naturally there was opposition and protest I could not compete against
able bodied peers. I am extraordinary as
I backed my ability to be a professional artist and found when my work was
presented with other professionals some people chose to buy my work.
I will never make a living selling artwork, but
I have found myself and my community, in which I am a peer and very much a
leader. I now live in a community that values my life experience and skills. I am now being paid when I am engaged as an
arts community leader. I would like to think I am extraordinary because of my resilience
and determination to live the lifestyle of my artistic peers.
We do not get to choose the cards we
are dealt, only how we play them.
I hope I am playing extraordinarily
well.
