Every 6th October is World Cerebral Palsy day , there are over 17 million people across the world living with cerebral palsy, another 350 million people are closely connected to a child or adult with cerebral palsy.
Cerebral Palsy is defined as a group of disorders that affect movement, muscle tone, balance, and posture.
I have cerebral palsy, often known as CP , I'm proud of who I am, as like all disability, it doesn't define me , it's not a label. If people would like to know more about my disability, I'm open and honest about it.
When I was growing up I had to learn to to walk without a zimmer, and attend a speech therapist, I went to a disability school , also known as a special needs school but I don't like that name.
My fellow pupils were children with similar disabilities , we did the same type of school work. The school I went to was in Glasgow, I lived outside of Glasgow, they provided transport by bus to and from school.
I would say they were small differences from my school to a mainstream school, pupils got one to one support in and out of class, also speech therapy and physiotherapy.
Looking back now I had a lot of good support, however the only thing I was lacking was my confidence. I think my first paid job helped me there, as I worked for The Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability, I was part of a team.
We travelled up and down the country doing public speaking, I shared my journey in my life, that helped my confidence, to realise how far I'd come.
I met friends through work and still great friends today. Fast forward to today , I'm disability campaigner and freelance journalist , I've also been lucky to be commissioned to do news stories and features on important disability issues.
On this World CP Day, like every disability ,we just need to keep on raising awareness, knocking down the barriers in our way ,and be proud of who we are.