I have cerebral palsy and I am proud to have cerebral palsy and it is as simply as that. For me, cerebral palsy is my impairment and has a larger significance in my identity than have being disabled because under the social model of disability, disability is external to who I am and may only affect me in specific situations. Therefore I am not always disabled but I always have cerebral palsy.


This is may I found it odd when a fellow disability trainer took offence at the fact I said I had cerebral palsy and describe how its affects me. I do this because I like to be honest and open about who I am and to help put what I say in context. She argued that there is no way I could have a understanding of the social model, which I found odd, and clearly while she is entitled to her own opinion, I am entitled to mine. 


I don’t really care which other things as it is my identity and I have the right to portray myself in the way I want. Having pride in one’s impairment is the next logical step forward from the social model and it is not the step backwards she believed it to be.