Denise Al Mari-de Waal and Aaron Hume argue that care for people with cerebral palsy should continue into adulthood, with mental health built in. Writing for UP – The Adult Cerebral Palsy Movement, they describe a familiar service boundary: childhood support can disappear at 18, while the condition continues.
Their Guardian letter connects emotional distress with the conditions people live under. Prejudice, low expectations and exclusion can narrow opportunities and leave people isolated. Others make decisions about what someone can do before recognising that person’s abilities or ambitions. The writers describe the extra resilience this demands, then question why resilience should have to carry so much.
“People with cerebral palsy can and do thrive,” they write. “But success should not depend on resilience alone.” Their request is concrete: lifelong support through a care pathway that addresses physical and mental health together, including access to specialist mental-health services.
This is a short advocacy letter, rather than a study measuring the gap in provision. It makes a clear demand of adult services: continuity of care should extend to the psychological effects of disability and exclusion, alongside physical needs.