The CP Diary has been a good motivator for me. It has allowed me to understand and equate my experiences. This week I think I have now come face to face with another reality, for which my past struggles seem to fit.

As a consequence of brain damage, there is a possibility that I may also have dyspraxia, or autism. Dyspraxia is classed as a neurological condition that prevents messages being passed to and from the brain properly and can interfere with sensory perceptions, emotional perceptions and intellect.

I have always had problems with concentration and found my formative years in school impossible, with little success in the classroom. My reports we’re dire and although my teachers and parents knew I wasn’t achieving in school, none of them ever questioned why.

My father always used to say I would catch up, but never did. I was considered lazy by some family members, but I know believe that I was slow to learn for a reason and that was very much instrumental in my attitude and my abilities in school.

Looking back those times were enormously difficult for me because there was very little understanding. Little was known about Cerebral Palsy back then, but then again to me it’s never just been about how I deal with things physically.