
It recently occurred to me that a lot of new people have started reading View from a Walking Frame since Employable Me aired. I realised that not all of those people will know a lot about me or this blog, so I thought today it might be nice to re-introduce myself and explain a few of the things I natter on about on here.
So, here is a bit of a potted history of my life.
About Me
I’m pretty sure most of you will have worked this out already, but if you haven’t then I’m Nicola Golding (although I go by Nic) and I have cerebral palsy. I write a lot, read just as much and drink way, way, way too much tea.
I also have anxiety and depression that flares up a various points in my life, which I talk about a lot on here (and my YouTube channel too).
I have a boyfriend of nine years, two cats, a dog, and a degree in multimedia journalism.
That’s about as interesting as I get to be honest, but if you want to know more about me that isn’t related to my disability or mental health, then you can always look through my old Fun Fact Friday posts.
About my cerebral palsy
There are about 17 million people in the world who have cerebral palsy, and while I’m definitely not a CP (or disability) expert, I am perhaps the only expert in how cerebral palsy truly effects me.
To cut a very long story short, I was born 14 weeks premature and had a bleed in my brain, and that is how I got CP, or spastic diaplegic cerebral palsy to be specific. There are four main types of cerebral palsy, but mine is the spastic kind, which means I have muscle tightness. Diaplegic means I have it in two limbs (both of my legs). Although, my left arm is also impacted a bit, so some professionals call me triplegic (three limbs).
There is no cure for it, but I can learn to manage my pain and the various other challenges my disability throws at me.
The main problem I have is pain. There is not a single day where I am ever completely pain free. Some days are worse than others. Now I’m getting older (I’m 27) I’m noticing that the bad days are getting more and more frequent, and some months they outnumber the good.
The main thing is that I wouldn’t change my life. I wouldn’t take away my disability.
In truth, it actually makes me quite sad when people tell me they think ‘it’s a shame’ that I’m like this, because it’s really not.
Anyway, I think that’s enough about me. Why not tell me a little bit about yourself in the comments.
Love,
Nic xx
I’m almost 39. I have spina bifida amd I love to read,watch tv etc
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who doesn’t?
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Hi Nic, I saw you on Employable Me and was impressed by your perseverence. I live in London, I like torturing ukuleles, riding motorcycles, drawing people on RedditGetsDrawnBadly crosswords and red wine. I’m unemployed but I’m trying to teach myself signwriting.
Keep up the good work!
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Thanks you! I’m sure ukuleles love you really!
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It’s never “a shame”, except that people feel the need to say that in the first place! Ugh.
I was also a preemie, though 10 weeks early (32 years ago!). I got lucky with only minor neurological issues, compared to what the prognosis was.
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I agree! I’m also so glad you made it!
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I have mild hemiplegic cerebral proxy. It’s been getting better since last May after I applied the research pioneered by Dr Valter Longo at USC Davis. (The research wasn’t on CP, but the kind of regeneration involved – ¡stem cells! – made me curious.)
It wasn’t prudent or safe to try to implement it by myself, as it’s a variation on fasting, however it did work: my symptoms saw a marked amelioration right away. Things are still improving.
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Hi nice to meet you I am 27 and have right side hemiplegic cerebral palsy mostly affects my leg. Came across your blog by searching ‘cerebral palsy ‘ will be following
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