Living with Cerebral Palsy 🍋🍋

Thursday 8 December 2016

I'll be there for you..

Today was the first of Elin's Christmas concerts. She had quite an important job. She was a "Disco Star" in a play based on "Strictly Come Dancing". Very appropriate!!  She really enjoyed her moment in the spotlight this year, maybe more than any year before. She was just so happy up there, it was wonderful. What's more, she was in her standing frame which was quite a surprise- she's usually sitting on her key workers knee. It was great to see her upright alongside her little friends from mainstream, she was really part of the scene and goes to show how good her dystonia is at the moment :-) She looked so grown up! I felt extremely lucky to be watching her having so much fun amongst the Christmas songs and dancing. It's not something I ever take for granted. It was also, as ever, hugely moving to note the tangible support from every person in the room for these kids (the concert is a mainstream school concert but includes the children from the unit where Elin and her classmates are) and it felt truly special. Elin was fortunate enough to have a little help from a girl her age who attends the mainstream part of the school. This was probably my favourite thing about today. This little girl did not let go of Elin's hand whilst they performed on stage. She kept checking she was ok. When they weren't on stage, she stroked Elin's cheek and hands. When I thanked her at the end for looking after Elin so beautifully, she told me there was a party in her class that afternoon and that she was going to bring Elin a plate of food. She also asked staff from Elin's part of the school if she could still keep coming to see Elin even though the concert rehearsals were now over. If I wasn't too emotional before, I certainly felt a little lump forming in my throat then! (I managed not to cry during the performance for the first time ever, but Paul cried from the minute he spied Elin being pushed onto the stage!!) I've blogged about this before but the inclusion which Elin's school regularly promote is second to none. For Elin to have such rewarding interaction with mainstream children is so lovely for her (she spent the whole time looking adoringly at her new friend!) and also so important for the mainstream kids too. They are growing up unafraid of what is different to them, learning acceptance and understanding first hand without even knowing it. What a great education for them. I hope they never lose their openness and kindness. I hope they remember Elin and her friends as they grow up and move into their adult worlds and primary school is a distant memory. I hope they will always be ready, where others may not, to hold a hand, or stroke a cheek with understanding in their minds and love in their hearts.



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