A walk for Bengaluru’s special children

by October 5, 2010 Health

A walkathon for special children raises awareness on Cerebral Palsy. A slide show of the event.

Bengaluru observed the National Cerebral Palsy Day on October 3rd by organizing a walkathon of children living with cerebral palsy, their parents, doctors and rehabilitation professionals. The walkathon, flagged off by Governor HR Bharadwaj, started from Raj Bhavan and culminated at Rotary International Building.

Initiated by the Spastics Society and other NGOs working with differently abled children, the walkathom supporters and volunteers from across genres and ages. Social media played a major role in bringing these supporters together. I got to know about the walk through a friend’s tweet. It was a well organised, short walkathon for the special children.

$(document).ready(function(){ $(‘.carousel .carousel-inner .item’).first().attr(‘class’, ‘active item’);});

This is the first time Cerebral Palsy Day is observed in the country. The idea was put forth by the Indian Academy of Cerebral Palsy (IACP), Hyderabad, to spread awareness about the disorder. The theme for this year was ‘Demystifying Cerebral Palsy by action through Awareness & Advocacy’.

The incidence of cerebral palsy in India is up to three cases per 1000 live births, and over 25 lakh people are estimated to be suffering from it now. The disorder, which mainly occurs in children due to interference in brain development, causes difficulty in movement, speech and sometimes learning. Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common type, occurring in 70 to 80 percent of all cases.

A meeting was held after the walkathon, during which city doctors talked about prevention and remedies for Cerebral Palsy. Treatment should be started early on to help children overcome disabilities; a care model should be adopted instead of a cure model, doctors said. Physiotherapy, botox and multi-level orthopedic surgery are effective in treating the disorder, they said.

⊕

Sections:

About Perumal Venkatesan

Perumal Venkatesan (PeeVee ) is an advertising professional with a limitless passion to capture light.You can follow his work on www.peevee.in.
Read more by Perumal Venkatesan

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

Cooling kits help Bengaluru workers combat heat stress

by August 27, 2026 Health
Non-profits are piloting cooling kits and rest spaces to protect outdoor workers from heat. But city corporations need to scale these up to cover all workers.

Kalavathi, 33, has been working as a pourakarmika for the past 11 years. Until last summer, she had to report to work at least half an hour early, so that she could take breaks later in the day when the heat became unbearable. The heat hits badly after 10 am. “Work starts at six in the morning, but I used to come here at 5:30 am. I was then able to balance the breaks and finish work on time,” Kalavathi said. She adds that the heat is worsening each summer. This year, Bengaluru recorded its hottest July in 112 years,…

Continue reading

Similar Story

Beyond eco-anxiety: Climate wheel helps Chennaiites map emotions to drive awareness

by , and June 27, 2026 Health
Care Earth Trust's experiment reveals communities feel anger, hope, and uncertainty about climate change; mapping these emotions could help shape policy.

Amid global crises like climate change, concepts such as solastalgia (distress produced by environmental change), eco-grief, and eco-anxiety are becoming familiar. Climate change’s impact on mental health has only recently cropped up in research, with studies finding connections between the climate and depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicidal thoughts. Around 50% of Indian youth aged 14 to 25 experienced increased stress due to worsening climate, according to a survey by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Other studies have found that repeated experiences with flooding, which occur particularly in eastern and southern India, appear to contribute to…

Continue reading