Gavin Clifton is a UK-based children’s author, inspirational speaker, disability advocate and lyricist. Known professionally as The Disabled Writer, Gavin was born with cerebral palsy and a severe speech impairment.
There are events you attend because you're invited to, and there are events you attend because they mean something. May’s Cerebral Palsy Cymru Family Fun Fiesta in Cardiff was very firmly in the second category, and I've been thinking about why ever since.
As a proud ambassador for Cerebral Palsy Cymru, I've been connected to this incredible organisation for a while now. Every time I walk into this incredible centre, and I'm in a room with the people they support, something ignites inside of me that's hard to put into words. This particular Saturday was no different, and in some ways, it was more than I expected.
I arrived at Cerebral Palsy Cymru's Cardiff base in Llanishen with a table full of books, a banner, and the usual mix of excitement and mild anxiety that comes with any author event. Would people come? Would the books resonate? Would I manage to have the conversations I wanted to have?
The answer to all three, I'm happy to say, was yes.
The room filled up quickly with families, children, staff, and supporters, all there for an afternoon of family fun, face painting, arts and crafts, and the famous Teddy Tombola. The atmosphere was warm, busy and completely unpretentious, which is exactly what these events should be.
I've done a lot of events over the years, but there was something about the families I met that impacted me long after I'd packed up the books and headed home.
They were warm, funny, honest, and completely real, and every conversation I had reminded me of something I think about a lot but don't always say out loud, that when you walk into a room where cerebral palsy is just part of everyday life, where nobody needs to explain themselves or justify how they communicate, something in you relaxes that you didn't even know was tense. This is when you feel a huge wave of belonging and representation engulfing you all at once.
I met little ones who were curious and full of energy, parents who were navigating the journey with grace and humour, and families who were just getting on with it together in the most brilliant way. I signed copies of Max and the Magic Wish, Anya and the Enchanted Wheelchair, Paddy the Polar Bear Teddy and Cerebral Palsy and Me, had conversations about AAC and communication, and somewhere in the middle of all of it, I remembered exactly why I started writing in the first place.
One moment in particular stopped me in my tracks, a little girl in a wheelchair holding a copy of Anya and the Enchanted Wheelchair, a book about a disabled princess whose wheelchair is simply part of who she is. The look on her face as she held it was everything. Not because it was dramatic or emotional, just because it was right. She saw herself on that cover, and that's the whole point, and exactly why I wrote that book and experiencing that moment is one I will never forget.
I've lived with cerebral palsy for over 40 years, and I use AAC to communicate every single day, so I understand firsthand what it means to be in a room where you don't have to explain yourself. For many families living with cerebral palsy, that experience is rarer than it should be, and what Cerebral Palsy Cymru does so brilliantly is create spaces where that's just normal.
As a disabled author and AAC user, my work, the books, the speaking, the advocacy, is built around the same idea. That disabled children deserve to see themselves in stories, that disabled voices deserve to be heard, and that acceptance isn't something you have to earn, it's something you're entitled to from the very beginning.
This event was a reminder that when the right organisations, the right families, and the right community come together, it looks exactly like that in practice.
To everyone who came and said hello, THANK YOU. The families who shared their stories with me, thank you. To the incredible Hopcyn, who blew me kisses when he got home, and to Hari's dad, who sent me the kindest message at 5 am before heading to Old Trafford, you both made my weekend in ways I wasn't expecting.
Cerebral Palsy Cymru, thank you for building something that matters, and for letting me be part of it. I left Cardiff feeling genuinely inspired and complete, and that's entirely down to you.
If you're a family living with cerebral palsy and you're not yet connected to Cerebral Palsy Cymru, I'd encourage you to reach out, because they're doing brilliant work and the community they've built is something really special.
You can find them at www.cerebralpalsycymru.org.
