hello my name is glenn and i am a pupil at the clare school norwich the claire school has about 100 pupils all with physical and/or sensory impairment. i have a condition called cerebral palsy, resulting from my brain being damaged when i was born. lots of people have cerebral palsy (cp) as well as other conditions that mean they can't walk, or do most of the other things that ordinary children can do.

 

i communicate by using switches, that if i try very hard, i can use to give answers to questions. as well as not being able to walk, i can't sit up,crawl, roll, or support my self in anyway. i can understand everything that is going on and i can hear what people say to me.

 

the only time that i am free to move and be independent in anyway is when i am in a swimming pool, but this is a real problem for me too, because swimming pools are never warm enough, or properly equipped  to be safe for me what i need just like a lot of other pupils here is a hydrotherapy pool where i can be safe and warm help by trained  staff with specialist equipment and be able to move and exercise independently i have hardly and movement out of the water because my weight needs to be fully supported in order for me to move.

 

imagine if you can what a wonderful liberating thing that is for me try to put your self in my shoes and think about what it means to be able to move around by myself

 

sadly my school was built a long time ago new special schools are built with a hydro pool but it is the one thing that i and my friends are desperately missing here don't get me wrong this is a great school that has been graded "outstanding" on its last two ofsted inspections but it only just needs this one thing to make it perfect

 

thanks for taking the time to read this