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Why one expert says it’s time to redefine cerebral palsy

The focus should be on CP as a lifelong physical disability, not just a childhood condition.

2 min
Defining cerebral palsy as primarily a pediatric condition contributes to uneven care for adults living with it, a professor wrote recently in a journal article. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
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Cerebral palsy should be reframed as “the most common lifelong physical disability,” instead of a childhood disorder, a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation argues in a recent perspective article for the New England Journal of Medicine.

Defining cerebral palsy as primarily a pediatric condition contributes to uneven care for adults living with the disability, Mark Peterson, a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at University of Michigan Medical School, argues in the essay.