Pathfinders in action

If you’re after stories about physical activity from other young adults with cerebral palsy, you’ve come to the right place!

Being active with high support needs

All content on this site has been developed alongside adults who use wheelchairs.

But we know that adults with cerebral palsy and high support needs often have to work extra hard to find and start physical activity.

We met with a group of young adults with cerebral palsy who took us along to their physical activities and showed us how they got active, and what tips they have for others.

A young man in a wheelchair being assisted out of a swimming pool by two caregivers, one wearing a pink shirt with 'ATTENDANT SUPPORT' on the back, and the other in a gray shirt. People are swimming and enjoying the indoor pool in the background.

Stories from the community gym

Community gyms are a common place to exercise.

They are also one of the exercise settings that has the most research for adults with cerebral palsy.

There are many ways that adults with CP have made gym exercise work for them.

Click below to read about how Michaela, Freya, Alex and James have set up gym exercise to best meet their needs.

Resources from Pathfinders

It can be really helpful to hear other people’s stories, to get ideas from how they’ve managed something, perhaps to see your journey shared or reflected.

The following two sections include real life examples from other young adults with cerebral palsy on the topics of gym equipment, and managing pain and fatigue.

Research

If you’d like to read some of the research on community gyms, or get some extra tips about being active with high support needs, we can help you with that!

A yellow sticky note with a black hand-drawn lightbulb icon pinned to a corkboard with a red push pin.

This guide is part of a pilot project. We’d love your feedback on how it can be improved!