Swallowing Awareness Day | Ciaran Fitzgerald shares his experiences

March marks Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month, but also the 18th of March is Swallowing Awareness Day, a day created to raise awareness of how speech and language therapists support people living with eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties.

Ciaran received therapy at Cerebral Palsy Cymru as a baby but recently returned for Private Therapy sessions, focusing on speech and language therapy.

My name is Ciaran Fitzgerald, I am a 30-year-old man from Port Talbot, and I have cerebral palsy. As part of my CP, I experience dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing. This has been challenging throughout my life, but I have noticed increased challenges as I’ve got older.

In May 2023, I experienced a serious mental health crisis, and I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, and spent a week in hospital. The anxiety I was feeling was a fear of choking, a very real risk when you have cerebral palsy and Dysphagia. When I came out of hospital, I had to rebuild my confidence in eating completely, from the ground up, even drinking was challenging.

It was then that I reached out to Cerebral Palsy Cymru, a charity with whom I have received therapy since I was a baby. I have since been attending speech and language therapy sessions with Helen Burnford, who has increased my confidence in eating and has encouraged me to expand the variety of foods that I am eating.

When I started sessions with Helen, I only had the confidence to eat liquidised and pureed food. Now through working during my sessions, I am able to confidently eat soft, bite-sized and some regular textured foods.

I have also had the confidence to eat out at cafes on two occasions with Helen’s support. I am also about to go on holiday skiing to the alps with my parents, something I thought impossible, only a few months ago. I have learned when to balance the social occasion of eating with the need for nutrition. I am becoming more confident in asking for adjustments to be made.

I am excited about making further progress in my sessions, and becoming even more confident eating out. I do however, think there is more awareness that needs to be raised around dysphagia, particularly as things change as people get older.

I think restaurants should offer more options for people who require soft diets, just as they do for people who are vegetarian or vegan, or require a halal, kosher or gluten free diet. My goal is to be able to confidently eat out with my peers, and thus increase my independence.

To find out more about Ciaran Fitzgerald, please visit: https://www.ciaranfitzgerald.co.uk/

Ciaran is also involved in facilitating the Adult Social Hub events which take place each month at Cerebral Palsy Cymru. To find out more about these events, please visit: https://www.cerebralpalsycymru.org/events/adult-social-hub

We are currently partnering with Slater & Gordon Lawyers to offer discounted access to our Private Therapy Service. To find out more about this offer, please visit: https://www.cerebralpalsycymru.org/get-support/private-therapy-service