About the campaign
Adult cerebral palsy is misunderstood, under-resourced, and too often invisible. Launching on World CP Day. 6 October 2026, Speak UP is a campaign to change that.
We’re asking people to record a short video – a phone camera is all you need – and share it with us. We’ll use these voices across our social media from World CP Day through to CP Awareness Month, building a powerful and honest picture of what adult CP really looks like: what it demands, what it deserves, and why it matters.
Speak UP has two purposes. For the adult CP community – people with CP, their families, carers, and allies – this is a chance to share your reality with a wider audience: to be heard, to connect with others, to show what adult life with CP actually involves. For those with influence over policy – parliamentarians, clinicians, commissioners – this is your chance to add your voice for change.
Whether you want to speak from your own experience, advocate for change, or simply add your voice to ours: now is the time.
How it works
01 Pick up your phone and record a short video. Thirty seconds to two minutes is ideal – enough to say something real, short enough to hold attention.
02 Keep it natural. Speak as if you’re talking to someone who knows nothing about adult CP. You don’t need a script. You don’t need a perfect take.
03 Send your video to Louise at UP. She’ll confirm when and where it will appear, and let you know if anything else is needed before it goes live.
WHO WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
Find your voice
We’re looking for contributions from five groups. Find yours below and see what you might want to say.
Adults with CP
This is your space to speak
Your experience of living with adult CP is exactly what this campaign needs. What do services get right? What do they miss? What do you want people to understand about your life?
Tell us what it’s actually like – in your own words, at your own pace, in whatever form works for you.
| Things you might talk about
• What changed when you turned 18 • What support you have, and what’s missing • What you want people to understand about adult CP • What you wish had been different |
Families and carers
Speak for those you support
You’ve navigated this system – sometimes for decades. You know what works, what fails, and what it costs emotionally, practically, and financially. Your perspective adds something no one else can provide.
Tell us about the journey, the gaps you’ve found, and the change you want to see.
| Things you might talk about
• The transition from children’s to adult services • Finding – or failing to find – the right support • What it takes to advocate effectively • What you’d tell a parent of a child with CP who is just starting out |
Allies and supporters
Add your voice to ours
If adult CP matters to you – because of someone in your life, because of your work, or simply because it should – you can help amplify this campaign. The more voices, the stronger the message.
Tell us why you’re speaking up, and what you want the world to understand.
| Things you might talk about
• How adult CP has touched your life • What you’ve learned from being part of this community • Why awareness matters • What one thing you’d like to see change |
MPs and parliamentarians
Use your platform
Adult cerebral palsy falls through the gap between children’s and older adult services. Hundreds of thousands of people with CP in the UK are navigating a system that was not built for them: losing support at 18, struggling to access specialist care, facing a clinical world in which adult CP is too rarely taught and too rarely prioritised.
As an MP, your voice carries weight that others’ do not. We’re asking you to use it – on the record, in public, where it can make a difference.
| Things you might speak to
• The case for better adult CP provision in your constituency • What you’ve heard from constituents with CP • What action you would support at a policy or commissioning level • Why this is a political issue as much as a health one |
Clinicians and healthcare professionals
Speak with your authority
Adults with CP are too often an afterthought in clinical training and service design. Specialist provision is patchy. The transition from paediatric care to adult services remains one of the most difficult moments in many people’s lives. If you work with this community, or care about it professionally, your voice carries a different kind of weight.
Tell us what change would make the greatest difference – from where you stand.
| Things you might speak to
• The clinical picture of adult CP that’s most often missed • What better service design would look like • The case for specialist adult CP provision • What you’d want colleagues, commissioners, or policymakers to understand |
Send us your video
Ready to take part? Email our Community Manager, Louise: louise@upmovement.org.uk.
Please include your name, a brief note about your connection to adult CP, and that your happy for your video to appear on UP’s website and social media channels.
#SpeakUP