Wanstead teenager Grace Wolstenholme invites you to watch her YouTube channel for an insight into life with cerebral palsy. In the 11th of a series of articles, Grace brings us up to date with her latest modelling work
Hey everyone. I do apologise for not writing very regularly lately; it’s been so hectic with university and social media, which is like a full-time job, as I mentioned last time. So, whenever I have time off from university, I am working on my socials.
Even my tutors at university have to tell me to get off the socials because I aim to go live at least once a day. I try to go live in many different situations to show my followers what I do in my day-to-day life. I go live on my break with my mates and we just talk or go around the university to show what goes on at a drama university, or I try to go live in lessons to show what I do and how I actually do the lessons with cerebral palsy, but then the teachers notice I’m talking to my phone, filming myself, which isn’t too good! Although it does depend on the teacher. Some are calm about it. Some tell me to “get off your bloody TikTok, talking to a thousand people when you’re in the lessons!” The teachers do let me film the classes for vlogs. Well, I say they ‘let’ me; they probably just don’t see my phone filming!
I have been working on a secret project for about the past eight months with quite a big, well-known special needs company called Leckey. Leckey is a special needs equipment company from which I’ve been getting all my equipment for my whole life, from standing frames (a standing frame is something you’re strapped to that helps you stand and it stretches your muscles because people with cerebral palsy get really tight muscles; the standing frame helps keep your muscles as flexible as possible) to walking frames.
Most people will probably think of a walking frame that elderly people have, but the Leckey walkers are a bit different. They’re actually similar to the standing frame in that you are strapped in and it holds you up so you can try to walk.
Now for my favourite. Leckey also make supportive seating for people to use indoors instead of their wheelchairs, for a change of positioning. They have just brought out a new indoor chair called the BeMe (an ‘infinitely configurable seating system’), and I have been working with them for a while now testing the chair out for feeding and, of course, for doing my make-up in. I also modelled BeMe, which is on Leckey’s website (leckey.com).
So, that’s what I’ve been working on lately and why I’ve been so quiet here. I hope you enjoyed our catch-up and I hope to see you all soon.
To watch Grace’s videos about life with cerebral palsy, visit wnstd.com/grace
To follow Grace on TikTok, visit wnstd.com/gracetiktok
