Cricket legend’s son with cerebral palsy forced to run at night to avoid stares – Birmingham Live

The son of an England cricket legend is being forced to run at night - to avoid stares from the public.

Mike Selvey's son Adam, aged 22, is a student at University College London and is running the London Half Marathon this weekend.

On 13 October, Adam will be running the route for Scope, hoping to raise crucial money and awareness which will significantly aid the lives of millions of physically disabled individuals living in the UK today.

Adam has Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy, which causes impaired motor function on the right side of my body and affects his arm.

But, heartbreakingly, Adam - a keen runner - says he is forced to run under the "cover of darkness", which he finds "comforting."

Writing in the Metro earlier this year, he revealed: "One of my most vivid memories is of being mocked by my friends a during tennis lesson for my posture. Similarly, in swimming lessons, it was impossible for me to swim with correct technique.

"My classmates picked up on this and singled me out. I remember begging my parents to buy me a swim-shirt, pretending that I was concerned about sunburn when in reality it was just another way to hide my arm. I run at night to remove the possibility of these stares.

"A defence mechanism to hide the reality of my body away from others, and from myself."

"I find the cover of darkness comforting," he added.

"Growing up with the odd glance or question from a stranger about my CP made me hyper-perceptive. Whatever peoples reasons for glancing at me on the street, I came to always assume the worst; that they were staring at my arm, judging me for it finding it funny, even."

Adam is running for Scope, a national disability charity whose aim is to challenge and defeat the intrinsic social stigmas that promote social, professional and economical discrimination.

On his fundraising page, the keen runner reveals: "Being physically disabled presents great challenges. I have substantially impaired motor function in the right-side of my body, and as a result live with the use of only one hand. As you can imagine, its an always-inconvenient, often-demanding way of living.

"In spite of the physical boundaries I have faced, I believe there is a broader problem which I, and every disabled individual, (particularly disabled youth), face today, and its an issue of well-being.

"In a modern society dominated by social media and aesthetically-ascribed value, mental health has become a sky-rocketing pandemic, particularly among disabled youth, who are 3 times more likely to develop mental health conditions than able-bodied youth.

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"Physical burdens are debilitating, often painfully so, yet it is in combination with the self-esteem and confidence issues that originate in social stigma and all its resulting ostracisation, (4/10 parents, for example, say their disabled children rarely or never have the opportunity to play with able-bodied children), that disability becomes truly destructive: 49% of disabled people say they feel completely ostracised by society, and we are 4 times more likely to commit suicide than able-bodied people as a result.

"These statistics ought to shock all of us, reprehensible as they are, yet they remain hidden from conversation.

"So long as this remains the case, they are unlikely to improve at all. But that can change."

Adam has smashed his 1,000 fundraising target with 1,856.00 donated so far.

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Cricket legend's son with cerebral palsy forced to run at night to avoid stares - Birmingham Live