Jason Moyle: Tuning into Triumph and his journey with Cerebral Palsy in the U.K.

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world one story at a time. Hi, I'm Tony Mantour.
Welcome to Why Not Me? Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide.
Joining us today is Jason Moyle, a truly inspiring individual
whose life embodies courage and determination. Living with cerebral palsy,
Jason has faced unique challenges with remarkable strength, transforming obstacles
into opportunities to uplift others. Known for his vibrant presence
as a presenter at CCHBN Radio, his journey extends far
beyond the airwaves, reflecting a profound story of self discovery,
perseverance and unwavering spirit. He has a tremendous amount of
information and we are just very happy to have him
here with us today. So before we dive into our episode,
we'll be back with an uninterrupted show right after a
word from our sponsors. Thanks for coming on.
Thank you very much.
Tayy Oh, it's my pleasure. Let's start out with of
what you are doing currently.
Okay, Well, basically I have. I've got three kind of jobs.
I work at Civil further mainly at Red Ruth, but
I also do a community radio station in Truro called CHBN.
Also help out with Steve Osbourne and Live Wire, but
also I write comedy as well. Now I'm a comedy
master's degree.
Wow, that's great. Can you give us a little more
information on the community work that you do.
So the community work in tails, presenting on the radio,
giving out information to the community, going out to the community,
and do events within the Truer surrounding areas as well.
We're both inside a hospital as well, so we do
a lot of hospital related as wellbeing work.
Now, it's my understanding that you have been diagnosed with
cerebral palsy. Is that correct?
That's correct.
Yeah, everyone's journey with cerebral palsy can be quite different.
Can you share with us how your diagnosis came about
and what your experience was.
Right, So, when I was Wow, I can't remember this
because it's as it is when I was born. But
I was born I think about twelve weeks premature something
like that. I was quite early, playing twelve and eight weeks,
so don't quote me on that. But I was premature anyway.
And what happened was I was given birth to into
the north and then rushed down to a list hospital
and I nearly didn't survive it. They registered my birth
about a month or so after I was born. I
was in hospital for six weeks, so the diagnosed cerebral
palsy wasn't straight away. They kind of realized that there's
something wrong when I wasn't starting to walk when I
should be. I was crawling and doing all sorts of things,
but I couldn't actually get up and more, and they
kind of worked out then there was something wrong. Then.
Bear in mind this is back in the seventies where
the medical situation wasn't quite as advanced as it is now.
Yes, that totally makes sense. What was it like for
you growing up with cerebral palsy. How did it shape
your experience as a child and then of course as
a teenager.
So while I was very young, I was in a hospital.
I had an operation when I was very young. My
parents were kind of very strong to push me forward
and make so I had the best of everything, including
an operation, which is groundbreaking at the time. So they
said they couldn't do anything for me. My walking was
non existent, and one consultant said, now I can't you know,
he can't walk, and my mom wouldn't pay that's an answer.
So we ended up having another consultant who looked at
me and said, look, there's another operation we can do.
Now.
It's very very new, which involves breaking the tenth in
your foot and then you have to start to try
and walk over again. So my first few years, in
the answer to your question, I was very much insu
that there wasn't I didn't have many people around me
apart from my parents. I went to primary school at Gherrn's.
That was interesting because they didn't all accept me. I
was a bit of a novelty. I used to walk
with a limb. I pronounce them. One lady's about half
the inch short than the other.
Did that create any problems for you at school?
Yes, I did get picked on a bit when I
was younger, and that kind of went throughout the whole
of my schooling life. Really, I got picked on them.
In other words, bleed as well because people children did
not easily accept someone who's different. And maybe that's changing
in the way that people look at disabilities now and
there is a lot of improvement in that area, but
back in the seventies and early eighties, there was, you know,
the acceptance of someone who was a little bit different
was not there.
I think things hopefully are getting better now. So how
did that affect you during your teen years?
My teen years, so I went from primary school and
then I didn't stay in primary school for more than
one term or one year. My parents spacey were called
for a meeting that because I was treated differently and
because I was a bit other parents and other teachers
didn't know how to really, you know, how to deal
with me because I was I was still a very
bubbly child, but also you know, had my issues with myself,
a palsy and everything else. So they wanted to put
me in a class with other people of like educatedly
who were probably a bit less well educated than it were.
So my parents said, no, we're not having this, so
we're going to take them away and put it into
private school. So I ended up going to a private school,
took the entrance exam, and spent a few years at
tri a Cathedral School, and then went off on the
True School. So answer to your question again, my teenage years,
I was bullied a lot in True school, True Cathedral
School not so much, probably the last year. I was
bullied a bit there, but Truer school, and there was
a lot of people that didn't dig set or found
it difficult to accept my disability. And of course the
problem is when you'll get bullied a lot, your mood
changes and you become more you change your personality as well,
which I felt that happened to meet during my teen years.
So can you give us a little more information on
how you changed, What type of personality were you and
then what did you become.
So my personality is that I am now basically is
quite mild, you know, outgoing, bubbly, you know, I would
talk to any one type thing. But I was like
that in Traue Cathedral School to a long period of time.
But I think I was trying to deal with disability
in general about my limitations. I love cricket and that
was my big thing with cricket and still is. And
I wanted to prove that I could play cricket like
the rest of my peers, which I didn't do because
of my disability, although I was good cricket good level.
So again, I was struggling with my own identity at times.
And so I think what happened with the bullying it
made me go more insular and probably more aggressive to
it made me more short tempered.
That makes total sense, and it is completely understandable why
you would feel that way. Cerebral policy can look very
different from person to person. Some people experience more physical
challenges while others may have intellectual or additional disabilities alongside it.
In your case, did you experience anything beyond the physical
aspects of it or anything that might have mimicked those
challenges that you see with other people.
So brain wise, I was lucky it didn't affect me
as much. That's why I had I could have a
reason by education is mainly my body and my left
side left weakness becauld all my left side is weaker
than the right side, for instance. Yeah, I count myself
very lucky compared to other people with cebal palsy, because,
as you said, there's different types of cerebra palsies, there's
different parts of the brain that can be affected. People
could be could walk much better than me possibly, but
then be affected in different ways. And there are people
who can't walk at all and are in wheelchairs. And
obviously that's where I am now, but that's not where
I was when I was young, because my bollyme was
reasonably young and I could cope with doing sports and
things like that, but not so much now.
Many people with cerebral policy will connect with organizations or
charities that support the community in different ways. Have you
been involved with any groups of causes that are meaningful
to you?
No, No, I haven't. I have supported them. I've support
I've support Scope, but that's more of money, that kind
of thing. I support that, and financially I would like
to get more involved with charities for ceble poor. Yeah,
I would. It's difficult because because I'm quite busy doing
lots of different things. I think I probably have the
level all the time, have got a moment, but when
maybe next year, when I kind of possibly leave my
main job of maybe looking at doing something with herbal
palsy territories as well.
Living with cerebral policy can sometimes feel easier when there's
a sense of community. Have you connected with others who
also have cerebral policy, maybe as a mentor peer or
a friend. Have you been able to share advice or
support people in navigating their daily challenges.
I meet people with herbal palsy all the time in
the daily life, whether it be work, colleagues or members
of public. The manager of CHBN, a committee radio station
that I work for, also has cerebrat palsy and also
has similar but different kind of situations than I do,
because he has I said, all cerebal palsy is different.
But yeah, I do path on some information and advice
to people who've got cebal palsy. I don't do that
very often, to the point because each bond with several
palsy has got their own things to deal with, So
what I deal with might not be what someone else
deals with. The celebra party because it is, it's kind
of unique. It's like two or three different jigsuw puzzles.
You know, they may look very similar, pieces don't always
fit the same way.
Yes, putting it that way, it just makes so much
sense now that you're so involved in community projects and
often in front of people who may not face the
same challenges you do. Do you find that they give
you feedback or show support because of what you've had
to overcome?
Yeah, I think I think people will respect what I
do and how I've achieved, what I've achieved over the
period of time, and what I do now. I probably
get that more in my main job, but that I
do in my community. You they did you, But I
think I do get people coming up to me and saying, oh,
what you do is amazing. But again, I don't look
at it that way. What I see is I do
what I do to go around and live my own life,
you know, and I always pushed myself to achieve more
and more because it's important to do that.
Absolutely, I think that is just an awesome way to
look at life. So, looking back, how do you feel
that you've changed from your high school days to where
you are now? In what way have your experiences shaped
how you see the world, how you've handled the challenges,
and then on your outlook on how your life is today.
Right, Well, I've definitely got calmer. I've got definitely got
a lot better at dealing with life. I've always when
I was growing up, I was always a bit bitter,
a bit angry about why it was. Why me is it?
You know why if it happened to me? You know,
I want to play sport. Why can't I play sport
to the level I want to play it? But now
I think, you know, I said this to someone else
the other day. I think at my age now, I've
actually come to terms with my situation, my life that
it is now, and I know that I'm happy in
my own body. I know that I can push myself
to a certain level, but you know, I know not
to push it too hard. But I think I've calmed
down and I think of a lot more vextionable than
I was probably in my twenties and my teens.
Yeah, I'm hoping I can say the same thing that
I'm a little calmer than I was in my twenties.
When people think about bullying, they often picture it is
something physical, but it can also be very verbal and
emotionally challenging. Have there been times in your life where
you face those kinds of challenges not just because of
how people saw you physically, but also in the way
they treated or respected you as a person.
So during the school I got physically bullied a lot,
and I used to come home with bruises all over
my legs and arms, and my parents had to go
to the school a few times, and just it didn't
improve to be fair on that, and the mental guide
of the bullying with the name calling, were that kind
of when you were younger, that kind of hurt more,
but now it doesn't. Well, I find now if I
find people patronizing, that's my trigger now when people when
people look at you and patronize you and they think
they're doing the right thing, and they they talked down
to you and they kind of shout at you and say, oh,
you're right, And I'm like, you don't need to shout,
you don't need to be kind of condescending. I can
understand what you're saying. I may be in a wheelchair,
but I can can understand this.
You know, yes, I get that. Can you tell me
how you get around now? Are you able to walk
on your own or do you have to use a wheelchair.
So at home I walk around. I kind of wore
walk know my house quite well and I do walk
around the house. I think after COVID, I was during
COVID and before COVID my mobility was getting worse. And
I think around that twenty twenty time when everyone was
like looked into the house and my walking. Obviously I
didn't do much walking then apart from walking around the house,
and I think it got worse there as well. So
the arthritis and everything else as part of the cerebral palsy,
then the gets affected because of the other bad walking
if done over the over the years. And also I
had a back operation ten years ago, which which obviously
corrected thing for a while, but it's come back again
a bit now.
Is the back issue related to the cerebral policy or
is that just something completely different.
Yeah, so the back is related. It's all interconnected. So
the way I've walked all my life, it was always
a jerky movement and I always walk quite quickly because
the momentum was there when I was walking. And that
is probably why I don't walk so much now because
I can't walk that quickly. I haven't momentum, and the
problem was that that kind of affects the back, especially
the upper back and the neck area. So I had
a curvature of the spine and it was compressing into
onto my nerves and that's when I had had an
operation about seventeen tempteen years ago.
Now, okay, now what about medications. Do you have to
take any medications because of the cerebral palsy. No.
I try and avoid medication if I can help it.
So at the moment, I'm on no medication. Obviously, if
I need medication, if the doctor given me medication, I'll
take it. But at the moment, I take no medication.
I don't need it.
That's great. As long as you can stay off the medication.
I think that's the best thing you can do. Now,
what about pain? Do you have any pain associated with
it at all?
The thing is, when you live with what I've lived
with so long, well, I consider pain is probably you know,
I do get the odd painful moments and things that
I can't get at, but I kind of get to
live with that because that's what I've lived with.
Yeah, so it's kind of like you have a certain
threshold of pain that you deal with on a daily
basis or a consistent basis. Yet when it gets worse
than that you need something, then you know that the
pain is unbearable and you got to do something about it.
Yeah. I have got to the point at some point
where I had an EDG to doctors and they suggested
painkillers and they sgested that brain and that type of thing.
At the moment, my pain threshold is, you know, it's
it's so if you can get worse, then obvious you
will do something about it. But it's okay at the moment.
Well, I think that's just great that you're not having
any extreme pain right now. So it seems like you've
handled it quite well.
Plight Spike K.
Now that you've lived with cerebral palsy for some time,
you've reached a place of acceptance, your calmer. What does
a typical day look like for you? Are you working,
spending time with people? How do you balance daily life
while managing the challenges that come to you every day?
So my day to day, I'll be at home all day.
I work three days a week as a civil servant,
so I travel to read roof three days a week,
so I have a lot of social interaction with my
work colleagues and with customers, and I enjoy that, and
I am thinking about finishing that next year. Haven't completely
decided yet, but it depends on how my final filence
go with my writing, because I might wanted this to
come writing. My only concern with that is that obviously
I'll have less interaction. So three days a week, I'm
in red roof, get home, have tea. I do go
to the studio occasionally, but I normally did radio from home,
so I kind of I kind of have interactions. I've
been away, go off of what cricket and do things
like that. So I go offrom the trains a lot.
That's maintaining at times, especially when you've got to rely
on people helping you assisting you around, which is not
always but always the case.
I'm sure it is. I think you just brought up
a good point. People that know you, people that have
worked with you, they have come to accept you because
of getting to know you. They accept you because you
are you. Yes, what about people that don't know you
When you go into a train or you go into
a public place, what's the interaction lenk there? Because you
might have a problem getting from point A to point
B because your wheelchair. Do people step up and help
you or do they just stand back? What's your take
on how they react to you.
Well, I'll give give you a couple of examples. So
I went to Southampton, not this time the time before,
and I was kept off the tray. Didn't din't get
a pre book. TAXI went off of the taxi rank
and went to the first taxi and I said, oh,
I'm going to this hotel my wheelchair fold. You'll go
in the back. I can't do that. And said, well,
why can't you do that? Well, now that you need to,
you need a wheelchair acceptable tax that said no, I dam't.
I said, this one fold fits in the back of
your car. I can sit in the front. So he refused.
The next one after him refused, and then I was
spent five ten minutes going up and down the taxi rank.
The actual wheelchair acceptable taxi had no one in it.
The driver wasn't in there. So eventually when he came
back and they get rid to the front of light,
I had to go into that. But at that point
I sent to the taxi driver. I said, no, I
still want you to put a wheelchair in the back
and I'll sit at the front because that's more comfortable
for me. I found when I was in London when
I had to go taxis almost side on. I had
to go inside on because no way of like maneuvering.
You can't face the front. You have to go up
a ramp. And the problem is with roads in London
or any roads, there's always jolts and I felt that
put my back out quite badly when I went to
London in May. But I didn't want to have a
repeat of that. So a lot of people just don't
understand and don't want to accept that what you're saying
to them is saying. I think it's mainly because the
wheelchair is twenty five kilograms. It's heavy, but it's about
the side of a big suit case that it folds.
You know, a lot of people would you back away
from that as they're no, no, no, it's someone else's problem.
Do you experience any issues with your arms such as
muscle problems or is it primarily your legs that make
it difficult for you to get around?
So my left arm, my left hand is like a claw,
can't really grab much. I can grab a few things,
but I couldn't carry a cup of coffee in the
left hand properly. My left arm is weaker than my
right arm. There's left muscled density in my left arm
and my left leg, and there is in my right
arm right leg. Because that's the way I was, you know,
that's what I was growing up. Because my left cyber
was weaker, it grew weaker as well.
Does the doctors suggest any physical therapy or anything like
that to help strengthen your arms and legs back up?
I had had THEEO therapy throughout the years, and I'll
be honest with you, Tony, when it comes to phitheotherapy.
I have been lazy in the past and left someone's
actually doing it with me. That level was actually getting
me to do it. It's one of those things that
I do it for a while and I think, oh, no,
I don't want to do it anymore. That's my regret. Really,
I haven't done enough to stake for my arms lag
because I could have done more. But yes, it was
when I was younger, my parents used to do physiotherapy
with me. I used to have to breathe the ball
in my right and my left arm in her left
hand give them strength. My left hand won't turn around.
It will only go as far as it won't turn around.
So it's always I'm always looking at the back of
my hand, and then I can look at the front
of my hand.
So what do you see for the future? What are
your plans? Does cerebral policy have things that you have
to worry about for the future, or do things pretty
much stay the same.
I'll set up a palsy, won't necessarily get worse. The
actual conditions have pro palsy. It's all the things that
relate to it. So because my body, you know me
my fifties now, but my body probably is the seventies.
You know, it's been through a lot. It's not been
through a normal fifty year old body in a lifespan.
It's been through a lot of falling over. I haven't mentioned,
but I used to fall over a lot. When I
fell over a lot, I can get myself up when
I'm younger. I can't get myself up now. So it
don't involve you know. And of course if you're falling
over a lot, you'll put a lot of strain on
your back, your body and everything else.
Yeah, you have to be very careful on your farm.
You can break an arm, you can break a leg,
you can break a hip. That's something that you have
to be very very cautious about.
Yeah, well I've been fortunate. I'm touchy wood when I
say this. I've been fortunate because, luckily from an early age,
because I fall so often, my brain I think, has
gone into like a safety mode where it relaxes my
body straight away. If I know I'm going down, I
will go down. And people think always gone down very heavy.
Well that's because my body is relaxed, and I've gone
down like a sack of spuds, you know, So it
means that I haven't necessarily injuring myself. But then I said,
as you get older, your bones are not quite as
resistant to be bounced back, so the possibility, that's why
I'm trying to avoid falling over if I can, and
anyone would absolutely.
What do you feel is important for the listeners to
hear and understand about cerebral palsy. What message would you
like to convey to help others better grasp the daily
challenges and experiences so they can better understand the realities
that you have to live with.
Okay, well, when I walked more. When I went to
croocket and I was walking rather than a wheelchair, a
lot of people saw me and thought I was drunk
because the way I walked, and my walk was quite
staggered sometimes, especially when you get kied. And I think
that people kind of look at someone if they all
had drunk or their this and they're that. But they
need to, like, I think, think twice about whether someone's
actually drunk or whether it's has actually got a disability
or health condition. I remember one person at the cricket
when I was in the wheelchair and he kept me
on the shoulder its raining outside. He goes, oh, you're
all right, because you've got a chair already, and your mate,
if it's one most like. And I've turned around to him,
and I didn't know really what to say, because if
I was quick enough, I would have said something like, well,
do you want this chair or something. They need to
understand that people in wheelchairs or people who've got these
disabilities have struggles a lot of time that they don't
have to deal with and other people don't have to
deal with. They most people deal with their own difficulties,
and what they want is a bit more empathy I think,
and a bit more understanding, and as you said, do
your etha, do a bit of learning because everyone's different.
You know, the people use the word normal a lot
is normal. This is normal. Everyone is normal. People are different,
their normal is different. So if everyone has the impression
that everyone is normal, that's where your benchmark is. You
treat people as normal, and you treat them as what
they need to have because sometimes they need support, sometimes
they don't. Some people rush to my support and I
say no, no, no, I'm all right. I'm very independent
in that way.
Sure, that's great, and I'm glad you are well. This
has been great, great information, great conversation. I really appreciate
you taking the time to join us today. Thank you
very much, tayy Oh the pleasures, Allline, thanks again, thanks
for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen
to our show today. We hope you enjoyed it as
much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. If you
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