Guest Profile

Azucena Garcia-Ferro

Born and raised in San Diego, CA, Azucena is a self-advocate with Cerebral Palsy.

 

At the tender age of two, she was diagnosed with Spastic Diplegia due to Cerebral Palsy, which means she has had 18 orthopedic surgeries in both of her legs and deals with muscle spasms - spasticity - on both of her legs almost daily.

 

She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants who did not speak English at the time they received Azucena's diagnosis, which left them with many questions but very few resources in Spanish to understand how this diagnosis would affect her in the future. Thanks to this, Azucena learned the importance of having resources available in multiple languages, and she learned to advocate for herself and others with disabilities from an early age.

 

Azucena graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Communications and Political Science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She is a very active member of her community and board member of organizations such as the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) and California Policy Center for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (CPCISD)

 

In her free time, Azucena enjoys reading latin american literature, walking, taking linear perspective photos, traveling and hosting her podcast Parálisis Cerebral Respuestas (Cerebral Palsy Answers) where she interviews doctors, parents and other people living with Cerebral Palsy in Spanish and English to raise awareness about Cerebral Palsy.