Making Cerebral Palsy Visible in Hungary — For the First Time
A story from Judit Kádár, founder of Önálló Léptekért Alapítvány (Independent Steps Foundation), Hungary
Why I started
I am the mother of a little boy with cerebral palsy. Like many parents in this situation, I quickly learned something that shocked me: in Hungary, almost nobody knows what cerebral palsy is. There is no adult care pathway once children with CP grow up, no centralized information for families, and CP itself is routinely folded into a broad, undifferentiated category of “physical disability” — as if it were not a distinct, common, and largely non-genetic condition affecting roughly as many people in this country as type 1 diabetes. There is no public holiday, no awareness campaign, no visible community. CP in Hungary is, in every sense of the word, invisible.
I decided I could not simply accept that invisibility for my son, or for the roughly 30,000 people in Hungary who live with CP. So I founded Önálló Léptekért Alapítvány — Independent Steps Foundation — to give this cause a home, a voice, and a face in a country where it had never had one before.
Joining the international community
Because I had spent my career working internationally, I knew that Hungary could not build this alone, and that it also had something to contribute. I applied for membership in the International Cerebral Palsy Society and in Cerebral Palsy Europe, and Hungary is now, for the first time, represented within that international community.
At home, I began building a community around this cause: connecting parents, therapists, volunteers, and increasingly, organizations and public figures who believe that equal opportunity for people with CP is not a niche concern but a shared responsibility. Together with a small but growing team of volunteers, we launched a one-month awareness campaign we call “Zöld Hullám” — the Green Wave.
The Green Wave campaign
The idea behind the Green Wave is simple: green is the internationally recognized color of World CP Day, and yet in Hungary it has never been used to mark anything related to CP at all. Over the course of one month leading up to October 6th, we are turning that color into a signal — on social media, in outreach letters to companies and institutions, in public materials — so that by the time World CP Day arrives, “green for CP” means something in this country for the first time.
The campaign is building toward a single, symbolic centerpiece: for World CP Day 2026, we have secured the official green illumination of the Müpa — the Palace of Arts Budapest, one of Hungary’s most iconic cultural landmarks — on the evening of October 6th. This is the first time this building, or to our knowledge any major public landmark in Hungary, will be lit for cerebral palsy.
A national movement, not a single event
We have made a deliberate effort to make this more than a one-off gesture. We are inviting schools and universities to take part and to teach their students about CP; we are reaching out to hospitals and companies. We have formally invited representatives of the Hungarian government to attend, alongside families, people living with CP, therapists, and supporters. This is being built as a genuinely national moment, not a private or clinical one.
On October 6th itself, we will gather for a short, symbolic walk along the Danube in Budapest, ending at the Palace of Art as it turns green — a shared, visible act of solidarity rather than a closed ceremony. It will be a modest walk in scale, but nothing like it has ever happened in Hungary before.
Why this is unprecedented
There have been small, scattered efforts around disability awareness in Hungary before, but nothing at this scale, and nothing specifically for cerebral palsy. This is the first time CP has had its own dedicated, public, nationwide moment in this country — the first landmark lighting, the first organized walk, the first coordinated outreach to schools, hospitals, and government on this specific issue. For a condition that affects tens of thousands of people here and yet remains almost completely unknown to the public and to policymakers, that first step matters enormously.
Why I am reaching out to World CP Day
I am sharing this story because I would be honored if World CP Day could help us amplify what is happening in Hungary this year. A word of recognition, a mention, or a share from the global World CP Day community would mean a great deal to a campaign that is, in every sense, starting from zero in a country where this cause has never had a platform before. We are not asking for anything beyond visibility — the same visibility we are trying to build for the CP community here at home.
Thank you for reading our story, and for everything World CP Day does to make this day matter around the world. We hope Hungary’s first step can, in some small way, become part of that global picture.
Judit Kádár
Founder & President, Önálló Léptekért Alapítvány (Independent Steps Foundation), Hungary
info@onalloleptekert.hu · onalloleptekert.hu