Cleft 2022 in Edinburgh
- Beth Angella
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
13 July 2022 | The International Congress on Cleft Lip and Palate and Related Craniofacial Anomalies (Cleft 2022) in Edinburgh
Lived experience panel
It was a pleasure to be invited up to Edinburgh for Cleft 2022. I started the day by helping with some advocacy and PR work in the city centre before joining a lived-experience panel. This was a key opportunity to speak directly to medical professionals and uplift patient voices.
Smile Train's CEO, Susannah Schaefer, chaired the panel where I was joined by fellow Smile Train Cleft Communicty Advisory Members, Sue Maughan and Matilda Lansdown.
Sue's son was born with a cleft so she shared her experience as a parent, while Matilda was also born with a cleft. Matilda is particularly inspirational to me as she works in the beauty industry, a sector I felt was somewhat "off-limits" to me growing up - I highly recommend exploring her content on Instagram: @barbieinthecity___.
We shared insights into how we made treatment decisions, what support we had from friends and family, and some of the psychological aspects of cleft. Read more about the conference from Smile Train.
If you have an opportunity coming up that you think might benefit from a ‘patient perspective’ talk, please feel free to email me at bethscleft@gmail.com.
