The Association of Cerebral Palsy and Polio of Serbia is the umbrella organization that brings together 52 local associations with over 4,000 members, adults and children, of which one city organization and 12 municipal organizations in Belgrade, 28 municipal organizations in Serbia, one provincial organization and 10 municipal organizations in Vojvodina. The office of the president of the Association is discharged by Slavisa Susanj.
The history of the Association of Cerebral Palsy and Polio dates back to the first post-war years, after the Second World War. Owing to Dr. Miroslav Zotovic, in 1952, for the first time, a group of people with cerebral palsy and polio got a training space at the Institute for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Veterans and Civilians in Belgrade, which initiated the idea of establishment of an organized association of parents and people with cerebral palsy and polio. The Society for the Children with Cerebral Palsy Care, one of the first social-humanitarian associations of the disabled in the former Yugoslavia, was officially founded in 1957.
In the 1970s, following the model of the Society for the Children with Cerebral Palsy Care from Belgrade, started the formation of local organizations in cities and municipalities throughout SFRY. By merging local organizations and the Society for the Children with Cerebral Palsy Care in Belgrade, in 1973, the Society of Disabled Persons with Cerebral Palsy and Polio was founded, which changed its name to the Association of Cerebral Palsy and Polio of Serbia in 2010.
With the support of the Department for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, the Association and local organisations continuously implement activities for their members, such as psycho-social, creative, occupational, art, sports-recreational and other workshops. In this way, people with cerebral palsy and polio make unique handicrafts and creative products with which they assert themselves at exhibitions and fairs, both local and regional.
In 2021, the Association for Cerebral Palsy and Polio of Serbia celebrated its 48th anniversary, and in the same year, with the support of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs – Department for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, the premises of the Association were completely renovated and modernly equipped.
On the occasion of the World Cerebral Palsy Day and in the framework the Week of Solidarity with Persons with Cerebral Palsy and Polio, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Prof. Dr. Darija Kisic and Assistant Minister in the Department for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities Biljana Barosevic visited the renovated premises of the Association where they reiterated that the Ministry is committed to supporting all types of activities aimed at improving the living and working conditions of persons with disabilities.
