CEREBRAL Palsy sufferer Ben White has been winning friends around the world after writing about how he feels he is being judged by some people.

Ben, 30, wrote about his experiences on Facebook recently and five days later it had received 630 ‘shares’ and 1,100 ‘likes’ or reactions to it. Users of the website in the United States and Australia have shared his story on their page.

Friend Jacqueline Holburn said: “Ben lives his life to the full but never complains that his condition has restricted him to be in a wheelchair permanently or that it has made him rely on others to help him with everyday tasks such as eating and drinking.”

She added that he has lots of friends, some in Wellington, and likes meeting them for a drink, and is always there for them. He also goes to concerts and loves watching sports, including banger racing, and enjoys going to Wellington Monument in summer – he has persuaded friends and family to sign the petition to have it restored.

Ben, from Bishops Lydeard, says in his Facebook post that when he has been out with friends recently he has felt he is being judged for the way he chooses to live his life.

He says his condition has affected his speech but his friends understand what he is saying to them. People who do not know him do not understand as much and are only hearing what his friends are saying back to him.

He said he has heard comments like: “Oh, look at how they are speaking to that man in the wheelchair’ and ‘have you seen they are giving him alcohol – that’s not right’.

He said: “People should ‘stop judging a book by its cover’ – please see me and not my wheelchair – and for people to think before judging. They really don’t know how upsetting it is for me and my friends when people make comments like they have been recently. We live in 2016 not the 1800s.

“I’m restricted enough with what I can do, so please don’t make me or my friends feel bad at what I am choosing to eat, drink or do with my life.”