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Showing posts from 2011

Too many issues!

I haven't blogged in ages which extremely slack of me. However there are that many issues going on right now not sure which ones to deal with! Home life - am still battling to get my son on a fair level of DLA. For some reason, the government in its' wisdom has decided that a young lad with Autism who needs support for just about everything in the real world, including cleaning his flat, going to the bank to get a statement, taking two buses to attend kick boxing sessions, shopping and cooking and trying to find a job in a market not sympathetic to someone who needs everything explaining slowly to them is less worthy of support than someone with a physical injury, not helped by lack of exercise, but who could work if the job did not involve too much physical activity. Support not required for everyday things. My son has to pay rent, £30.00 a week out of his combined low rate DLA and incap benefit. Also has to pay bus fares for the support person taking him places. Other person

Who would have thought!?

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Last night Steve, Dan and I went to see Iron Maiden in Nottingham at the arena. Steve and Dan are avid fans and I like most  of the music and rather fancy Bruce Dickinson! Win, win and win situation! :) Dan has been waiting 8 months since we got the tickets and the only other gig he has been to was Status Quo. We got to Nottingham, wondered around a bit, had coffee and then something to eat and headed to find the nearest pub to the arena. We couldn't miss it, it had been taken over by the Iron Maiden fan club and there were rockers of all shapes sizes and abilities in Maiden t-shirts everywhere! The atmosphere was great and Dan said he felt really comfortable in that crowded environment with masses of rockers of all descriptions. Hmm... an autistic person comfortable in a crowd!! Then we headed for the venue and he had every imaginable sensory experience thrown at him. Crowds, LOUD noise, extremely bright flashing lights all of which would have caused a complete on the floor, ey

What did you Want to be when you Grew Up?

What did you want to be when you grew up? Looking at what I now want to do career wise it made me remember what I said I wanted to be when I was a kid. From my first flight on a plane at the age of three I want to be an Air Hostess, as it was back then. It then changed to Stewardess and then Flight Attendant. I used to line my teddies and dolls up in overturned stools and practise wiggling up and down the "aisle" with a tea tray in my hands and my red rose patterned plastic coffee and tea sets, forcing pretend beverages on the unsuspecting cuddlies! I continued with that idea all the way through school having decided being a vet wasn't an option since putting animals down was beyond my emotional realm. I tried hard at French in school knowing that I would need a second language, and worked on other subjects knowing I would need a few "O" levels. I left school having decided that "A" levels weren't for me and returned to Malawi where after being ho

Countdown Begins!!

Well, having just had my 49th birthday it suddenly occurred that the next one is the big 5-0!  I am way too young be be turning 50 so have decided on a definite makeover. I have a stone to lose in weight so have already started with that. The other biggy over the next year will be a new job/career. I like my job but after almost three years in it I am ready for a change. I would like something that I can put my 49 years of experience into and those experiences have been really varied! I have lived in four countries, umpteen houses, lived in a caravan,  had loads of different jobs. Have had two children, one I haven't seen in 7 years and miss like crazy so a plan has to be made there. The other is doing pretty well despite his autism but its ongoing. A definite learning curve there! Am sick of having not enough money to do what we want so need to earn more. There are charities I want to be more active in supporting as well. I have already started getting more opinionated as far

Save the Children

After watching the interview on Daybreak a while ago  with Christine Mosler, Tracey Cheetham and Lindsay Atkin, in which they discussed the importance of all countries contributing to the funding of vaccines for the underprivileged in overseas countries, I was reminded of why I have the utmost respect for the Save the Children's organization. My first job was working for a Travel Agency in Malawi and the Save the Children representatives used to come in regularly to reconfirm or alter their flights around Africa and back to the UK. One day, a gentleman from Save the Children came in who had a problem getting flights to Lesotho and needed to be there for an emergency situation. Someone else had quoted him an enormous amount of money to alter his ticket and had not been able to even confirm flights for him. With the help of local and international airlines, I was able to get his flights rerouted, and actual seats on planes to Lesotho and back to the UK without costing him an additio

Achievements!

With this week being the time of the Special Olympic Summer Games in Athens, I thought I would comment on the importance of sport in young peoples lives, particularly for those with Learning Disabilities. When my son was first (and wrongly) diagnosed with "Mental Retardation" at the age of three, I was told that he had no eye - hand coordination and would never be able to play sports that involved using that skill. So, we played baseball with him, badminton, tennis, and five pin bowling. He has played bocce, basketball and has gone skiing. He has played football and street hockey. Hmmmm...... but they said he couldn't! Oh and did I mention he can swim and plays pool? Oh, and at the moment he is not playing badminton for a while but has just got three kickboxing belts in a mainstream club! My son has had bowling trophies, (from playing with mainstream teams), football trophies, mainstream again. He achieved Gold standard at tennis lessons and played Badminton for the

A brilliant idea!!

Having taken a look at the Face Cards products I have received from Dunedin Multimedia Ltd, I have to say I am very impressed. For Autistic Children and possibly those with different facial recognition difficulties, they are ideal, as the pictures are of “real” faces as opposed to the “happy face” type often used to demonstrate expressions. . The products have a variety of pictures that are gender and ethnically diverse and can be easily related to. The charts and cards illustrate so many different facial expressions and the cards are easily portable in a plastic holder that can fit in pocket or bag. Even better, the CD Rom once again illustrates expressions but has the added learning incentive of games! The four games allow the user to choose and guess expressions with “Find A Face” and “What Face” and to draw their own expressions with “Draw a Face” and, finally, to have a lot of fun with “Face Goo” which will definitely have everyone chuckling! Also on the CD Rom is a section called

One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

I am feeling really frustrated today. It is the start of Learning Disabilities Week and I feel just as frustrated today as I did when I first found out that my son had a learning disability. It just doesn't go away. On one hand I am so happy with the progress he has made in 22 years but on the other I could scream when he does things that set him back and neither he or I know why he does them. However, most of his issues stem from too much information in his head that has not been processed properly and that just leads to stagnation. It takes so much digging to find out the root cause we both end up with headaches. In addition, it does not help when some of the confusion has been brought about by government "experts", put in a position to help him progress into work that have no concept of how an Autistic mind works. He has had two meetings with one such person and is no further ahead than before he saw them. And...they get paid for this type of service! Now the pro

Can't get the staff!

Hi everyone! Had a lovely trip to the hospital to check on the progress of my recent foot operation. Today I got to see a member of the surgical team that I had not met yet. She was not exactly the warm and fuzzy type and a smile was obviously not on the agenda for Wednesday mornings. We went through the rigmarole of removing bandages etc and keeping in mind that this lady had not seen me the week before, she informed me that the progress was "disappointing"! Well, she should have seen it the week before and she may have said the improvement was incredible!! She then told me that I could remove my sexy elastic anti - DVT stocking and that she would re-bandage with a light dressing. She told me that I had better make an appointment for the next week as there was no way I could start my rehabilitation yet. My husband was with me and we both left thinking that I had been spoken to like a naughty child!! Not once did this lady ask me about diet, the actual amount of activity I h

Back to Blogging!

Well, have decided that I will begin to blog again! It has been ages but at the moment there are a ton of topics I would like to get into so it seems like the best way to do it! At the moment I am laid up with a sore foot since my operation so have some time to get back into writing before going back to work. So from tomorrow, will be back with whatever is on my mind!! As long as everyone is aware, the opinions are my own and just reflect my view of the world! Some people would say that's an odd view, but, hey! See you soon! Andrea