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Wednesday 24 March 2010

Political Animal

Well...if you look at the 3 "leading men" in the forthcoming election the only animal that springs immediately to mind is a small bewildered rodent! I mean....honestly! I have no doubt that their mothers love them very much and their wives are very supportive and they are all awfully nice chaps, but run the country? Oh, please! We need someone with "balls", and I don't think we have one!

Anyway, the reason for the political theme, is that the Tory party have "promised" (hmm, we all know what that means) to "simplify the benefits" system and change the Satan-Devised DLA form. Yep. This is a good thing, as I have said before I defy anyone not to want to swallow a handful of Prozac after filling out what must be one of the more confusing and depressing forms ever devised! BUT....it still isn't enough! Why must we fill out the forms every year anyway? It took 5 years and 7 forms for the DLA peeps to understand that Autism doesn't go away and that Daisy will be Autistic until the day she dies! If we get a diagnosis from a professional (and we must) and it is quite clear that the disability is lifelong, why must we continue to drag our emotions over broken glass every time, just so we can improve our children's lives? OK, if the situation changes then re-assess us. I would happily tell the DLA that Daisy no longer needs the level of care her condition currently demands, but it aint gonna happen anytime soon! She is becoming more of a threat and a danger the older she gets....

Why does it take an election to get MPs to promise to clean my bathtub with their own toothbrush if only I'd vote for them? Why do they only want to know what we want when they might get elected? People have been campaigning for YEARS to get changes to the benefits system, but only now (with an election a matter of weeks away) do they start to listen. It's not as if we weren't shouting loudly enough before either! It's not about money...that's another post entirely!...it's about simplification and disabled people being able to take care and take part in their own future.

Oh....the teapot is calling! may just have to indulge in a jaffa cake too!

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Lawks! Where does the time go?

Well, we went off to the dentist again on Monday. I can't believe that it has come along so quickly!

Again...it was amazing! This time - despite declaring on the way there that she was going to "hide behind that cupboard again" - Daisy was outstanding! We had a guided tour of the surgery from admin to x-ray (see what I did there?!) and it was very interesting and enjoyable! Daisy answered questions (crikey! that's a HUGE step forward!) and even asked a few herself! It just goes to show that when my autistic daughter (I can't speak for all autistic children, obviously) is treated the right way, she is just brilliant!

Next time, she is going to learn how to make the chair go up and down and what all the instruments are for!

Well, that was the good news. Now for the bad! Daisy has been very very angry lately. She constantly flies off the handle for the smallest of reasons sometimes, and is sooo aggressive, violent and abusive. Part of it is that she isn't allowed to do something or what she wants to do is either impossible or totally impractical but she doesn't see that, and explodes. Big time. There is no reasoning with her, as that makes her worse, so she just has to be ignored. Which is very hard. If she was having an anxiety meltdown then I could hug her and give the attention and reassurance that she craves....but this? No way...get too close and she will strike out, it's only been pure luck that she hasn't hurt me so far. One day she will...and then what? The only way to avoid her violence and aggression at not getting her own way is to give in all the time, and that simply isn't possible. Sometimes it's too dangerous or it's a punishment or it just isn't possible (as in, I can't afford a Mongolian pony and it won't fit in the garden!).

She has injured me in the past, but that is different somehow....then it's always because I'm preventing her from "bolting" and I'm keeping her safe. I can understand her frustration at that, she simply doesn't see the danger. Meltdowns from sheer temper is something new. I see a trip to CAHMS looming........Sigh.