Wednesday 27th June
By Jeannette | June 27, 2012
The day of D’s sports day and how wonderful it has been 😃ðŸ‘
It didn’t start off that way – naturally, thanks autism – as she was very anxious about sports day and it took her TA, plus her teacher to get her into school. I had a “cunning plan” to have Bunny in my handbag for the morning’s skills activities and D interpreted that to mean Bunny was staying there all day. Eventually she went in and then greeted me 20 minutes later – at the start of the activities – like she hadn’t seen me for hours!!
She participated in all the skills activities in the morning.
All the class did brilliantly.
This afternoon was the competitive element, the running races! There is always a fantastic atmosphere at this. Every “house” colour sits together – relatives included – and all try to outdo each other with cheers etc. There were medals and a podium this year too, which made for a very competitive atmosphere. I asked D who we should cheer for and she would answer “who is in the lead” – my fickle daughter!
She came third in her first race – unfortunately there was a shortage of bronze medals so didn’t get a medal, which caused a bolt (in a big field) and a lot of calming down – and second in her next race – silver medal woohoo!
The medal made for a very happy D and a bursting-with-pride Mumma! She was overjoyed.
I think the highlight of the afternoon was seeing a child in the races who was in D’s class two years ago. She has cerebral palsy and is normally in a wheelchair but today she was in a race, supported by a TA on each side, walking. Her smile as she crossed the finishing line was absolutely fantastic.
The wheelchair-using children had a race too, their TAs running along behind them, I think they’ll sleep well tonight!
D’s enthusiasm (and the fact it finished early so she was out of school before the other two schools we pass) kept her going all the way home, together with another “guess the colour of the smarties”.
T was mega proud of his sister’s medal (and a bronze one to come) and he cleared a shelf in her room for her “medal cabinet”, he’s already looked up what the Paralympic medals look like (nothing like planning ahead T!)
Not surprisingly D has settled, tired but happy – with her Melatonin as per.
Butterfly watch – day 27 🌸ðŸ›ðŸŒ¸:
Still no news from the 10 bat-like Freds, just hanging around, doing their thing.
I hope everyone’s had a good day, thanks very much for reading, comments/RTs as ever welcomed Jx 😘
I’m so proud of how she participated today – despite initial anxieties – and even though she bolted over the lack of a bronze medal, she overcame it and got a silver one.
7 Comments
Violets Diary on 27th June 2012 at 9:10 pm.
Hi Jeanette, some lovely pics. I’m glad D enjoyed her day. It is great that you, like so many of us are trying to raise awareness and to get other people to value our children for who they are and what they can do as well as the challenges they face. As you probably know by now, I campaign for disabled people’s rights accross the board. With this in mind I would ask you to think about using phrases such as ‘wheelchair bound’. Many disabled people regard their wheelchairs as an essential form of mobility. They are not bound to them as a form of torture or imprisonment. Wheelchairs give people with mobility impairments some freedom to move around, which they otherwise would not have. Granted this is often limited by the environment we live in. I have no doubt that this isn’t the intention you want to convey and I hope you don’t take this as any form of critiicism. Like educating people about autism it is just about trying to get people to think differently about language and environment etc. I feel a little awkward about writing here as it is so public and I know lots of people read your blog, so please accept this as a complement, because by writing here I am hoping that a few more people will also start to think about how we view disabled people.
Apologies, enough waffle and hope you don’t feel offended by this comment. x
clairelouise82 on 27th June 2012 at 9:41 pm.
Aww well done D, glad it was a good day
AutismMumma on 28th June 2012 at 9:54 am.
Thank you, I was never my intention to offend. I am struggling to think of what other phrase I could have used. I campaigned vigorously for the welfare reform bill at the end of last year and, as I’m sure you are aware, D is very reliant on her SN buggy at times of great anxiety. I have a disabled elderly relative so am very interested in raising as many aspects of life as a disabled individual/carer as I can.
Violets Diary on 28th June 2012 at 10:34 am.
Hi I know all your intentions are good & I meant to suggest an alternative form of words but forgot as I was worried I might be offending you with my comment. The term disabled people tend to use is ‘wheelchair user’ I’m sure someone will object to that but generally that is the term used by disabled people & policy makers. Xx
Sarah Levis (@GirlWithTheCane) on 28th June 2012 at 12:46 pm.
It looks like she had a great day. Very nice to see. 🙂
Re: language…for this post, “the students in wheelchairs” might have been another alternative (just tossing it out, nothing wrong with “wheelchair user”). The people-first language is sometimes more awkward (that’s the editor coming out in me), but I overlook it when I’m blogging and reading blogs in favour of the message it gets across, you know? Sometimes I really stuggle with, “Okay, how do I say this?” when I’m writing, too…it seems a bit easier when I’m just talking, for some reason…
AutismMumma on 28th June 2012 at 2:50 pm.
Just changed the text, thanks for your input 🙂
AutismMumma on 28th June 2012 at 2:51 pm.
I’ve amended the blog text to reflect that, thanks for your input 🙂