Monday 19 January 2009

A bump on the head and a bit of a rant.

Well I had just sat down to catch up on all your lovely blogs when the phone rang. It was Jamie's teacher to say he had had a fall in the playground, which had resulted in a bump on the head and a nose bleed. They are very aware that the hydrocephalus means we have to be very careful about him bumping his head, especially on his front right side where most of the fluid is. Today he had fallen backwards, which he usually does as his head is so much bigger and heavier than average.

She was very calm but wanted to know if I wanted him to go to the local medical centre or should they call an ambulance? I also stayed calm, and said that it would be best if they took him to the medical centre and we would meet them there. It takes twenty odd minuets to get into town from here and they were only just down the road. So the deputy head and one of the TA's took him down. I dashed upstairs to fetch Pooh Bear and off we went.

When we got there he was sitting on his TA's knee having a lovely time being fussed over by two lovely nurses. He was fine. After a bit of paper work we were allowed to go home. He spent the rest of the afternoon on the computer and has just gone up to bed as if nothing had happened! The nurse said he is to have tomorrow off school and to let him have a quiet day! Some hope. To be honest I'd rather have him bouncing around than sitting quiet, at least I know he's ok if he's bouncing.

And now to the aforementioned rant.
Did anyone else read the Daily Mail article last week about the new test for autism? Now I don't get the Mail, but my parents do. So there we were sitting having a cup of tea and the paper was on the table. I started flicking through and saw a headline mentioning autism, so I read on. And I was horrified. This woman was telling the tale of some friends of hers who have an autistic son. I don't think it could have been any more negative. According to her he was a monster who had ruined his whole families lives. Now I know some autistic children can be very challenging, Jamie is at school with a couple who are. But to label them as monsters!!
The article ended by saying that it would have been better if the mother had been able to have the test and had aborted him.

Now I accept that the test might be welcomed by some. And I can see that having advanced warning that there is going to be something going on with your child that you need to prepare for might be a good thing. Having one autistic child it is quite likely that any more children could also be. But to suggest that people should abort because of autism is a very dangerous, and irresponsible thing to imply. There is enough prejudice out there without adding to it without even having first hand experience.
So I wrote and told them so. I suggested that they talk to a family like ours who have had nothing but positive experiences. A debate like this must be balanced. I have had no reply.

Ok, rant over. Sorry but it got up my nose. Normal service will be resumed in the next post.

8 comments:

DAB said...

You rant away. We can never attempt to influence change unless we rant and educate others m'dear :) TFx

Leigh Forbes said...

We live in a society where some people will abort an otherwise wanted child because it has a cleft palette. God help us if we ever get tests for everything. Variety of life, I say. Although I say that from the security of not having to deal with an autistic child.
But, in my ignorance, I like to think that, if I had an autistic child, I'd be sad for his problems, but happy for his life.

HelenMWalters said...

Sorry you've had such a worrying day. Cathy blogged about that Daily Mail article as well. http://cwnotebook.blogspot.com/ If you haven't read Cathy's blog before I think you'd find it interesting.

Lane Mathias said...

I've only learnt about autism from what I've read on Casdok's, Cathy's, Crystal Jigsaw and now your blog. So rant away and I'm so glad you replied to that article.

Glad Jamie was okay. Very worrying for you so top marks for staying calm:-)

Michelle said...

Life is such a precious gift and I am horrified at the suggestion of a test for autism that could make abortion decisions. All my working life I have worked with disability and parents/carers of those with disability. I am totally anti-abortion anyway, but once you have worked with a spectrum of people with disabilties you accept the challenges and heartaches with the joys...like most families do.
My son was born with a cleft lip, identified at 20 week scan and we were offered further tests to help make a decision about whether we would keep him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is bright, intelligent, funny, popular and very handsome. Life is so cheap in modern society and any thing less than perfection can be 'dealt with'. Sorry Claire, my rant over now, you may guess I feel passionate about this subject too.
Love
Michelle
x

tracey (aka rainbowmummy) said...

Well done for staying calm, I hope everything is alright (??). This must be a very scary thing to live with (rainbowmummy points out the obvious). Has he ever had to go to hospital as a result of a nursery fall before? Egg cut his face once at nursery, horrible, really traumatic for everyone.

I am glad you got pissed of at the newspaper thing!! Not wanting to promote anger or anything but there is nothing better than being an accepting parent, and you clearly are one! I couldn't imagine being on the my kid needs a cure blah blah blah" side.

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry that your little one had a fall btu glad that he is okay! Kids are much more resilient than we think, even the fragile ones.

As far as the autism post - don't get me started. I hear this crap all the time and am criticised because of my 5 on the spectrum. It is ignorance and fear that makes harsh comments like that. I hope you get a response to show the positive side of what makes our children so special.

Halo said...

Completely agree- now you rant away :)