Friday, July 31, 2015

The Hair Cut






Wait, wait..before you think I am going to talk about a "regular" haircut...you have to read this story!

Lauren has long, thick beautiful hair. Tom loves every inch of it and gets upset with me when Lauren even gets a trim.

When we have had her hair cut, we donated the hair to "Locks of Love".

Well, one day I got a frantic call from Lauren's day program. "Donna, Did you get Lauren's hair cut?"
I responded, "WHAT!"

The day program sent me a picture. I immediately forwarded to Tom.

Lauren's hair looked terrible...chin length all uneven. Think of your worst hair cut and multiple times 10.

Lauren's overnight staffer was tired of helping Lauren shampoo her hair and comb it out, so she took a pair of kitchen scissors and cut it.

No, she did not ask anyone for permission. And, no she was not a hair dresser.

Lauren's hair is part of her. She is used to it being long.

Imagine someone cutting your hair against your will.

I later found Lauren's hair in a plastic grocery bag in her closet.






Tears poured.... 


Keeping it real,

Donna

7 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, that's terrible! I actually saw another autistic child this past week getting their hair cut as I got mine. Well, they were trying. It was so hard as the child did not want it, nor did he seem to understand. I cannot believe this happened! I would be really mad. I hope that your daughter's hair is OK. And... at least it will grow!

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  2. Elizabeth, Thanks so much for commenting.
    You touched on another critical issue. We have been working on Lauren getting a hair cut in a "typical" salon for years...small steps...no shampoo...we go with her hair wet..just for a trim...etc. We were making steady progress.
    Lauren suffered a major setback following this event.

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  3. I'm so sorry. It's a loss you now have to grieve..and it was a violent violation of boundaries. very upsetting.

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  4. Oh Man....ugh....truly an assault on your daughter. I'm so sorry this happened and can only imagine that you have your hands full and that this must have been frustrating and scary to your daughter. Makes me mad too. Who was in charge? Also, good to know about this blog, Donna and I'm sure it will be a resource for many.

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  5. Thanks Beth for commenting. The reality is that often nobody is in charge! Sure an agency is in place and support people in different roles....but at the end of the day without parents or other committed people...you can only imagine what happens!

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