Look down cellar behind the axe!

I know you are dying to know why I just ordered two new toilet paper holders!

Soon after, Lauren moved into her apartment the texts from staff came in regularly, "where is the extra toilet paper?" Mind you, this is a two bedroom apartment with limited closet space.....but staff continued to struggle to find the toilet paper.

I was reminded of my mother saying, "Down cellar behind the axe" in response to questions like this. We didn't have a cellar or an axe, but she said it anyway!

I found these holders online and "voila"....the texts stopped.

Keeping it real!

Donna

Does your disabled adult son or daughter have a resume?

Resumes can be used for a variety of purposes ranging from employment to volunteer opportunities. Lauren's resume may serve as an example.

Lauren

Address

Telephone

Email

Education

William T. Dwyer High School

West Palm Beach, Florida

Completed: 2008

Adult Day Program

Pathways to Independence

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Received speech, occupational and physical therapy.

Attended: 2009-2015

Els Foundation Bridge program

 (Learned work related skills; rolling utensils in napkins, wiping tables)

Attended: 2018

Volunteer Experience

Furry Friends Adoption clinic and ranch

Jupiter, Florida

2017-present

Responsibilities include providing playtime and socialization for cats and kittens.

House of Hope Thrift Store

Stuart, Florida

2017-present

Responsibilities include putting DVDs on shelves, cleaning tables and furniture, and greeting customers.

Sea Turtle Adventures

North Palm Beach, Florida

Responsibilities include getting mail, cleaning tables, feeding fish, taking out trash and watering mangrove plants.

2018-present

Emmanuel Deliverance Church of God Food Pantry

West Palm Beach, Florida

Responsibilities include unloading food from trucks, wiping tables and crossing out bar codes on donated food.

2019-present

Salvation Army Holiday Season Bell Ringer

West Palm Beach, Florida

2018-present

Memberships

United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches

Member of the Amigos group.

2017-present

Exceptional Ensembell hand bell choir member

2018-present

Sea Turtle Adventures iCare nature, travel and volunteering clubs.

2018-present

Recognition

House of Hope, Annual volunteer recognition certificate.

Publications

Featured in an article about Sea Turtle Adventures by Jackie Kingston in the Florida Environmental Outreach magazine, April 2019.

References available on request.

Cheers!

Donna

Seriously, Is there a disability hierarchy?

As some know, another parent and I started a hand bell choir for adults with disabilities. I asked a person with significant physical disabilities to "like" the hand bell choir page on Facebook.

He asked, " Is it for people with autism?" I said, "no the bell choir includes people with a wide range of disabilities (cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism)."

He refused to "like" the page because the choir includes people with autism.

He went on to say, "I feel sorry for your daughter, autism is an embarrassing disability".

Is his response part of the hierarchy? Did he state what others think?

Keeping it real,

Donna

Hard to forget...: Why I hate bleach

 I picked Lauren up from elementary school every day. This day was different... Lauren was standing outside with her teacher. She was wearing a different shirt than she wore to school that day.

Use of "aversive techniques" was common in those days. Students in Lauren's class wore necklaces with tokens they earned for good behavior.

Lauren often put her tokens in her mouth. To stop Lauren from putting the tokens in her mouth, her teacher sprayed "vinegar" on the  tokens. A spray bottle of vinegar was readily available because it was used to spray in the mouth of another student when he screamed. A spray bottle of bleach was also available for cleaning....

The teacher picked up the wrong bottle and sprayed the tokens around Lauren's

 neck with the bleach bottle!! The "what if" possibilities are overwhelming.

We decided not to take legal action and opted to work toward change. I spent years collaborating with the school board to discontinue these practices. Attending meetings became a way of life for us.

Teachers, aides, administrators stared at us, and a speech therapist refused to work with Lauren. We were official "parents from hell". 

Years later, Lauren had a meltdown in the laundry room of her apartment. Details of the event remain incomplete. But somehow bleach was spilled on her pants and caused a "burn" on her leg.
 

Elementary school nightmares returned....not pretty.

Keeping it real,

Donna

Eating on $45.00 a month...$11.25 a week in food stamps!

Lauren receives food stamps every month. When her Social Security benefit increases, her food stamp (SNAP) allocation decreases.

So, here we are in 2019...Lauren just received notification that she will receive $45.00 a month....that is $11.25 dollars a week!

Lauren can't work....so without her aging, still hard working parents,.... who will help Lauren eat a nutritionally sound/life sustaining diet?

Should she count on the kindness of strangers? Soup kitchens? Food banks? Meals on Wheels?

Keeping it real!

Donna