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