Who Cares? With Niamh and Sara Podcast
Two friends discuss the highs and lows of life as mothers to severely disabled children with dark humour, a unique insight and brutal honesty
Who Cares? With Niamh and Sara Podcast
Easter catch up
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We are back after the Easter break, talking about how the holidays were for us and what our youngsters have been up to
Hello Nate. Hello Sarah. No, I'm not. Welcome back. Welcome back. How was Easter?
SPEAKER_01Easter was okay.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
SPEAKER_01Yes. It was nice. Actually, Oliver was a pleasure. He was. Why? Um. No, he went because he went to a restaurant the week before Easter. And then I went and picked him up and he he was just he was been really well. I mean, we've still had behaviours and stuff, but he's been really well be he was he was he seems to have grown up a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Oh he is getting older when we were out last night at the carbury. He does look so much older, but he was more contented and he really enjoyed himself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well he's got the the freedom of the walker now. So I think that's helping. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um so we took his walker from school and took it to respite, and he was using it at respite. And um the problem was in school the walker they said he would only walk around the school in it um and go outside in it. So when I picked it up from the respite place and brought it home, we had two weeks off for Easter. So when he was at home, I was taking him out every day in it. And um we would walk, we've we'd put it outside my house, put him in it, and then he could walk across my road. If you walk down, there's a path that walks down to the lake where you can go and feed the ducks. So it gave him a purpose to be in the walker. So I'd go, come on, let's go and feed the ducks. So we walked, he walked all the way down the path. It's quite a few hundred yards, it's quite far for him to walk, and it but he knew he was going somewhere.
SPEAKER_00How amazing, how liberating for him though. Oh, he looks so happy in it. Now he's able to be mobile himself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, without someone holding him. That's amazing. But he I mean he gets really tired. He he walked all the way to the lake, but then he's got to walk back, and he's like, I'm tired now, and he's sort of hanging on it. Life be like that when you get a couple. Dave reckons that he's like he's like he's at boot camp. I go to him, come on, another couple of steps. But that's oh, that's so dependent. We took him out Sunday, and I've managed to find a way to put all the seats down in my car so that I can put the walker in and his wheelchair. Yeah, it's a it's a squash, but we did it because I wanted to be able to take him out and put him in the walker when we were out, but also when he got tired to be able to go and get his wheelchair and that we we could stay out. And we took him to the Olympic Park in Stratford. Um, so they've got giving him ideas now. Yeah, he's gonna run in the marathon, he's running the marathon with me next year. Um, no, so we we took him out, and so we parked up, and it's very disabled accessible Olympic park, because obviously it wasn't built that long ago. Um, so it's all flat paths, loads of places to walk. So we took him for a walk, and then I could see that he was getting tired, so I thought we'd better turn around and come back. And as we were walking back, there was another car parked up that was exactly the same as my car, same colour, same make, yeah, and he's seen it and he's he's really tired, and he kept pointing at it. And I'm going, it's not mummy's car, and I'm going, Mummy's car's over there, and it was like kind of 100 yards away, and he's going, he just kept pointing at that point that that means for the first time.
SPEAKER_00Hang on, let me get this right. For the first time, he is now able to walk along a path and go where he wants to go in his life. And choose, and that might be.
SPEAKER_01And that's what we were doing. We were like, When we get to like a fork in the road, I was saying, like a fork in the path, I was saying, what way does Oliver want to go? Because normally he's in his wheelchair and he has to go where we put him. Was that emotional for you? Yeah, it wasn't, and it's just his little face when he's walking because he's laughing, he's like shaking his head from side to side, laughing, like he's really pleased with himself. That is very emotional. So and he went back to school on Monday, and um they said they put him in the walkout, and they've managed to get him out in the playground in it now because he would only go in school in it, but because I've been taking him out every day in it. Yeah, now he knows he's this is life-changing for him. Yeah, it's good.
SPEAKER_00It's it's really now able to move around and do it.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's down the pupson. It's not practical to take out with you all the time, but um, because I mean you I have to put two seats down in the back of the car and then m manoeuvre. Nor is a double buggy, but we learn to do it. Yeah, we learn to do it, um, and it's quite heavy, but it's just like just to get him out, getting a bit of exercise. So, yeah, no, we've had we've had quite a nice Easter. You had a nice Easter, didn't you?
SPEAKER_00I had a brilliant Easter. So Holy Mary went off on her Ludd's trip, and she had a fantastic time. She always does. The people that go with her are amazing.
SPEAKER_01What do they do then?
SPEAKER_00It's a pilgrimage, really. So it's thousands of kids with special needs go at Easter, and there's all different groups from all over the UK, and they it's loosely based around a pilgrimage, so obviously it's it's religious-centred, but they go to mass and they go to various events that are being put on, but they have a blast, they have so much fun in the hotel and they play games and treasure hunts and whatever, and she has come back so happy and so calm. Well, she's had a bit of freedom, actually. She's had freedom away and away from you. That was the biggest shocker. I think I've suddenly realised this kid needs her independence too from me. Yeah, it's like her sister said it's like her being away in Ibiza. Yeah. So she had had her week with her friends. The weird thing is as well, because they bring mainly kids with special needs, she does not see herself as a child with special needs. It's really strange. Because I think maybe the impact of her being at mainstream school when she was younger.
SPEAKER_01A lot of kids with special needs don't see themselves as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they don't and I'm not part of this nonsense. Wherever going this craziness isn't like.
SPEAKER_01I had a friend who had a son with um he was like high functioning, autistic, and he went to a school and he thought he wouldn't went to that school to help the other kids. Oh he didn't see himself as one of those one of those kids. Yeah. He thought he was there helping the other kids because they was they were they had special needs.
SPEAKER_00That that's really funny. And she had a helper that all of the kids get assigned a buddy for the week. And her buddy is actually her friend from school when she was at primary school. So she's 25 now, 25 years old, same age as Sortia. They've been friends ever since they were five years old. And Sortia was kicking off until she arrived because she didn't want to be with all the other kids, especially she wanted to be with her friend. Right. And when the girl came, she was completely relaxed, really happy, and they had a board.
SPEAKER_01That must be strange for that girl because she was at school with Sorcia, but she's grown up and moved on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And Sortia's But she still regards Sorcia as her friend. Oh she said it's so lovely spending a week with my friend. And that's that's how it that's kind of going across that not barrier, but the line of somebody with special needs, having friends that don't have special needs, and the person who doesn't have special needs saying, I see her as my friend. That is a really lovely thing as well. So she had a blast, and mummy had a blast. So what did Mummy get up to? Mummy had time for her sister, sort of sister. So we did things in the week. We went for a spa and I went out for lunch with a friend, and I got my hair cut and just loads of things. I went shopping, I did everything, but you know the nicest thing? I got up when I wanted, I went to bed when I wanted, I could do what I wanted. I didn't have to be anywhere by a certain time to get somebody's meals. It was so freeing. It was absolutely lovely. I feel like I've been on a cruise. Really? Yeah. I feel really rested, yeah. Rested, but also really happy that was need things. I found Nive again that week. And it was it was you're not just Sorcia's mum, you're you was Neeve for a week. And I can feel from her as well, I'm not just your daughter with disabled.
SPEAKER_01So did Neve get up to stuff at the weekend? At the week? Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Is she playing up?
SPEAKER_01Did she play up?
SPEAKER_00We don't talk about things like podcast. So Easter's become a very weird kind of holiday, hasn't it? It's and people are putting it down to almost like a long weekend. And you think Easter used to be like a really big deal for a week or two weeks from a holiday from school, things like that. But now it seems to only it ties in with the terms, so how many weeks they've got off or whatever. So some years, last year I remember, Easter was just like a long weekend. They still have two weeks off of school there. Yeah, but they ha they call it a spring holiday. But it's not always around Easter now. So if good Easter holiday, Monday fall a couple of weeks after the break.
SPEAKER_01No, they still they will always still have it. They'll have a long weekend. No, they still have the Easter the Easter break is still the Easter weekend will still be incorporated in that Easter break, whether it's at the beginning or the end. Oh really?
SPEAKER_00Well I think it depends on the school then.
SPEAKER_01Because definitely No, it's not. Neve, you don't know what you're talking about. I do. No, it it is, but it's like so so it might be they break up and then it's Good Friday, or they might break up and then there's a week and then it's Good Friday. Or Good Friday might be at the end. Or maybe I was in the bottom of a bottle that week then.
SPEAKER_00So You had a week off, you don't know what was going on. No, I didn't that was the other nice thing. I didn't know what bloody day it was. I actually lost track of the days, it was really no good. Oh, and you did oblivion! I'm glad you had a good time. I did, and so no, I'll get another rest in another two years' time. You've got wait two years. Yeah. But it was it was worth it. It was it was so nice, and to see her really, really happy.
SPEAKER_01You've started to think about making some time for yourself now, don't you? Absolutely. So is it you're gonna have someone to look after Saucia so that you can go out?
SPEAKER_00Once a month, I'm gonna get someone to look after her so that I can get that time. And I'm gonna stop feeling bad about it. Don't feel guilty, you shouldn't feel guilty. Whatever. Because also you I don't know, sometimes something happens to us, we become so selfless that you do keep putting yourself last. Do you know why? And you forget that you need to do things for you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think also see, I don't I do do things for me now.
SPEAKER_00Do you go on holiday?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, quite a bit.
SPEAKER_00Did you go on holiday over Easter?
SPEAKER_01No, I went on holiday the week before Easter. And did you have a lovely time? It rained five days out of seven. I didn't ask you that. I had a lovely time though. I did have a lovely time. We did have a really nice time actually. Um the weather was really bad, but we did have a really nice time. I think we met we made time to do stuff that we wouldn't normally do when we go on holiday. Oh, so instead of sort of lounging by the pool. Yeah, which I think Dave finds boring anyway. I I don't mind laying there reading a book for a few hours. But we just made we we had to do stuff. Yeah. He does think I'm a bit of a sergeant major when we're on top. Come on, Dave, we're going for a walk. I can't believe that, not for one minute. We're going for a run and then we're coming back and I'm going for a we're going for a walk. I said so. I said so. So how was Oliver when you got back? He was fine. He was because he went to respite. That's when he went to respite, which was I couldn't have picked a better uh although the weather was rubbish, I couldn't have picked a better week because the week before, so Oliver was supposed to go into respite on the Tuesday afternoon. On the Friday, we got the Friday before we got an email from the school to say that the boiler and the hot water and stuff had all broken down in the school, the the old part of the school, and the school was shut, and they were talking about reopening it on the Wednesday. Oh hang on, they they shut the whole school. The school was shut, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So what happened to all of the kids? What happens if their parents can't take time off and everything?
SPEAKER_01They had to. The the um the the group chat was going into meltdown. I've just felt so it was they were supposed to have the Monday and the Tuesday off and then go back on the Wednesday. Yeah. Then we got another email on the Tuesday to say that the work was a lot worse than what they first thought, and it was gonna take a lot more time. So then they was off for the rest of the week. Yeah. Then they was gonna go back the following week, and then it turned out that they wasn't going back and it was gonna get done. So they they was off for two weeks.
SPEAKER_00How many kids are at this school?
SPEAKER_01I don't know how many is there now. Eighty, ninety? I don't know. I don't know how many is there. I think it's might so. All of these kids were special needs. Well, what they did is that the new part of the school was was unaffected. Okay. So the new part, the pi the kids that were in the new part of the school could go into school. Oh, they're laughing, but the kids that were in the older part of the school couldn't go in, and obviously they couldn't get the school dinners, the hydro pool was not open. Um so it the school was shut effectively two weeks before Easter, and then it was shut for Easter. So the parents have been through what is effectively a summer holiday, and I just felt so I felt so sorry for him. I mean, I was lucky because Oliver he had the Monday off and the Tuesday, then he went to respite, and I picked him up on the Thursday, so he only had the Thursday and the Friday off for school, and then it was Easter holidays. So I mean I couldn't have timed it better because I don't know how I would have coped with him for having another two weeks of the yeah.
SPEAKER_00You can't go to work, yes, so they had to take time off work. That's unprecedented, especially when you've got kids.
SPEAKER_01And also a lot of a lot of people who employ carers employ them from the school, but because the school was effectively half open, yeah, and the other staff were on standby in case anybody was off, they couldn't get the carers that they normally have in the holidays for them two weeks because they weren't allowed to work.
SPEAKER_00It must be very difficult as well for parents who've got kids that are so routined that they expect to be going to school. They're thrown by their yeah, the their routine and their timetable being changed. That must be really hard. And then to have a holiday on top of that, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I don't even think it's still fixed properly. I think they've got temporary stuff in place. I think it's a really, really big job. But so luckily it's springtime. Well, luckily Oliver's leaving in July, so it'll be nice and warm then.
SPEAKER_00But but not having water and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well they didn't have I don't think they had any hot water or heating, so and it wasn't safe. God almighty, that's right.
SPEAKER_00So I don't know what that means by it wasn't safe, but it wasn't safe. And that's an example of schools being so old, because that school is very simple.
SPEAKER_01But the thing is, if this was a if this was a mainstream school, that wouldn't have happened. Why? Because they would have gotten back into school quicker. They would have got the work done. Tell me why you think that. Because it's a special needs school and it's not a priori. That's what I think.
unknownWow, wow.
SPEAKER_01Isn't an academy though, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00Isn't it a group of other schools?
SPEAKER_01It is an academy. So I just I just think it's not the the special needs kids get the bum into the deal. Of course they do. And they are in a building. It's like the same with the with the Friday afternoon stuff, right? The school closes at one o'clock on a Friday. Right. Right. They don't they don't do Monday to Friday nine till three. They do Monday to Thursday nine till three, and then they do Monday nine till one. Right. Right. Because of a deficit in funding and all this money that they lost.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I I know some mainstream schools that now close on.
SPEAKER_01They close at Friday because they can't afford to open it on a Friday after one o'clock on a Friday. Yeah. But if that it was a mainstream school, that wouldn't be happening because they're they're entitled to a certain amount of hours of learning per week.
SPEAKER_00So I take it that that means then a lot of parents can't work Friday afternoons.
SPEAKER_01No, we have to pick them up at one o'clock unless you've got someone to look after them. Wow. That's unbelievable. And that's been that was supposed to be a temporary measure a few years ago. Pre-Covid or COVID? I'm trying to remember. So that they It was a temporary measure. It was supposed to be a temporary measure. They was gonna start, I remember they saying, Oh, from January they're gonna start um or until January they're gonna start finishing at one o'clock. And it just carried on, and it's just carried on, and that is it now. Wow, that's appalling.
SPEAKER_00So he's back now. Yeah, he's back now. Back with his walker. Yeah, back to school. Doing things, and you're getting you're ramping up now for the uh next few months. Oh panels and everything about what's gonna happen. Well he leaves.
SPEAKER_01I'll tell you what this has taught me over the past a big lesson in patience and tolerance.
SPEAKER_00I don't think it's taught you very well, Sarah.
SPEAKER_01No, it ain't because you're no grumpy. I was grumpy yesterday. Not yesterday, Tuesday. I was grumpy Tuesday because it was Tuesday. No did you need a reason? No, it was Tuesday was a really shit day. Um Tuesday, I've been trying to so I thought by applying early for universal credit for Oliver. Yes, it would be sorted by the time he left school.
SPEAKER_00I wasn't even by early, you mean before he leaves school. Right, okay.
SPEAKER_01So I already made that made them aware that he's still at school until July. I wasn't bothered about him getting any money before July, I just wanted it all put in place. So I thought if I do it early, I'm trying to be efficient. I'm trying to be efficient. Anyway, this has been going on since February. Yeah. Three months. They've had to tell me this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, I've been to various appointments at the job centre, I've had video calls, I've had phone calls, I've filled in thick foams and done everything that they've told me to do. I've filled in the journal that's on you that you have to fill in. And every question that they've asked me, I have to keep coming back with. Oliver is not studying for anything, he's at a special needs school, he cannot speak, he cannot walk, he's got no cognitive ability at all. Um, but it's depressing, it's really negative because I have to keep saying the same thing over again, and it's also reiterating what they found that he isn't going to be doing this. And he's not going to be going, and that is a tough call. Well, can we call him in for an interview to see what sort of training he can do? So we've had after three months of this. I had to get a doctor's sick note, I've got one for six months. Oh and then anyway, I guess a phone call on Tuesday. I don't know why it's taken us so long to call you. I don't know why anyone hasn't picked this up before, but we're gonna have to close his claim because you can't you can't apply until we actually leave school. Oh, for goodness sake. And I went, well, can't you just keep the claim open with all the information? Because I've done everything that needs to be done. Can we just not reopen it in July? Yeah, which would make sense. No, we can't do that. And also, when you reapply, you can't use the same email address because it will flag up that you've used that email address before. So you've got to now do Oliver another email address. Oh my god. I've already got three email addresses on my but nobody told you this. No all the time they were asking you for information. No, and I've told him time and time again that he's not leaving until July. Um, he's at school. Anyway, so we went through. I was nearly in tears when this bloke, because I said to him, So the big thick form that I filled in and sent off, I haven't got to do that again. Because it's I've I've wrote it all down. Yeah. Yeah, you'll have to do that again. Why? Because it's he said it's a closed claim, so then you have to do a brand new claim.
SPEAKER_00So in this day and age of technically they can't keep this stuff on a file on the computer.
SPEAKER_01He went to me, do you want to make a complaint? I went, Yes, I fucking do.
SPEAKER_00And have you?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I did. I did it over the phone while we were there, he wrote it all out. I'm glad to complain. This is what anything's gonna get done. He he wrote it all out in my words, what what I it was everything is phenomenal.
SPEAKER_00But we've talked about this before. The the bureaucracy about something so basic, yeah, as here is the information, here is the medical information, here is the diagnosis, this is the date of birth. I've done everything for him. It's so bloody difficult for them to get this question.
SPEAKER_01And then the de what they said was I can't I he he can't actually apply until the day he leaves school.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is he can't apply full stop because his mother's doing it for him. Exactly. This is trying to be unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01What you're not taking into consideration is that it's not a an unemployed person that's got to go for an interview at the job centre. It's me who's got to take the day off of work to go for an interview at the job centre.
SPEAKER_00Oh he's behind Again, going back to what we've said before, this is why it needs to be defined better. Disability and the types of disability need to be defined. When you've got somebody with a severe learning difficulty, they're not doing it, they're not applying. You're doing it on their behalf. Yeah, that person has got a carer or a parent behind them who you should be addressing, who you should be calling.
SPEAKER_01God forbid, Oliver didn't have anyone that knew what they were talking about. Yeah. Talking for them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and then on top of that. Um I'd emailed the social worker to say when is I'd found a place for him, hadn't I? He was waiting for it to go to panel. When is it going to panel? And um she's done all her job, she's done all her work, she's done all the paperwork for it, and she can't take it to panel until health agree to the paying their part. Oh, here we go. So she's they've got agree to the new package, and they're ignoring her. They're just ignoring her. She emails them, she phones them. They just don't answer her. We're not gonna answer you. They just don't answer this is the health body of it all. Yeah, the health problem. Because they they they pay a percentage of Oliver's care. Oh, so if we hidey hide, we won't have to pay anything else. But she said I can't I can't take it to panel until there's How ridiculous. Oh, what a way to run a department. It's just it's just a joke. So I've been yeah, so I was really stressed out. Um but then I went to drama club on Tuesday and then I cheered up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, little they do, they do, because they don't care about all of this stuff. They're just getting on with it. And what we're doing, we're doing Peter Pan this year. Yes, Peter Pan. And you're gonna be a very drunk Jack Sparrow. Yes. So you can get it all out of your system, roaring at them. No, that was really that was really good Tuesday, weren't they? They all they were they're coming along. They were they work hard, and we had a nice evening yesterday evening.
SPEAKER_01We had a lovely evening yesterday. You olive lasted two hours in the Toby Carvery.
SPEAKER_00He was in great good old Toby Carvery. Instant food, instant joy, instant happiness. Everybody can sit and chat. I noticed they put our group in a little corner. We were in isolation.
SPEAKER_01I know I can't. We're pushing the wheelchair in, and I went round and I thought they're not here. I went round again because she was given away by the corner button.
SPEAKER_00I met them, that group with all those kids, especially these kids in the corner with the belching farting buttons. That was nice in the corner. No, it was nice, it was really nice. It'd be lovely to catch up with everybody and see everyone.
SPEAKER_01Well, we was we were observing the fact that they none of them talk to each other apart from we're we do, but like the kids, the kids are there.
SPEAKER_00But we've said that before, it's really weird. They need to know that each other's there. Yeah. If one of them's missing, about that key four, the key four that go regularly. Yeah, four or five. If one of them's not there, one of them will say, Where's so-and-so? You go, Oh well, he's not here, or he's coming later. Oh, that's okay then. But if some one of them isn't coming or isn't there, they they they get really empty, like they want to know where that person is.
SPEAKER_01Some of us on YouTube watching vans and trains. So she was just interested in having the biggest plate she could have and proving to you that she could eat it, and she did. And she did. We didn't go when I looked round so that plate was empty.
SPEAKER_00We did not go down the road of we have a small plate. No, I just said have a big plate. And she knew what she wanted, and that's it, she was happy. That's another thing. Since she went away, and just before she was going, I realised I needed to take a step back because that girl plays me. She later things for her that I think she needs to have done, and she doesn't do that. So here's an example that little madam has to take a really disgusting medication every Tuesday evening. It's three really horrible tablets, and I have had ups and downs with her trying to get her to take it. So, in the end, my sister suggested why don't you put it in a spoon of something that she likes, like ice cream or mousse or whatever. So I hit on putting Nutella on the spoon. Hid the tablets into the Nutella and give her the spoon, and she eats it. She's fine. She knows the tablets are in there, but it's okay, it's palatable. Because she's getting nutella. She's getting Nutella, so that's fine, we do that. So, of course, she's going away, she's gonna take all her meds with her on this trip. So I said to the group nurse, right, she takes it in Nutella. She went, Fine. Um, I said, But I'm not gonna send a big jar. So I went round the shop looking for those little Nutella packs, which I couldn't find, and in the end, I got something where you get a Nutella and you get breadsticks to dip it into. So even that was hard to find. So I found them, put them in her meds bag, put it all, put on her bag, Saucha's stash, off it went, and I said, just give it to her in that little one. She goes, Oh, thanks for getting that, you know. I was gonna get some in France, but blah blah blah. I get a message on the Tuesday evening, which is the day she takes it, just to let you know, Saucha's playing you. She took the tablets from the nurse, put them in her hand, took them with a glass of water, and was absolutely fine, and gave the nurse back the Nintendo. She didn't even touch it, didn't want it. So, all of that I go through every Tuesday evening, and the kid is more than happy to just have it with the water. Yeah, she's having you on. She is having me on, mind you, say that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but she's like any child as their parents on. It's just that they've been she's been doing it for a lot longer.
SPEAKER_00But also, I need to realise she can do these things. This is a big learning curve for me at the moment. She's hit an age, she's 25, she's growing up, and she doesn't need me to do things. So there are things like I'll say to her, right, it's time for bed. So half past nine, nine o'clock, half past nine, it's time for bed. It takes her over an hour to get ready for bed because she farts around, she does this and she does. She never goes from A to B, she goes via Z and then back. So the thing is that I might want to go to bed before midnight, so that I'm trying to hurry her up, say, come on, let's do this, do that. But now I'm thinking, now let me just see what happens if I just leave her. Half eleven, she's still up there, she has to even put her pajamas on. So that's why I have to intervene to get her to do things. But there are other things I've noticed. I'm giving her more choices and she's making the right choices. Yeah, she is independent. People say to me she's independent, but I'm not giving her that credit.
SPEAKER_01I have because sometimes we think it's easier to do it for their quicker, it's quicker is the key word. Because when they're with other people, they've got the time to do that. That's right. Whereas we is like, let's get it done. Sometimes I'll like if Oliver's like not eating his dinner by himself, uh, I'll feed him the last little bit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And Alex, when I had the care at the uh in the in the school holidays, and he went to me, oh no, it will eat that itself. Yeah, and it's like it sometimes it's just uh it's it's convenient.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, that's why we do it. But I am realising I shouldn't be doing this for her if it does take time. But they do, they play us, yeah.
SPEAKER_01She's really good at an old week in the house. Oli for the other day, we was so he's come, he's sometimes got when he was before he could walk, he used to go around on his bum, you know, like bum shuffle him, and he still does sometimes, he'll sit on the floor, bum shuffle, yeah. Yeah, like a dog. No, he used to bum shuffle, so he still does it sometimes, so he keeps trying to turn my tumble driver off. Oh he likes you don't like the same he's I'll call him Greta from Burg. He goes around turning all the lights off, shutting all the windows, turning the turning the eating off, turning the tumble dryer off.
SPEAKER_00Any anything that's going on He's even got his own walker now, it doesn't use any engines, any fuels.
SPEAKER_01It's an environmentalist, he goes around turning the keeps turning my tumble dryer off. So I'll forget that he's turned it off and then I'll go there an hour later and my the clothes are all still wet. So I've stood in front of it the other day and I went, You're not turning it off. And he's trying to put his hands around me, trying to move my legs out of the way so he can turn it off. And then he's give up, and then he went, he's pointed to the cupboard, and the cupboard in the kitchen is where I keep the crisps. You know Oliver loves a crisp. Yes. And he kept pointing to the cupboard, and I'm going to Oliver, do you want a bag of crisps? So he's tapping for yes. I went, okay, I'll get you a bag of crisps. I've walked over to the crisp cupboard to get the crisps out. He turned the tumble dryer off and started laughing. He didn't even want a bag. He didn't even want a bag of crisps. He absolutely threw you deliberately. Yeah, he's got if I tell her to go and get crisps, she's gonna move out the way, and then I can turn the dumbbell dryer off. And then I found realised that he had to got a child lock on it. So you press the button twice and a child lock comes on, you can't turn it off. Yeah. Shall we do he stood up, turned it off at the wall. Flip with sweater.
SPEAKER_00How clever is that? No, you never you would not have guessed that he knew how to do that, would you? It's or he undoes the door, because then it will stop anyway. That's unbelievable. It's like this m last night, I didn't realise until last night Sorsha's returned back to her hub now, having been away for quite a while because she was very ill before Easter as well. Um so having returned morning last night I got a text from them saying, by the way, Sorsha's going swimming today. So I thought, oh okay then. So I mentioned it to her last night. I said, Right, you're going back to swimming tomorrow, is that okay? She went, Yeah, yes, no, yes, fine. This morning the kid had already got down her swimming costume, put it on, ready, because I often put her in a swimming costume so she doesn't have to change when she's gonna be. She'd put her swimming costume on and packed her underwear and everything ready to put on when she came out of the pool. Wow. Into her bag. Did she go swimming while she was away? No, no, not at all. But she had done all of this, and I thought, see, I do not give her the credit that she deserves. She was savvy enough to work all of that out. Because it was saying she wanted an ear. Yeah. Absolutely. And she did it in whatever time it took, no time at all. But go to bed, it takes her hours and hours and hours, so yeah. I think they know they are now an age where they're able to play us. They know that that schmuck's gonna come along and do the mess. So, our last series, I have spoken to quite a few people actually have come up to talk to me about some of the uh episodes we discussed. Um has anybody talked to you about them? Yeah, yeah. Being good or bad?
SPEAKER_01You sound good, is everybody I don't think anyone's gonna come up to me and say it was shit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah Well that yeah, you don't have the same people in your life, because believe me, they tell me very quickly. But I don't know if people are aware that you can leave reviews because I'm always looking for reviews. Yes, please leave reviews. Please leave reviews and take a remote.
SPEAKER_01You can leave reviews on our website, yeah, which is the link. There is a I think you can send a text. Right. And you can put a text with a review on it. Um it says send a text if you go on the actual website. Oh, okay, right. Which is the link that I normally send out on Instagram or WhatsApp, stuff like that. Um and you can also put reviews on Spotify and Apple. I'm not sure about the other platforms because I haven't been on them, but um, you can put reviews on there as well. Because it would be it'd be good for us to see it, it'd be good for all of you guys to read.
SPEAKER_00And for us to get feedback, yeah, because we don't unless we bump into it.
SPEAKER_01And if there's anything that anyone wants us to talk about that we haven't covered, we'll just ignore you.
SPEAKER_00We'll tell yeah, so we'll talk about what we want to talk about. The two I mean, lots of people talked about teenage kicks. I mean, even my friend in America phoned me to say how well done she thought it was, which was really nice feedback because it was a difficult one to do without being gratuitous and everything. But people felt um it was very illuminating, they didn't realise or appreciate a lot of the things that we were discussing, but also they uh thought it was really well done because it could have easily gone a bit awry. The other one, of course, which we knew was gonna affect people to see bombs. Um people being very emotional about it. Yeah, and there's more to talk about with that as well. A lot more because it's in all our lives when we've got kids with special lives.
SPEAKER_01But this series we are gonna have some guests, aren't we? Yes, you are. We are gonna have some guests now. And they're gonna talk about all sorts of stuff. Yeah, and we say we're gonna get different people's perspectives, different disabilities, different family members.
SPEAKER_00Um It'll be fun. It'll be fun, it'll be chat, it'll be like you're sitting at the table with us having a chat with this group of people. There's nothing heavy, it's just other people's lives with disabilities. So we don't have to listen to me talking about. Well, we don't have to listen to us so much now. Yeah, so well, just for this this this series, so um we will start that next week. Yes. Okay then. So see you next week. Right, bye bye.