Friends, Disability and BREXIT

Well another old friend contacted me today and it was lovely to hear from her. I used to do relief carer/PA work for her when I was self employed a few years ago, and we became quite good friends when she found permanent staff. One of my sisters worked for her too and also my brother-in-law helped her out when she was stuck for staff. We are going to meet for lunch some time next week for a good catch up.

While I'm on the subject of disability I must say that some disabled people (like the general population as a whole) are physically disabled but not mentally disabled as well. My friend has now obtained a PHD and so is now a doctor of Social Work. As she is in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy many people talk to the PA and not the person in the chair. This can often be a huge mistake which can cause offence to the person, and to my way of thinking is very rude. People should never underestimate the intellect of the disabled person, and also never presume they are all on benefits. During my time as a relief carer/PA I have worked with an actress, an artist, a property developer, a qualified dance teacher, 3 Social Workers, an antiques dealer and a successful eBay business owner. Some were self employed and others in full time employment. The bottom line here is never presume that disability means nonproductive and no intelligence - this is quite often very far from reality.

Today was not the best day as toddler has caught her mum's throat infection and is extremely bad tempered about it. Daughter has the virus and her voice is still not right. They both went to the GP today but it was the same old - same old  'It's a Virus.'  Thinking about it daughter is very bad tempered too so perhaps toddler takes after her mum lol. We did go together to see the trains at a local station, and then to soft play which seemed to pacify the little one for a while.

Now I am reading on the Internet about how the Vote for the EU (in or out) is causing lots of stress in many families, with some friends and family members even resorting to physical violence. In our family, i.e. myself and OH, my daughter, 2 sons and daughter-in-law we have - 4 voting OUT, 1 voting IN and 1 undecided atm. We have talked about why we are voting this way, what we think will be best for the country, sent each other links to BREXIT propaganda but that is as far as it has gone. Perhaps our family is very civilised, I don't know. However, I do know that physical violence and trying to force people though bullying and fear will never change anything in the long term. And, people who are hitting others, and ostracising friends and family members they don't agree with are just beneath contempt in my opinion. We are lucky in this country as we have the right to a free vote, which is not the case in several other countries. So let's all respect that and agree to disagree on the BREXIT vote.

Bye for now All the best x