Claiming travel to Dragonflies and delusions

Who goes shopping in just a nappy?

Sometimes you can live in a deluded bubble. You think you're a supermodel yet you're so fat you can't fit through the door; you think you're a genius but need a calculator to work out 2+2; you think you can get away with white after Labour Day.

Sometimes I think I'm deluded about Emily. "Learning difficulties" is a nice tidy, fixable not too problematic issue. I don't know if I feel the same about "Autism", regardless of how mild.

It's really hit me these past couple of days as Sue and I have discussed and put together a claim to get transportation for Emily to Dragonflies. If we get it, a special bus will pick her up and drop her off, which is handy as neither Sue nor I could guarantee to get Emily to school everyday.

We had to fill out a form making Emily sound like some brain-dead spak. Saying things like "she can't get in or out of a car by herself" (which is - sadly - mildly true), and "she is a risk to herself" if put on public transport. (I would argue, though, that there aren't that many 3 year olds with the mentally acuity to ride public transport alone). The fact that she's still in (slightly ill-fitting) nappies is also a mild worry... but that's a tale for another day.

I think the worst thing Sue and I can do is let our positive energy turn negative, and for the most part we are quite optimistic. Optimistic that Dragonflies will help immeasurably; optimistic that Emily will be able to function properly in society; optimistic that one day she WILL ride public transport on her own and not come to harm.

I don't know how much of this is delusion on my part, but I guess come this time next year we'll see how much help Dragonflies actually was. Afterwards, we could always put her on a train by herself and see what happens...