Hello Vic: I once made a post about my willows when the catkins had come out. It seems certain words are automatically asterisked (not done manually by a monitor). So cats and willow types show up on the posts as asterisks. Regards, Lil

Heya all..

Unfortunatly I forgot the little piles of wisdom I was going to write about.... stupid pain!

The burns are healing slowly - doesn't help that being a red head I got burned in the 2 minute journey to my lecture - so to add indignation to injury I now have a tomato face... (rather similar!).

Vicc - when you talk about your uni experience I want to go and SMACK the idiots that spoke to you!! They must be SO stupid (and WHY does it seem appropriate to bung the most stupid people ever into jobs where they are supposed to HELP people!). I hate being treated like I'm thick because I'm in a wheelchair.. it depends, I tend to joke around... (I tell people I fell out of the eiffel tower, dropped on my head when drunk, tried to bungee without the cord, got rescued by aliens etc etc). But it does make me CROSS!!

We were in Walmart (Asda) the other day and the cashier spoke to my carer and not me.. and wouldn't even look at me. The worst experiences I have had have been with healthcare/ social services. My Social Worker was USELESS - when I first contacted her to ask for carers for uni she went on and on and on about how I was just being pathetic. Considering I am a quadraplegic who can't transfer, dress myself, feed myself, push a wheelchair, go to the bathroom alone, hold my head/ spine up, etc etc one would consider 24 hour care - she suggested that I was just lazy and babied by mum.

On the phone... "Why do you feel you need care?" - I'm a quad..

"Well, take me through your daily routine" - Well, mum comes in and gives me my tablets and waits for them to kick in enough for me to be able to move. She then gets me out of bed.

"Well, you can't expect Social services to provide someone to wake you up and give you your tablets and pull the duvet off. Students are just lazy - but you can't expect us to pay for you to have an alarm clock..."

shocked pause...

Well, actually, mum physically lifts me in and out of bed and carries me to my wheelchair...

etc etc... her suggestions included.. firstly reducing my laziness by sending me to a "day centre" and then saying - well, all you need for food is a liquidiser and a straw - get a friend to make it and then just use a straw. She suggested that my uni flat mates would carry me to the bathroom and back, do my meds and get me dressed and undressed and perform all the stupid tasks I can't do.

Scary huh? Luckily I kept going and after the woman actually met me she agreed to 24hour 7 days a week care.

BUT - in this - she barely ever spoke to me. She rang mum to find out if mum thought I was intelligent enough to go to uni etc! I GOT SO FRUSTRATED when she'd ask mum a question "how does Rosie go to the bathroom" ... we ended up using mum as a translater because the stupid woman wasn't listening to what I was saying because, being in a wheelchair, I am STUPID!! Grrrrr... Oh well.. they learn - EVENTUALLY!

Death to all disablist people...

Love

Froggsy xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS = Vicc - your email is still making me smile!! I feel very loved