mixed platter By Wyn Evans
word. But today was one of her increasingly good days. Not bad for a girl a certain Hospital Consultant told us would, "probably never be able to say more than a few words." Not bad for a kid with short term memory difficulties. Not bad for a kid too many doctors and midwives strongly suggested to us we should abort. SHE IS SUCH A JOY AND A BEACON OF WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED. Focus! We three are at the Happy Gathering in, Canton, again. The Boss and The Girl are focusing on the menu. I've asked them to include a chicken and sweet corn broth in the order and switched my attention to Sky Sports' football App to view Liverpool's goals from their 4:3 weekend victory. The Girl says: "Dad, put that phone away and focus on the real world." Amen! Later: "Dad, I need you to listen carefully. I'm going to the toilet now but I need you to ask one of these waiters, man or woman, for the dessert menu. Are you listening now? Do you understand? The dessert menu?!" Me, laughing: "Pardon?!"
It has been a while since I’ve shared with you some of my daughter’s wit and wisdom. You will recall that The Girl is twelve years old and is the first pupil with Down Syndrome (DS) ever to attend Cardiff High School (CHS), where she is in Year 8. A recurrent theme in these columns has been the negative reactions of many in the clinical community to her condition. I’ve explained how we were advised time and again during our pregnancy that we “ought to” consider a termination. We were told, as if it was an established fact, that her condition would “probably” prevent her speaking or playing any useful role in society, that a life with DS would hardly be worth living, and that it was just as well she had no siblings since she would become an intolerable burden on them. I’ve written here about the use by geneticists, policy-makers and clinicians of Non-Invasive Pre-Natal testing, ostensibly to offer pregnant women ‘informed choice’ but actually as the thin end of a eugenic wedge.
Husband material Girl: "I like that James, he's a real Hottie. He's going to be my husband." Boss: "Who's James?" Girl: "A star on 'Totally Spies'." Boss, patronisingly, if realistically: "Oh you mean he's an animated cartoon character." [From a programme aimed at kids aged nine to twelve I reckon, with lots of dating, shopping, kung fu, and teen-stuff.] Girl, long-sufferingly: "Oh Mam, I know THAT!! [Laughs!] But he’s still a Hottie!"
All this goes some way to explain our joy in the following verbal exchanges. (Some of these have featured in my Facebook Blog - https:// www.facebook.com/BeatingDownsBarriers/)
Emissions My nose, as is its wont, started bleeding this afternoon, without any sensible proximate cause. The Girl brought me some cotton wool. She is well-versed in dealing with my nasal explosions and can find cotton wool wherever in the house we are. She grinned at me and said: "your nose always bleeds, mine just produces snots" and ran away giggling, immensely pleased with herself.
Speech, language and understanding The Girl has just spent twelve minutes fluently, clearly, and more or less grammatically, telling her mam what she and I have done during today's school Inset day. In detail. With humour. You may wonder why I'm posting about this? Because even now, she is not always fluent - she may trail off mid-sentence for example - as she searches for a
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Article - Wyn Evans - February 201... page 2
Friday, 25 January 2019 16:25 Magenta Yellow Black Cyan