Amateur author, medical day job, 'insufferable' advocate for SEND and geographically underprivileged children. Blocks abusive or intolerably Stupid replies.
Rural Derbyshire
Joined August 2022
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Bibliography:
Hugo Likes Hugs
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Poetry That I Wrote When I Was Meant to be Doing Something Else
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At the low budget attraction I mentioned earlier something else really bugged me. Almost nobody would play with kidlet; unusual despite autism because normally she just decides random kids are friends now.
Kids looked at her blankly then ignored her.
I watched to see if she...
The Times has published a searchable list of schools by GCSE results.
Checked the two most kids from my work area attend. The rate of 7-9 grades is just 11% for both, half the national average. 5-9 was 39% and 40%, national average 55%.
Live in the right area and it's 90-100%
Step 1: Target private school kids for money
Step 2: Target private school SEND kids for money
Step 3: Target state SEND kids for money
So when will the rest of the 93% be ready to pay their £3 a month extra for their own kids instead of taking off the disabled?
So where's the VAT money?
It's gone in costs, isn't it?
Just like we all said it would be.
Labour failed to be upfront with schools about fully funding pay rises. Their spin is unravelling - special schools have been cancelled, the high needs block has been frozen, a £2bn blackhole remains, schools are in the red, & now they are being left with difficult choices to cut SEND staff. Labour can put this right in the budget next week.
1. No they can't unless they are specially trained and have adequate time and resources, which the vast majority don't.
2. For every hour doing an ADHD diagnosis that'd be six other patients who lose their appointment.
Today we went pot painting. Kidlet asked how the paint dries so fast. I told her it was acrylic paint and it gets absorbed into the pottery.
Another kid joined in a few mins later and asked the same question. Kidlet told her it's acrylic paint and gets absorbed into the pottery.
Took kidlet to an attraction aimed at those with low budgets (which I won't name as that doesn't sound very polite but context!) Kid wanted to pose with the mascot to which I said sure but we're not buying the professional photo.
Woman in front turns round and says we could...
Parents: get off your damn phone, get your kids off their screens, and talk to each other.
This is not 'privilege'. This is normal parenting.
If you don't speak to your kids to the extent that they develop speech delay, that is neglect.
We have an epidemic of neglect.
Speaking to the CST Conference 2026, Education Secretary @LucyMPowell set out her ambition to make speaking, listening and communicating a core part of every child’s education.
Read the full speech: gov.uk/government/speeches/e…
ALT 3 pictures of Education Secretary Lucy Powell speaking to the CST Conference 2026 in Birmingham. She is wearing a brown jacket and speaking at a podium. There are 3 captions from the speech: "The ability to articulate yourself confidently is central to success in work and life. But for too long it's been a marker of privilege. Now it will become the right of every child."
Anyone who thinks disability benefits should be entirely abolished needs to read some Dickens.
Doing Nothing has been tried for centuries, it doesn't really work, it just moves the problem.
Reform may well be needed, because many services are swamped, but there's a mid ground.
More 7 year olds are on disability than 50 year olds because when those 50 year olds were 7 the pickup rate for developmental issues was very low.
If you want to compare costs you need to look at the criminal justice and psychiatric costs of the unsupported 50yos.
I have never yet met an entire cohort of people that aren't okay when you treat them reasonably and respectfully.
This is why it annoys me when people irrationally target minorities, irregardless of which minority it is.
You know where there's a ton of autistic kids being brought up with a significantly better than average chance of not ending up stuck on PIP?
Independent schools.
Did the public encourage this self-sufficiency and self-reliance?
No. It voted to tax the parents.
Ok, let's talk about lists of medical conditions.
For most people even close to claiming disability, there is not one 'primary diagnosis'. There's usually a list, arranged in order of when diagnosed, sometimes split into major/minor.
PIP forms may be completed by a GP but...
They may also be completed by someone at the PCN with less or no medical training.
The PCN does not go through the list and put them in order of severity. They just copy it.
So if Jim has acne at age 12 and loses a leg at 19, acne is going to be listed first.