Our tiny but still so big baby started playschool in September and what a joy! The adjustment went super well but oh boy, did I overthink it.
As a disabled person you become a master of planning and organizing mundane actives because you always have to think through every possible step on the way. 'Is the house accessible?' 'How far is the carpark from the building, will I be able to walk or should I take the wheelchair?'
Having a toddler doubles this planing, as any parent knows', and the uncertainty of 'what kind of mood will he be in when we arrive' add's excitement to the whole thing.
So as we prepared for playschool I started to organize and plan the adjustment period. Here in Iceland we have this 1-2 weeks adjustment to playschool where parents go with their child to school and then slowly leave. The school was very accommodative and did some small changes to be more accessible. But as a first time mom I had a hard time knowing how to plan myself for the adjustment. 'Will I need to hold him a lot?' if so I need the wheelchair. 'Will I need my PA in the classroom or not'. I didn't have enough informations to be able to organize. I was embarrassed to call the playschool to ask for detailed informations - I guess I didn't want to make a fuss, sound paranoid or stressed out.
I ended up calling my friend who recently did this playschool adjustment with her daughter and she just walked me through the process. My friend didn't tell me what I needed or how I should do it, she simply provided me with enough information so that I could make my own decisions. That's access intimacy in practice.
After that phone call I was calm and I could picture this period in my head. As I said the adjustment was very smooth and as always, Fjölnir's calmness, adaptability and his full trust towards us mom's made me wonder why on earth I worried at all.
The bottom line is... Access is not just about building ramps and making easy read documents - it's also about providing enough informations so that we, disabled people can make fact based decision's in our daily life's.
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