Written by Bianca - mum of Tom

There’s a lot of power in the act of choosing.

I want to support Tom to keep choosing what he wants. I can see his personality and individuality and he’s growing up and changing. Infantilisation is treating a disabled person like a child. Tom is a child but he’s at thirteen it’s important that I’m giving him choices that are age appropriate. Since we’ve embraced choice Tom’s begun using a communication device. At first he used it to describe things, crunchy biscuits, shirt dirty or the weather cold. Now Tom’s communicating what he wants. Pack up now, go to the park in the car. Already Tom’s music recommendations on his device have changed. There’s been a shift from The Wiggles to songs from the Beastie Boys! Tom’s now starting to wear all black.

Choice is transformational!