Mrs Laird’s boy

Todays’s blog for Scottish Learning Disability Week 2021, Relationships theme is on family.

Mr and Mrs Laird cared for their son Darran. It was sometimes tricky and often exhausting. They love their son and the stress of being his carer was taking its toll. C-Change listened carefully to what everyone wanted and designed support around Darran that saw him move into his own home and start to build a new life for himself. It hasn’t always been easy but Mrs Laird is delighted to say that she’s no longer his carer but she’s able to be his Mum again!

Mrs Laird’s boy

Lockdown has been hard on her. She had to shield and couldn’t do the job she loved. Her contact with the dear people she worked for was only through Facetime. She didn’t love the technology but it was a way for her to keep in touch. Her husband was shielding too so the two of them rattled around in the house together, alternately supporting each other and driving the other mad. The only relief was walking the dog.

At least she hadn’t had to worry about her boy. She had worried at the start. Would he cope? How would he be? Would it all be too much…too different? She had been through it all before with him. Incidents and accidents. And if it happened again she couldn’t do anything about it because she was shielding. But not to worry, the team had got him through it before.

Turns out that she needn’t have worried. The team around her lovely boy changed and adapted. They worked longer hours in order to cut down on the comings and goings…so that they could keep themselves and her boy safe. She knew that they could do it…they had done it before.

There was a time when Mrs Laird hardly knew who she was. Her life was with her husband and her son: her day to day was spent as her son’s carer with all the love and turbulence that involved. The love never wavered but the turbulence wore her out. She’s almost forgotten what it meant to Just. Be. His. Mum.

This team had changed that for her. They had made it possible for her to be his Mum. And it was happening again. In the midst of all this lockdown and COVID-19 they were making it possible for her to be the Mum of the grown up who was still her Boy.

Mrs Lairds Boy (audio version) – listen now

This is an extract from our Annual Report for 2019 / 2020 titled Our Best Days. Click here for more!