From your Children ye shall learn

I was out and about at mid-day  on Tuesday. Heather worked on the election for six weeks. Both our gardens had grown vegetation of Amazonian proportion.

 We needed box plants.

It was time for Adam to leave work at the Park's Department on Scanlon Court.

He works until noon, then goes to Able at  the old Trinity rectory.

It was threatening another storm.

Heather phoned him  to ask if he wanted a ride .

 "No" he said in the tone .

"It looks like rain" she said.

"Mum" he said " Umbrella" ....like he was speaking to an infant.

Adam  has always had a  speech deficit. He understands everything  he hears and has  some choice words in his vocabulary.

He is twenty-seven years old. Because he is out and about  among ordinary people his abilities continue to grow.

I wanted to see him  make his independent way down Industrial Parkway,west along Wellingtion,
cross at a signalized intersection and  south on Victoria.

We  hid behind a hedge in a parking lot opposite Scanlon....so  that he couldn't see us. We hid so well, we didn't see him. He was already well on his way down Industrial Parkway when we caught up .

He had two  bags. One  big and  black carrying exercise gear, A knapsack on his back  and a  golf umbrella under his  right arm.

His stride was  quick, sure and confident.

He was less than pleased.  "I'm walking here" he said .. .. in  the tone.

"Let us take the work boots"  Heather said.

Down went the black bag, umbrella on top ,off came the back pack. Boots were  surrendered.

The day he was born they said he would not breast feed.

They were wrong.

A support worker was provided at home. Expectations  were cited

They were wrong.

Adam defied them all.

Raj of Omar's  Shoes told a dinner audience  once;

"When we agreed to let  him work with us, we thought we were doing something for Adam. It's Adam who has enriched our lives"

He works a day a week at  Ray Twinney Complex.

On one occasion, the aqua fitness class stopped in their routine.  Adam was dancing to their music while vacuuming the deck.

He plays baseball, basketball,  bowling, floor hockey ,ice hockey goalie ,swimming and golf. He goes ti the fitness centre.

He fell off the bed once as an infant.  It  never happened again.

He raised his feet from the ground with his mother and I each holding a hand and encouraging  him to walk. He walked when he believed he could.

No gate needed at the top of the stairs. Stairs were not tackled until he knew he could.

He was eleven before he stopped wearing a life jacket even when jumping into the deep end.

"Do you want me to die" he roared  in mock  rage when  we tried to convince him to take it off.

Adam's life has been a constant revelation. He continues to amaze us. On his terms.

Play is filled with lessons for children.  Some learn differently than others.

A good  playground  is  designed to offer challenges and opportunities with safety at the forefront. Each of our town parks offers something different.

I am not convinced a playground designed to treat differently abled children differently to
able children is  the path I want to take.

Everything I know about the subject, Adam has taught me. Adam and his friends.