Ever since Steven was a nipper, he has had a thing about smelling hair. He only asks to smell, mine, his mother's and his longest term support worker's hair. It's a quick sniff and it kind of reassures him somehow. The Unit didn't like this and decided that it had to stop. They deemed it inappropriate. I'm not sure if it is or it isn't and I didn't want to try and block Steven from smelling my hair. It was harder for the direct payment worker because although he was my employee, he knew that if he didn't comply, the Unit would contrive a way of getting rid of him. Steven didn't understand why Chris was suddenly saying "no" and it led to some difficult moments between them (all logged by the Unit of course).
The Unit conflated the hair smelling with another of Steven's habits, which is asking what a famous person's hair smells of. You give him an answer (Marmite, Sprouts, Farts etc) and he goes away happy. But the Unit felt that because this was about hair, they should refuse to answer Steven whenever he asked the question.
One day I went to visit and heard the commotion whilst I was still walking down the road. When I arrived, I was told that Steven had thrown a glass of milk over another resident and had kicked the office door, leaving a hole. He had been sent to and locked in his room until he calmed down.
They didn't want me to go to see him in his room because I "might be at risk". I told them not to be so daft and in I went. Steven had ripped his t-shirt in his agitation.
He screamed at me: "Dad - Michael Buble's hair smells of?......."
I replied: "Michael Buble's hair smells of Fruit Pastilles Steve".
He calmed down.
#107days #justiceforLB
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