Photo by Adam Hollingworth
Thanks to Rachel Browne for her article in the SunHerald newspaper “a life time of caring for kids saved from water”, highlighting the plight of children disabled by non-fatal drowning, and highlighting the tragic statistics associated with drowning in Australia.
During this process we had the good fortune to have Adam Hollingworth do the photo shoot. It was clear that Adam was passionate about what he does. But what I really appreciated was Adam’s interaction with Samuel.
Too often people when talking to children like Samuel direct their questions/comments etc at the parents and talk about the child like they don’t exist. They assume that just because the child is severely disabled, and is unable to communicate in words, that they are unable to grasp anything.
Not Adam, he hit the nail on the head! He spoke directly to Samuel, interacting with him on the assumption that Samuel knows what is going on and would respond in his own way. Which he does! So thanks Adam, an example of a professional and personal approach to your work that was truly appreciated.
The Sun Herald issue focused on a number of safety issues, and it was interesting to read the editorial, which talked about our failure as a society to address some of the risks that we face when dealing with water.
The preparation for the Rachel Browne article came on the top of this story about a missing autistic child. Sadly the toddler was subsequently found in the river after he had drowned, continuing the sad story of child drownings.
It was also interesting to contrast some of the other articles in the paper such as this article on the syndrome of cotton wool treatment of children.
It is an interesting debate about how far we take safety for our children. I am passionate about caring for our kids, but somethings featured in the cotton wool article above are just taking it too far.
How far would you go to protect your child? How far is too far? Let me know…