John and Lynne - Interview 47  

John and Lynne - Interview 47

Age at Interview: 60
Background: John, a civil servant, and Lynne, a teacher, have two sons aged 28 and 32. Ethnic background/nationality: Welsh.

Brief outline:John and Lynne’s younger son, Gavin, was diagnosed with autism when he was 14 years old. He lives in a residential facility attached to his old school and John and Lynne feel he has had excellent support over the years.

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John and Lynne discuss how difficult it would be to have Gavin living at home in the future.

 



Lynne: Because when … I mean one of the things if I really think about it, and I mean it is a really scary thought, but if the funding was removed and he was say, left to us, to look after. I don’t think I could cope with it.
John: No. There is no way.
Lynne: You know to be quite honest and truthful, there is no way I could cope with it.
John: And we’d have different issues about this, I think. I mean for you, you know, you would be fearful of outbursts and your ability to control them.
Lynne: Yes that is right. I would be terrified.
John: I wouldn’t be so worried about that but I can’t help feeling guilty about the need to keep Gavin occupied and if I am not doing all the button pressing upon on.
Lynne: That is right.
John: Constantly attending to urge him to do something constructive,
you know, that I feel …
Lynne: We are both like this aren’t we…?
John: I feel guilty that I am not keeping him….
Lynne: But it is great to do it when he is away and comes home like he is at the moment and we can give him all this attention, and we really enjoy doing it. But then…
John: But you can’t keep it up.
Lynne: But you can’t keep it up. You know, at the end of … Sunday we will take him back and there will be, you know, we will have time to ourselves again. But when he is home we just give him loads of attention and it is good. So yes, it is easy at the moment, because its enjoyable. We enjoy having him around. We enjoy looking after him. We enjoy his good moments and he gives us great pleasure, but the thought of, you know, us being here 24 hours and someone… and the other thing of course, is that we have no, nobody who had baby sit. It is like having a 28 year old toddler. We could never go out, we could never, you know, do anything, other than have, have him which is a very scary thought.

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