Toronto driving, accessibility, movies and drinks..

It has already been such a long day! We have been to Kitchener this morning so that Braden could play hockey, we then drove to Toronto to attend an accessibility conference..which we were not impressed with. They really did have lots of info. but it was mostly for people living in Toronto with disabilities, not for our area..kinda useless. Unfortunately we did not have Kailey with us or I would have taken advantage of being in T-dot and dragged the family out for dinner or possibly a walk at the beach front on Lakeshore. But, we had to get back in time for Kail.
So, after our long long day...Paul and I are heading out on a date, dinner and a movie. Looking forward to it, we have been busy lately with the kitchen and stuff so it will be nice to spend time together without our beautiful offspring!
When I was watching Braden play hockey this morning I had a chance to talk with Braden supervisior at CCAC, you know...my favorite place in the world!!
Ever since Braden started working there I have been curious to pick his brain over the idea of intergration. I know he does alot of stuff in the community for people living with disabilities...wonder how he feels about putting more resourses into our schools and community centres regarding integration?? It was kinda weird when I realized that he actually turned things around during our conversation and started to pick my brain..HA, go figure?!?
He was totally engaged with my thoughts and feelings..he agreed thoroughly with how I feel regarding integration and the school board, this surprised me greatly.
He did have some questions about Braden and how he copes socially, I was honest and said things were always wonderful for him. He had great friends who were always willing to learn and accomadate him. However this past two years have been a bit more challenging because teenage boys tend to venture out and find themselves. I did explain that I believe his friends would have continued to accomadate Braden, but I think Braden sort of chose to pull away for a little bit, he stayed close to home developing his talents, knowledge and dreams.
We further discussed how we could change the system to incorporate a better understaning of integration in our schools and community. He really did like to hear the things I had to say and suggested that I became a resourse for families dealing with similar situations that we have over come in our lives regarding what's best for Braden. He felt that I had alot of great ideas, good attitude and the will to persevere. It was really cool talking with him, he too would like to see a change in our system. Chris (Braden's supervisor) also commented that things are about to get worse for those with disabilities because the government is focusing so much on the aging population...the baby boomer! This is something that I haven't even thought of...