Somewhat posting for traffic here as the SN chat doesn't get as much.
Issue - my SN child takes a taxi to school (he's in a SN classroom out of our area). He was complaining a lot at the end of last year because the taxi was so hot. We live in Ontario and sometimes we have very long hot summers, like 28-30C, that start several weeks before school ends. Schools mostly don't have AC but the teachers bring in lots of fans. So when my child was getting in his taxi after spending all day with just fans for cooling, the car would be super hot because the driver would sit there with the car off and the windows closed. My son then said that she never put the AC on high and she just gets mad when he complains about it. So he would come out of a hot school and into an oven-like van. He has taken taxis to school for a few years and never had this problem before. I figured he would get a different driver starting school in Sept, but Murphy's law, got the same one. It was still hot in September so I had to bite the bullet as the teacher told me the driver was complaining about my son complaining about the heat. I tried to talk to the driver and she said she had the AC on (although my son asserts it only ever gets on halfway) and that the kids are just being disrespectful. I tried to explain that because the kids have sensory issues it will seem worse to them than she realizes. None of this seemed to have much affect. I don't really get the attitude as I know when my dog rides in the back our van, never mind our kids, I blast the AC to make sure the air gets to him.
The weather has finally cooled off so I was hoping this issue would die until next May as I have enough other stuff to deal with but nope, the driver was complaining to my son's teacher about him complaining about getting to school too slow.(I have told him the speed of the taxi is not important, etc, he said he was complaining at her, just he was frustrated feeling late for school). I went to deal with the issue this morning by talking to the driver and she said 'the kids need to respect her as she is such a nice person' and it turned out another parent had already sent a letter to the school board about her and she thought it was me! I tried to explain that kids like mine may go on about something, like feeling like they are getting late, so she needs to ignore it, as they don't understand like other kids might, but no, she said they weren't respecting her. I tried to explain it is not disrespect, it's their ASD that makes them get stuck on certain things. FWIW my child was not swearing, but probably was whinging. I said 'why couldn't you just put the AC on max when it's really hot'. She claimed that she did but my son said otherwise. He also said that one time she told them that 'if they kept complaining she was going to stick the heating on'! So now I am at the stage of calling the company managers and writing letters about this to try to get the driver switched.
Not sure if my AIBU is to ask to get the driver switched or possibly fired (I don't really want someone to lose their job but I don't think my son should listen to someone complain about him on his way to school). I don't understand why this driver can't deal with three SN kids who are generally easy kids (don't swear, non-violent, two cute girls and my cute boy)?