Ooooh I'm fuming!

[LollipopViolet]

My local pool has absolutely outdone themselves today! At the swimming session I went to this morning, there were 2 adults there who possibly had ASD, or DS, not entirely sure. There was a gentleman who was at the deep end of the pool, who kept going under for a VERY long time then coming up, and blowing bubbles, splashing etc. There was also a lady wandering around the shallow end.

Anyway, that's not the point of this. There were 3 men stood on the little side rail that runs down the pool, they were in the deep end and basically clogging up a lane of the pool, which was annoying me as they weren't swimming. About 45 minutes into my swim, dodging them, and other swimmers, 2 ladies got into the pool and I got talking to them. What they told me was beyond belief.

The three men, were CARERS for the 2 disabled guests. They were nowhere near either of them, and were ignoring them completely. And apparently, they do this EVERY Monday morning.

I was genuinely shocked. I'm quite worried about it really, I'm thinking if they're there next week and are acting the same I might make a complaint to the pool because SURELY, they should be acting more responsibly than this?

Or am I just being completely stupid? I know they were adults but still, just doesn't seem right. And apparently the lady has been known to grab swimmers in rather inappropriate places, ie: the bum!

Would you say something to the pool? I know there's lifeguards but still, makes me feel REALLY uneasy!

Sorry for rambling there!

I don't see the issue. If the 2 men were competent in the water, which it sounds like they were, then they probably only need support with the out-of-water tasks.

You cannot give inappropriately high levels of care. The support workers (for that is what they are, not 'carers') were there, and had there actually been an issue, they would have been in like a flash.

Independence is the aim of the game here. It's not neglect.

I'm not intending to be sharp, either, but to be honest, it sounds like you have a bit of an injustice-crusade going on behalf of all people you consider to be disabled. You can't protect everyone from everything.

Must add - they are adult people, not cute little children, and it is deeply wrong to act out your need to care on adults who are capable of filling these tasks themselves. They were safe and appropriately active in the water. It is not appropriate to interfere, and does not respect their autonomy as adults.

has anyone asked them to move?

I wonder at the appropriateness of a male support worker assisting the lady in this situation unless mixed changing rooms but that is probably just me.

I do think a word to the life guard asking them to move is appropriate tho.

Yes, everyone knows that men only do support work to sexually assault the women they support. Why else would they do it when it's so clearly beneath them?

It's fine, of course for women to support men - it's instinct innit?

MixedNutPlate, you would need to know the needs of the lady in question, surely? Perhaps she is perfectly capable of getting herself changed, and needs some general support?

What would you be expecting them to be doing? They were in the water, if they'd been sitting out of sight having a coffee that would be one thing, but these two disabled people were essentially having an independent swim, and so long as they weren't in any difficulty then tbh I don't see the issue.

Well I would be worried. I have also seen care workers out with clients, completely ignoring them too many times to just dismiss your concerns as over-protective. I see a lot of workers talking amongst themselves and ignoring their charges. I think these people may have been independent and enjoying themselves, but it's great that people out there care enough to post on here rather than just ignoring them

That is not my point at all Colditz, my sn DSis is not able to reliably dry herself, is unaware of wet floor/dry clothing and was accompanied swimming many times with a male SW (single sex changing rooms) and it took several weeks before someone noticed she was getting sore areas due to not drying and having wet clothing on.

And like Donkeyberby i have seen many periods of 'benign neglect' which lead to her being bullied and stolen from but as she is non-verbal it took a long time to get these dealt with and in the end it lead her to having a breakdown and spending 10 months in a pysche unit recovering.

One of the reasons was the almost regular staff changes so lack of continuity/watchfullness.