Stupid decisions are having dire consequences

BANNING wet wipes is stupid. I’m sorry if this offends anyone’s environmental sensibilities, but it’s true. And to be frank, I’m raging about it.

I’ve never subscribed to the school of thought that the world should revolve around certain individuals.

No one person is more important than any other. All needs are equally as valid.

And, unless it’s a genuine safety issue, no one needs preferential treatment in this life.

So I’ve kept my mouth relatively shut. And watched as daft incentive after daft incentive has been doled out by the powers that be – despite the fact that none of them have been effective.

Let’s take plastic straws as an example. I used to use maybe 50 a year.

Now I have to buy hundreds at a time, because you can only get them wholesale.

And they are so feeble and ineffective, we now go through handfuls per drink.

My disabled child cannot use paper ones. I’ve tried and tried, but she just eats them. So it’s pointless.

She wears disposable nappies, and most likely always will.

Her medical needs are such that I have to use baby wipes to keep her clean.

Now I’m going to have to use a heck of a lot more though, because the ones that are about to be banned, are the decent, effective type.

And the remaining ones that don’t contain plastic? Well, they are absolutely rubbish.

You need to use 10-times the amount to get the job done.

Oh and they are up to four times more expensive.

So thanks for that. It’s utterly counterintuitive.

People who litter, are always going to do so, irrespective of how environmentally friendly their waste is.

Enforce harsher penalties for those less community spirited individuals.

Heck, make the rest of us show you how we dispose of our

plastics. Impose a plastic tax, if you so wish.

But telling parents of disabled children that 95% of people questioned wanted to ban these things, that’s just asking for trouble.

Because you can bet your bottom dollar that none of us were consulted. And the consumers of these items who literally cannot speak? They damn well weren’t.

Not to mention those who lack the capacity to answer. Please don’t try and tell me any effort was made to get their opinion.

It’s a weird type of privilege when you don’t have to take this sort of thing into consideration.

Obviously my day-to-day reality is not the same as theirs. But it’s gone too far now.

I’m done with quietly acquiescing, as these stupid decisions keep getting made. No problem has been solved here.

The ignorant masses can pat themselves on the back and carry on with their easy lives, whilst the 5% are left struggling to make this new reality work.

Not just as parents of disabled children, teachers and teaching assistants who will now be forced to find extra money and time to accommodate these unrealistic changes. Carers. Paid and unpaid.

Who are already struggling with changes forced upon them in fruitless attempts to save the planet.

All of this resulting in us yet again not just feeling, but being unseen, unconsidered and unheard.

“You can bet your bottom dollar that none of us were consulted... and the consumers of these items who literally cannot speak? They damn well weren’t.