Awwww, Are We There Already?
Adam Rayner: What follows is written by Gwyn ‘Bodhisattva’ Malcolm, TA forum member since 2010 with over 1,200 posts
This all started with a email from Adam which was titled ‘You lucky Git……’
Anyway, a little about my background just get you into the mood. I am a child of the Seventies after being born in the previous decade. I grew up with Mk1 Escorts and Mk3 Cortinas with jacked-up back ends and HUGE aerials attached to the front wing that straddled the car’s length, attaching themselves to the rear wing. Eight track players grunting out David Bowie through home speakers dropped onto the rear shelf. Every car had a funky Vinyl interior that removed three layers of skin from your shorts-adorned legs in the height of summer, with your parents telling you to sit still and shut up in the back whilst you looked down to see huge red welts quickly taking over every square inch of your skinny white legs…. oh and the smell of a Seventies car in the summer was something that is only found nowadays on the set of a cheap horror movie.
Growing up was difficult for me and I never really understood why until recently. After spending fourteen years in Her Majesty’s armed forces and serving through the first Gulf war, Kosovo and Bosnia and spending the rest of my service in a nuclear powered tin can I was somewhat unbalanced.
After leaving in 1999 and after years of suffering I finally got treatment. As the treatment progressed I won a prize….. Yes a great prize, the trick-cyclist I was attending told me I had Aspergers Syndrome which is on the Autistic spectrum but differs to others as it is higher functioning. i.e. It means heightened intelligence, as more of the brain is used but the downside means we have no social skills. This leads to depression. Famous ‘aspies’ (those with Asperger’s) include Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Isaac Asimov and Michael Palin. Now, how cool is that?
I gave up all work and went back to university knowing now I was different and a lot more intelligent that I had previously believed I was. I just thought somehow I was a smart arse that knew pointless answers that made me unbeatable in Trivial Pursuit !
So I’m now a rather old poor student with a wife, at university and a young family, bills, mortgage, etcetera…
Anyway, moving on from this, my son has also been diagnosed with Asperger’s. As a student I couldn’t afford expensive holidays, so sponged off my family for use of their various holiday houses across the UK, which means long car journeys. Now with an Asperger’s, ‘patience’ and ‘ability to amuse oneself in the back of a car’ doesn’t ever happen in the same sentence, so when out of the blue Adam contacted me with the now infamous saying, ‘You lucky Git!’ to tell me I had won a car DVD system for the kids, I was both stunned and happy!
Its arrival coincided with us setting off up north for a short break. So after a quick read of the instructions it was fitted and off we went on our four hour journey. For the first time ever, it was a silent journey, I didn’t have the back of my chair kicked for three hundred miles, I didn’t have fifteen minute warnings of ‘How long now?’ or ‘Are we there yet?’ or the tantrums, the lashing out, my daughter getting hit, kicked or her hair pulled&;
A special mention must be made to Beki my Daughter as she silently puts up with this with this and talks to him calmly to soothe him and what’s more, she is only thirteen. She honestly is the best big sister in the world and fully understands my son’s needs and knows he means her no harm at all.
So what do you get? On opening the box, the first thing that hits you is that it all comes in a carry bag which I think is a nice touch. There are two screens, mounts and a wiring loom. The second well thought out bit of engineering (and to be honest I’m sure they were thinking of my son on this) is that the wiring loom attaches to the mounts, not the screens. Which means the wires can be tucked into the front seats away from the kids. I’d say if you have an autistic child these are the only car screens to buy as there are no cables visible to attract destructive little hands.
The mounts are permanently attached to the headrests via the supplied Allen key and can be tucked away under the headrest with no protruding parts when not in use, so truly crash compliant. With a flick of a switch they pop out from under the headrest ready for the wiring to be plugged in and the screens slid into place. Another good supplied feature (They were actually a little £30 extra from the Nextbase guys – these are an option – it comes with some small earplug types. Ed) was the wireless headphones. Jakob being autistic doesn’t like things on his head nor wires dangling but he wore these without complaint…. in fact he wore them to bed that night! Don’t ask!
Anyway, after three hundred miles we pulled up from our journey and my son looked up and said ‘Awwwww are we here already?’ It was that reaction from him that really sunk in and there are no words I can use to portray my thanks to Adam, Talk Audio or NextBase for that reaction I got.
For the first time ever I felt I had done something positive as a father to help my son with the arduous task of growing up different to everyone else. I can give him words of wisdom and guidance of social etiquette that I’ve learnt by trial and error, based on my own experiences but to maintain his attention for such a journey was wonderful.
That smile and thumbs up is truly priceless.
Gwyn Malcolm
Bodhisattva
Adam Rayner again:
Now, I don’t know about you, but if that didn’t get hold of you deep inside, then you have a heart of ruddy stone. Every single word the Japanese have ever promulgated about electronics enhancing life and lifestyles and making the world a better place is simple truth.
I have a dear chum who’s son is autistic and she has become an expert. She told me that all men lack a certain gene and could easily be technically described as autistic and that it was simply a matter of degree. A new version of ‘All men are!’ that maybe the women reading this might just not be able to avoid smiling gently but grimly at to themselves. It’s blokes who’ll pack the car and dishwasher better and remember the way to get places but it is the girl who’ll remember the birthday to want to go on the trip in the first place. And remember to get a card.
And a pressie&;.
But a massive thank you to Gwyn from Talk Audio. Swag doesn’t come with requirements for a thousand words of well crafted, emotionally charged real-life yet pro grade journalism with the writer nakedly baring their soul in the process but that’s what we got.
Gwyn, mate, you can report for me any time.
Here’s the review of the set he or rather the young ‘uns got. It’s the nuts and genuinely designed to be beyond easy-peasy to fit:
link Oh and if you have read this far…here is Talk Audio thrusting itself into Halfords’ website via the awards flag the system won:
http://www.halfords.com/