The drive
Jeannine has been driving students with disabilities for two years
When we first met Jeannine, her drive had recently and very abruptly been changed.
She now has to take three elementary aged autistic boys, Liam, Jimmy and Lucas, to Anne Hébert school, which has a regional specialized program for children with autism and intellectual disability.
Jeannine's first stop is Liam and Jimmy's home
Liam
and
Jimmy
live together in a family-type housing facility
Jeannine has strict instructions not to get out of her van while on her run.
When she arrives at Liam and Jimmy's house, she has to wait for a staff membre to bring them over.
Family type housing facilities are frequently short staffed, and the workers turnover is very high. Jeannine often has to wait several minutes before the children are ready.
Jeannine is very stressed about being late. She knows she will be blamed for it once she gets to the school.
As they are the first children to get in the van, Liam and Jimmy sit in the back.
Jeannine has been informed by her employer that for safety reasons it has to be the home staff who fasten the children's belts.
The crammed space of the van makes it difficult to reach the buckles and to lock them properly.
Jeannine is not the one to tie up the seat buckles and to install the buckle cover, but she is the one responsible if the buckles unlock or if the covers are lost.
Jeannine goes on to pick up Lucas
Lucas
who also lives in a family-type housing facility
Before meeting Jeannine, Lucas had had a difficult history with school transportation.
One of the staff at Lucas' home told Jeannine she was relieved of the change in driver.
She told me she was glad Lucas would ride with me. She said the other driver was really mean, with a sour face, he would arrive and say “that fucking kid is yelling again”. So you see the type of driver…
Driving to school
From Lucas' home, Jeannine makes for the children's school.
She drives on side streets, where she can easily stop the van, but she also has to take bigger streets, where stopping is a lot more difficult.
Stretches in red are stressful for Jeannine. As the only adult in the van, she is expected to intervene if the children get distraught or do something they aren't supposed to, like unbuckling themselves.
[School staff] they don’t get that when I’m driving I can’t just stop anywhere. You know, I won’t stop on a major street like Marie-de-L’incarnation. I’m sorry, but no.
So at some point Liam in the back he found a way to unbuckle Jimmy. So when I got to school they would scold me, “they’re unbuckled”. Yeah well, what do you want me to do?
As Jeannine drives on, things are getting more difficult in the van.
At first, Lucas was yelling a lot, it was stressing me out. I was thinking "Jesus, is it always gonna be like that?" You know it used to be quiet in my van, now it was hell.
They were... big screams. I can't imitate it... It would break your eardrums. It was unbearable.
I even called my boss, I said “I don’t know maybe you’ll have to put him back with his former driver… I’ll try to tough it out but I’m really not sure… “
But I found some tricks. Like when he yelled, often it was “aaaaaahhhh!”, so then I would say “bbbeeee”, and then he would yell “aaaahh” again, I would say “cccceeee”. So then he would say “eeeee, ffff, gggg”, and then he would get starting on the alphabet, it would change his vibe.
I try to engage him so that he thinks about other things. Like this morning he was singing, I can’t tell you the song but he was singing. He was looking around, he was in his own world. He was singing something, I don’t know what, but anyway it was fine. It was very calm and completely fine.
I called [my employer], to say that Lucas is doing a lot better, he’s yelling a lot less. I told them I found some tricks… But are they going to appreciate that side of me? No. Look, you found some tricks, well thats good, thank you good day.
