{"id":28026,"date":"2023-04-17T11:01:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T10:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=28026"},"modified":"2023-04-20T09:48:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T08:48:43","slug":"on-sense-holidays-unite-gets-to-explore-her-inner-adventurer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/on-sense-holidays-unite-gets-to-explore-her-inner-adventurer\/","title":{"rendered":"On Sense Holidays, U\u2019nite gets to find her inner adventurer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

U\u2019nite is 16, and has been coming on Sense Holidays since she was little. She has profound hearing loss<\/a>, and is partially blind<\/a>. She\u2019s got a heart condition too, and has had three heart operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this blog, U\u2019nite\u2019s mum Althea tells us why Sense Holidays are so important to their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"On<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U\u2019nite is a really smart, strong girl. She\u2019s always known what she wants, since she was a baby. She gets on and does her own thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When new people \u2013 carers, school teachers, and others \u2013 meet U\u2019nite for the first time, they read about her condition first, and they get nervous. They think things like \u201cOh my God, she\u2019s got complex needs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But once they start working with her, they see how smart and loveable she is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She amazes you sometimes with the things she does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sense understand U\u2019nite\u2019s needs like no one else<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I first heard about Sense when U\u2019nite was still a baby. They\u2019ve been brilliant. Sense has been there with me all the way from when U\u2019nite was little, helping with things like her education, health and care plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of social workers or teachers haven\u2019t understood U\u2019nite\u2019s needs, because she\u2019s multi-sensory impaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Sense understand. They have been brilliant. They\u2019re so passionate in what they do, and they\u2019ve shown so much concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing she struggles with the most is communicating her feelings. She\u2019s non-verbal. So if she\u2019s feeling anything, I\u2019ve got to try and work it out from the things she does. For example, if she\u2019s feeling hungry, she might go into the kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also sometimes communicates using a picture system called PECS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>U\u2019nite has had so many experiences on Sense Holidays<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

U\u2019nite started going on Sense Holidays as a small child. At first, I was a bit skeptical of her going. Now, she goes every year, and she loves it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to anything involving adrenaline, U\u2019nite\u2019s all for it. She\u2019s an explorer, and she loves to be out and about. It\u2019s right up her street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s highly active, and she loves being with people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Sense, U\u2019nite has had so many experiences. She\u2019s been deep in the countryside, walking in the forest; she\u2019s been on a boat; she\u2019s been to a farmyard; she\u2019s been swimming, and toasted marshmallows around a campfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On her latest Sense Holiday, she visited a big activity centre, with other teenagers. It was a bigger and more adventurous holiday than she\u2019s done in the past. She tried climbing, trampolining and even went on a zipwire!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a good break for me, and I’m happy that she gets to explore and have fun. I know they look after her very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>When U\u2019nite is on holiday, I get a much-needed rest<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It can be hard for me during the school holidays. U\u2019nite loves to get out and explore, but we haven\u2019t really got much she can do around here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her carers will take her out, but there\u2019s not really a centre for her to go to where she can do things like climbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m really appreciative that she gets to have a week away with Sense. Because even if I took her on holiday myself, she wouldn\u2019t get to do so many activities every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not like Unite; I’m not an explorer, and all of that. And there\u2019s not many places where she can go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why Sense Holidays are so crucial for her. I don\u2019t know of anything other than Sense that would give her a holiday like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important for me, too. While she\u2019s away with Sense, I can get some proper sleep. My sleep\u2019s not being disturbed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know what I would’ve done without Sense, to be honest. There’s nobody else that gives me that support to understand my daughter myself, and who fights for her needs also.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not easy when you\u2019ve got a child who is multi-sensory impaired. It\u2019s hard work, and I\u2019m tired. Without Sense, I don\u2019t know where I would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sense Holidays are more than just holidays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sense Holidays give disabled people like U\u2019nite the chance to have adventures and broaden their horizons. And they give carers like Althea a much-deserved break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your support helps us provide this opportunity for people with complex disabilities and their families.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

\n Donate now<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U\u2019nite\u2019s mum Althea tells us why Sense Holidays are so important to their family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":27984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[1176],"class_list":["post-28026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-althea"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28026"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=28026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}