It’s Proven – Neil Tenant Lacks Mental Capacity

Sometimes, my son can be a genius.

Two weeks ago, Steven had his mental capacity assessment to determine if he had the capacity to manage a tenancy. It was carried out by his social worker, who we shall call Dusty (the relevance of that should become obvious). She did the assessment in two stages: Part one was a series of questions around tenancies to check his level of understanding; Part two, was two days later, and assessed if he’d been able to retain the information from part one. I’ve not yet been told the outcome but as the assessment was contrived to give the council more clout to pursue their main agenda (making Steven the tenant of our property and usurping my position as his property and affairs deputy), I guess the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

Last night we were having a music DVD session. This is a regular Thursday night event: 20 music tracks by a wide variety of artists. Whilst watching one track, Steven became very excited and animated:

“Dusty was talking about The Pet Shop Boys”.

I didn’t get what he was on about at first but he kept repeating himself and pointing at the screen. We were watching The Pet Shop Boys performing “Rent”. I got it. Dusty must have asked Steven about rent during the mental capacity assessment.

Margi Clarke appears in the video and whenever we watch it, Steven is always intrigued whether Margi lives with Neil Tenant or Chris Lowe. As the video ends with Margi and Chris having a cuddle on Paddington Station, we assume it’s the latter. But as usual, Steven wanted to confirm that Margi Clarke lives with Chris Lowe.

And having sorted that question out, he then said:

“Margi Clarke gives money to Chris Lowe”.

He couldn’t explain any more than that but it can only really mean one thing. There is no other reason why Margi should be giving money to Chris Lowe. Steven must have worked out that if she lives with Mr Lowe, then Margi must be giving him money for rent.

If I’m right, and I’m sure that I am, that must mean that he understands that rent is something you pay for living somewhere. Isn’t that brilliant.

The sad thing is there is absolutely no point in telling that story to social services. They have always dismissed Steven’s ability to communicate a strong message through song. But also, as I said above, it muddies the water of their main intention. The assessment was a contrivance for another agenda. It’s like 2010 all over again.

The first line of “Rent” is: “You dress me up – I’m your puppet”.

I know how it feels.