Filling Out Forms

            If there’s one thing I can’t stand doing it’s filling out forms.  For the past 20 plus years I’ve been answering the same questions on school, doctor and service application forms. They’re hard to see as they’re typed in a small font with short lines for the answers or tiny little check boxes to be filled in and I’m losing patience for this activity! One universal form which is filled out once and updated yearly would be so much easier.  I wouldn’t mind reviewing information and initialing before moving on to updates.  This would be less stressful to do, and easier to read.

            When my daughter was diagnosed with Aicardi Syndrome, which includes seizures, scoliosis, and severe developmental delay, we went from specialist to specialist in order to address each of her medical issues. By the time she was 6 months old it was apparent that therapeutic intervention would be necessary.  This is when I became aware of the repetitiveness of forms as each one I filled out asked for the same information.  As she aged, I filled out more forms than I can count, all asking for the same old information along with questions about more current concerns. As she gets older, we have more forms to fill out for assistance programs, new doctors, and special activities.  They all ask for the same information I’ve been writing down for the past 20 plus years. It bothers me to repeatedly write down the history of all my daughter’s obvious challenges.  Some questions about her birth I fill in with a scribbled “I don’t remember, it was over 20 years ago!” I feel at this point that information isn’t relevant.

            If I could write all the smart alecky answers that I’m usually thinking when I’m faced with a form at least it would be amusing, but I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t be appreciated.  So I’ll continue putting the information on those short little lines and filling in the little check boxes until I either can’t hold a pen or someone comes out with that universal form of my dreams.