During our meeting with the principal the other thing my husband did to combat the "BUT her AGE is..." problem was to say, "if it were simply an age thing, I wouldn't be standing here right now. There would be no need." Also, he would say "this is not the usual case" or "this is not a typical case"--trying to say it is different but avoiding the word normal or abnormal.

Good Luck again. Let us know how it goes.