Life with Aspergers

We've Been Here All Along: Autistics over 35 Speak Out in Poetry and Prose Edited by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg Last time on this blog I lamented the "epidemic of autism" and the fact that it promotes flawed concept that autism is only a relatively recent "difference" in our society. In fact Autism has been with us for a very, very long time, some say since the dawn of humanity. We've Been Here All Along is a collection of stories and poems from 22 people with autism who are over 35 years of age. People born before the late 1970s. Before the "epidemic of autism" and before Asperger's Syndrome was even recognised as a possible diagnosis. This is a collection unlike any other, full of amazing stories of men and women from all walks of life coping and not coping with the "curve-balls" that modern society throws them. It contains some amazing displays of empathy, so long considered impossible for those in the spectrum and the sto...

In general, I feel that I'm more "easy-going" than many of my colleagues on the spectrum in that the language of autism generally doesn't faze me. There is however one phrase which really "gets my goat". It's "the epidemic of autism". There is so much fear, inaccuracy and segregation hidden in this phrase that it passes through all of my barriers and actually manages to offend me. First of all, there's the negativity associated with comparing autism with a plague. An association which brings to mind words like; avoidance, quarantine, cure and eradication. Then there's the concept of rapid and uncontrolled spread, suggesting that autism is a new "disease" which has only recently appeared and is "spreading like wildfire". All of these concepts do damage to the work of autism advocacy and to the support networks of children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders. They build on the concept of fear and target ...

Today I'm blogging over at Special-ism.  The topic is; Teaching your Special Needs Child to Swim. http://special-ism.com/teaching-your-special-needs-child-to-swim/ If you're in the process of doing this, then this is good article to read.  My kids had a lot of trouble with swimming but they're swimming well now.  They just needed an entirely different teaching method.

Recently I was looking at Music Videos on YouTube when I found some videos by Adele, a singer whom I only recently discovered sings several songs that I like.  I watched the video and happened to glance through the comments. There were a couple of positive and negative ones, after all, not everyone likes the same music.  Then I found the unacceptable; "she's fat", followed by a few cries of dissent then a whole lot more "trolls" repeating the mantra. It's reading comments like this which really makes me despair for the future of the human race.  We think that we're so far evolved from the haters of the 1940s but in truth we're not. We're every bit as judgemental and unaccepting as those we strive to distance ourselves from. It didn't help that shortly afterwards, there was some kind of US political debate about an overweight politician and then our local radio station here in Sydney, Australia started having a discussion about why ...

Today, I'm blogging over at Special-ism. The article is called; What is Stimming and why is it Important In the article, I look at those rocking, blinking, fidgeting and general noise-making behaviours commonly seen in children on the autism spectrum and I explain why they're important. Head over to Special-ism and have a read.  Note: With the closure of Special-Ism, this article is available in my free book  " The Special-Ism Posts volumes 1 and 2 " Also, because this was a fairly popular post, I've reprinted the article on my website; What is Stimming and why is it important

The secret of the Songshell is a young adult book with a difference.  It's written with the intention of providing a fictional hero with Asperger's Syndrome that young people with Asperger's can look up to and call their own. At just over 300 pages, it's not a short book by children's standards but it's well within the reading range of most twelve year olds.  My son's learning difficulties weren't entirely up to the task but most children should have no problems. The story concerns a young boy named Joel, who has Asperger's syndrome and an interest in music. He is transported to a fantasy world where his music plays an important part in events.  This is a fantasy with monsters and fantasy weaponry powered by musical instruments - and it's quite a good story. The treatment of Asperger's syndrome in the book is mainly positive with just a single awkward moment when Joel is having a conversation which includes the word diagnosis.  The ...

I don't often talk about specific issues with my kids on this blog preferring instead to tackle general topics which could benefit everyone. (and of course, I try to protect their privacy a little). I'm going to make an exception in this case because it illustrates perfectly some of the issues and decisions which parents of special needs children face all the time. My eldest son, aged almost 12, is in year six, his final year of primary school. He's been in "special needs" since kindergarten seven years ago and on ritalin almost as long. Over the years we've had our share of school issues, both social and academic and it takes each new teacher nearly an entire year to understand him. It was always our hope that one day, when he was old enough to "self-regulate", we could ditch the ritalin and I think that we all expected him to be off it by now. There have been many times over the years when we've forgotten the ritalin (or run out). ...