Every day I see people sharing the story of their child’s Autism diagnosis. And every day I see this phrase, “From very early on I could see there was something wrong.” One word in that sentence makes me really uncomfortable. “Wrong”. And it brings to mind some questions. Continue reading
Month: November 2015
Autism is not an illness: discourse and semantics
The discourse of Autism as an illness is a common one. Frequently used phrases such as “suffers with Autism”, “lives with Autism” and “child has Autism” perpetuate this discourse, as parents of Autistic children and professionals who work with Autistic people strive for ‘political correctness’. Continue reading
I am tired of the Autism tragedy song: Can we change the music now?
I am tired. So, so tired.
It is not a lack of sleep tiredness, but a heaviness in the core of my being kind of tiredness.
It is a tiredness that comes from trying to process a consistent incongruence, as if the soundtrack doesn’t match the story, and it makes everything seem wrong. Continue reading
Measures of success
There are a lot of definitions of success, and consensus over what is successful seems elusive. As a society, at least from where I sit, it looks like while we consistently see some things as signs of success, we do acknowledge that different things are regarded as measures of success in different situations. But I also see evidence that there are some things that are definitely not considered to be signs of success. Continue reading
Every moment is a learning moment
People learn all the time.
Think about it. We are all always learning. Continue reading
The letter I wish I had read when my children were diagnosed with Autism
From time to time, I notice a resurgence of the “letter to the new ‘autism parent’ from the experienced one” sort of articles in the blog/facebook world.
I get why these posts are popular. When your child is identified as autistic, it seems expected that people go through a period of feeling sad and overwhelmed. These letters tend to focus on that and give strategies to deal with the “awfulness” that life is with an Autistic child. Continue reading
Submission to the Senate Inquiry into …..
During August 2015 I, and many others, have made submissions to our countries government regarding issues that face disabled students accessing education in an appropriate and meaningfully inclusive way, as part of an inquiry they have commissioned. This is a copy of the submission I made. Continue reading
Why I write
Toward the end of 2014, I was offered the opportunity to give a presentation at our local Pecha Kucha event. Continue reading
Lack of services does not cause child abuse
This post carries a trigger warning for discussion about abuse of disabled children and people sympathising with their abusers.
Apparently lots of people think it is ok to feel sorry for people who abuse their Autistic children because there is a “lack of services” available.
Let me be clear: I wholeheartedly disagree. Continue reading
Welcome to my new online home
image: part of my face, a fair skinned person with blue eyes wearing black rimmed glasses, and my shoulder in a black shirt, in front of a grey wooden fence. The word “hello” is superimposed in the top left corner of the image over the fence
Hello Friends!
Welcome to my new online home.
Over the next weeks I will be migrating all the best blog posts and resources I have created over the past 5 years to this new site. The old blogs will remain in place “for posterity”, but I will no longer be posting on them. So, this is the place to be!
The move has started, so feel free to have a look around. You can find tabs at the top of the page that will take you to book resources and infographic resources. For updates on projects and exciting happenings check the ‘welcome’ page.
