April. Autism “awareness” month. We like to call it Autism be-wareness month in our house, because it really does feel like all the awareness messages are just about telling everyone how bad autism is. We just don’t think that is what is needed, to be honest. So here are 5 things about my Autistic kids I think you should be aware of: Continue reading
Nobody likes being scammed. Knowing that someone has told you a story that is not entirely true in order to convince you to give them money leaves us all feeling angry and insulted. Rightly so. We have learned to recognise it in many contexts, like marketing calls and tv advertisements,where we easily acknowledge when some one is trying to rip us off. But in other areas we seem reluctant to recognise that the people saying they are helping might not be. Like some organisations promotion of Autism Awareness Month. Continue reading
Dear Son,
It is almost April again.
Almost that time of year when it is cool and trendy to be *aware* of Autism and to support that awful Autism Speaks driven money grabbing “light it up blue” campaign. Continue reading
We were talking tonight, my husband and I. We were talking about how people are so afraid of things that are unknown and different. We were talking about how it’s important to have diversity in a group. And he said, “do you know what the opposite of diversity is?” Continue reading
Open letter to Miranda Devine, from a disabled mother, married to a disabled man, with disabled children: Continue reading
Every now and then, not really frequently, but often enough that I am going to say something about it, I see a sentiment brought into conversations by non-autistic parents of Autistic children that goes along the lines of …. Continue reading
We are a large family, with 8 people, and the majority of us are neurodivergent. Aside from the fact that in a family of 8 there is bound to be a fair bit of “wait your turn” happening anyway, Continue reading
We are perfection, a poem
