Comments on: An Elephant Never Forgets, but we do – the latest money spinner in the autism marketplace. http://blog.donnawilliams.net/2008/06/10/an-elephant-never-forgets-but-we-do-the-latest-money-spinner-in-the-autism-marketplace/ Ever the arty Autie Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:58:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: donna http://blog.donnawilliams.net/2008/06/10/an-elephant-never-forgets-but-we-do-the-latest-money-spinner-in-the-autism-marketplace/comment-page-1/#comment-20155 donna Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:09:07 +0000 http://blog.donnawilliams.net/2008/06/10/an-elephant-never-forgets-but-we-do-the-latest-money-spinner-in-the-autism-marketplace/#comment-20155 I know cats and dogs played some part in my development, birds too. From birds I became fascinated with movement patterns and part of 'seeing musically' which has helped me compensate for face blindness and social-emotional agnosia. It was from watching a bird fly from an aviary and up into the sky that I understood the concept of freedom. I was 4 and though I had stored speech was functionally non-verbal, but later when I learned the word 'free' and 'freedom', my concept was that flying bird which disappeared into a dot in the sky, from it I painted "When Mitzy Flew". I'm nervous of dogs but the family dog was a German Shepherd and very gentle and calming. A real 'simply being' dog. From this dog I learned to eat in tandem with another living creature when I was about 3-4 years old. It was not until I was about 9-10 that I ate at the table, and then my behaviour was so full on, I was pushed out of the room with my plate to go eat with the mirror in the living room, which was great because then I relaxed and finally came to eat whole and progressively varied meals - good news for the brain. From the cat I learned to stare through another living being and feel their soul (because I couldn't see the cat asa whole - probably part of a visual agnosia, so looking AT it wasn't useful as I'd see the parts and lose the whole). I would essentially just lay away from the cat and kinesthetically/musically, 'tune in' to the cat's breathing patterns and the feel of how it sat in it's body - it's energy patterns I guess. This is what I mean by the System of Sensing, which I wrote of in Autism and Sensing; The Unlost Instinct. I know cats and dogs played some part in my development, birds too.
From birds I became fascinated with movement patterns and part of ‘seeing musically’ which has helped me compensate for face blindness and social-emotional agnosia.
It was from watching a bird fly from an aviary and up into the sky that I understood the concept of freedom.
I was 4 and though I had stored speech was functionally non-verbal, but later when I learned the word ‘free’ and ‘freedom’, my concept was that flying bird which disappeared into a dot in the sky,
from it I painted “When Mitzy Flew”.

I’m nervous of dogs but the family dog was a German Shepherd and very gentle and calming. A real ‘simply being’ dog. From this dog I learned to eat in tandem with another living creature when I was about 3-4 years old. It was not until I was about 9-10 that I ate at the table, and then my behaviour was so full on, I was pushed out of the room with my plate to go eat with the mirror in the living room, which was great because then I relaxed and finally came to eat whole and progressively varied meals – good news for the brain.

From the cat I learned to stare through another living being and feel their soul (because I couldn’t see the cat asa whole – probably part of a visual agnosia, so looking AT it wasn’t useful as I’d see the parts and lose the whole).
I would essentially just lay away from the cat and kinesthetically/musically, ‘tune in’ to the cat’s breathing patterns and the feel of how it sat in it’s body – it’s energy patterns I guess.

This is what I mean by the System of Sensing, which I wrote of in Autism and Sensing; The Unlost Instinct.

]]> By: Ettina http://blog.donnawilliams.net/2008/06/10/an-elephant-never-forgets-but-we-do-the-latest-money-spinner-in-the-autism-marketplace/comment-page-1/#comment-20150 Ettina Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:44:39 +0000 http://blog.donnawilliams.net/2008/06/10/an-elephant-never-forgets-but-we-do-the-latest-money-spinner-in-the-autism-marketplace/#comment-20150 I think cats and dogs are the best for animal-assisted therapy. They're domestic animals, they can live quite happily in captivity (usually better than in the wild) and besides, they understand humans so much better than a non-domestic species. I think there's a special benefit of spending time with another species, although if non-autistic people understood autistics better, that would be great too. I think cats and dogs are the best for animal-assisted therapy. They’re domestic animals, they can live quite happily in captivity (usually better than in the wild) and besides, they understand humans so much better than a non-domestic species.
I think there’s a special benefit of spending time with another species, although if non-autistic people understood autistics better, that would be great too.

]]>