Here’s an awesome article which is NOT written by me but is by an anonymous author. I would have written pretty much what they’ve already written but they’ve done it so well I wouldn’t need to do my own version. It is filled with what any scapegoat of a mother with Narcissistic Personality Disorder will relate to. Read it. Read the rest of this entry »
I have childhood photos indicating Rickets from as young as 5 months old. Ricket’s shows itself in the forehead, bulges at the wrists, banana shaped bowed arms and legs and distended belly. But this severe vitamin D deficiency has more extensive impact than just bone development. It impacts the entire immune system, later teeth development, the muscles, the spleen, the liver, the gut, and the nervous system – yes, the brain. Read the rest of this entry »
Hives, joint problems, headaches and attention/information processing issues were part of my childhood. I was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis around age 9-11 and put on painkillers until I was 17 and had few white cells. I had had immune problems all my life and was used to infections running in succession, lasting months and not responding well to antibiotics. By 17 I had regular migraines and was on asthma sprays and thrush became my constant companion. By age 26 I had multiple simultaneous infections (respiratory tract, bladder, eye infections), chronic thrush, severe fatigue, and episodes of numbness, vein problems and swelling in my hands, very dark circles under my eyes and what would later be diagnosed as ‘severe reactive hypoglycemia‘. It was 1989 and when I was asked if I’d ever been tested for allergies, I was surprised such a thing could cause such ill health. I was referred to an allergy clinic. Read the rest of this entry »
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE, AND QUALIFICATIONS
I was two years old in 1965. It was a time when autism was deemed ‘childhood psychosis’. After three days observation at St Elmo’s Private Hospital, I was diagnosed as ‘psychotic’. I was diagnosed with language processing disorder in late childhood around 1972 then later diagnosed with the tidier label of autism in 1990 by Australia’s most eminent autism experts, Dr Lawrie Bartak.
In the same year I built on my existing post graduate degree in sociology and degree in linguistics and did a Dip Ed, becoming a qualified teacher whilst progressively going on to author 9 published books in the field of autism, become an international public speaker since 1994, and an autism consultant since 1996. My text books are used in courses on special education & psychology. I have been hired by health services, human services and education departments to work with people in their care and provide training.
WHAT I DO
My job as a consultant is perhaps closest to being a ‘specialised case manager’ for hire. I assess ‘developmental fruit salads’ and I have worked with over a thousand families. I look at a person’s current communication, interaction, behavior, development. I then look at which low or no cost strategies might help that person lead a fuller life, better reach their potential and establish more harmonious relationships with those in their life. Read the rest of this entry »
However appalling the topic, when it comes to hearing from women sexually abused by fathers, uncles, brothers, grandfathers, society is at least aware of the issue. As a society we have become so used to the potential of men to abuse that men working with children or interested to do so are sometimes instantly under suspicion. Yet up to 40% of those who sexually abuse children are women and around 10% of reported child sexual abuse of girls is perpetrated by the child’s mother. Read the rest of this entry »
My breast cancer waited until my husband was out of hospital, safe and ready to go back to work then able to also care for me. Melanoma waited 7 days until chemo for breast cancer was out of the way. Chemo gave me a bald head on which I could easily see the melanoma in the mirror which arrived just before I would grow my hair back in the next 3 mths, lose it amidst new black chemo curl and end up killed by it. I have the most polite of cancers, they queue nicely, take turns, arrive at a time where they are best able to be found and attended to. Who could ask for more. Ah, we should all be so lucky!
UPDATE: results back today from the pathology lab… it was not a melanoma… it was a blue nevus (a blue mole)… apparently it had mutated from a normal mole, hence being largely black blue but also with red and why it looked like a melanoma. probably arrived as a result of drug related damage to the skin…. but its gone and all’s fab with the world 
Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.
http://www.donnawilliams.net
I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Owners of this country throughout Australia, and their connection to land and community.
Whilst we all hear the rate of breast cancer is increasing and is one in 8 women, I was surprised to read this:
The risk ratio that we all hear about — that one in eight women get breast cancer — is for women over 90 years of age. The rate for women in their 50’s is more like one in 50.
I officially finished adjuvant chemo for breast cancer on November 24th. I had endured all the challenges of chemo and was certain I had had a spring clean and got my new expiry date and I felt I’d be cancer free for at least the next 5 years. I was looking forward to getting hair back on my pale bald head and growing new nails where my damaged brown ones were ravaged by chemo. Seven days later, on 31st of November I noticed I’d developed a 2mm ‘black freckle’ on my scalp Read the rest of this entry »
We Pollyanna types have done it a hundred times. We meet s Sociopath, Psychopath, Narcissist, or a cling monster with Borderline Personality Disorder any of whom may also have a series of addictions or untreated bipolar or Schizo-affective disorder and we sweep aside all this ‘other stuff’ because we see their inner loveliness, their humanity, their potential… or do we? Read the rest of this entry »
Autism is a medical diagnosis according to DSM criteria. AUTistic, however, is not only a description of those with autism, it is an adjective describing self orientation/containment and there are so many roads and reasons why a person may become entrenched in an AUTistic state that its no surprise the range of people who come to identify with the term ‘autistic’. Read the rest of this entry »
Donna Williams is an Australian born adult with autism who was assessed as psychotic at the age of 2 in 1965, labelled disturbed in the 1970s and diagnosed as autistic in her 20s in 1991.
She acquired functional speech in late childhood and went on to become a qualified teacher with an honors degree in Sociology and a degree in Linguistics. She is the author of two international bestselling autobiographies and has 10 published books including 4 text books widely used in autism education and two books of poetry and prose.
As a screenwriter, she wrote the screenplay to “Nobody Nowhere“, the first book in her 4 book autobiographical series. That screenplay is currently under option to become a Hollywood film. She is an professional artist, singer-songwriter and published poet as well as a world renowned public speaker on autism now living with her husband in Australia. In her presentations she draws not only on her own experiences but on international experience as a professional autism consultant since 1996.
Donna’s is a speaker in demand around the world due to her unique perspective and ability to share her feelings and experiences on a very personal level. More information about her and her life’s work can be found on her website at http://www.donnawilliams.net .