When a man who even the prosecutor’s agree never fired a shot in anger is charged with attempted murder, then I guess we can only imagine the lovely staff of Guantamo must have been playing tiddly winks over hot chocolate with David Hicks these last 5 years. Read the rest of this entry »
In Wales, the English ignorantly renamed Welsh villages, towns and cities with all manner of Anglicizations and titles which swept over the rich native Welsh history of these places. The subtle but pervasive inherent racism of these policies was finally addressed and amends were made, replacing all new signs with bilingual ones which respectfully returned history to it’s public place. And tourism as well as cultural education is richer for it. Shamefully, Australia has little intention of doing anything so enlightened or respectful. Read the rest of this entry »
A friend dropped by yesterday and I my medication hadn’t yet kicked in. I’m usually pretty manic last thing at night and first thing in the morning (yes, would drive many people nuts!). But I drink Lemon Balm tea, which is a muscle relaxant and makes me pretty laid back, quite mellow. The result? Mellowmania. Read the rest of this entry »
Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) used to be associated with orphans in Romanian orphanages, the battered, neglected and abused children of some disturbed or addict mothers or children given up for adoption. But what if, like autism, RAD is actually a spectrum? Today, the causes of RAD are far more diverse Read the rest of this entry »
Imagine a world where television programs showed real diversity. A world where ‘normality’ on every level had a multitude of faces, not one, where a range of cultures, perceptions, experiences, looks and interests were represented and you went away feeling informed, inspired but also included and an equal and respected part of publicly represented social diversity. Read the rest of this entry »
I am speaking in August in New Hampshire and found one of my co-presenters is Jamie Burke so looked him up. I so enjoyed reading of Jamie’s progression from facilitated, typed communication into functional, interactive speech, that I really felt compelled to share it 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 .