We passed her on the train platform, tall, mid 20s, sporting a stylish winter coat, hair well kept. She was probably reasonably well educated, reasonably financial. And she sucked on a cancer stick. I thought, another sucker for the billionaire multinationals and their rat experiments. Read the rest of this entry »
My parents were underclass party people in the 60s and 70s, a criminal family with colorful friends: armed robbers, gun dealers, celebrities and entertainers and crooked cops. Bravado, power, endangerment, sadism, mockery, and at the very least laughing things off, came as standard. Read the rest of this entry »
An exciting art exhibition is bringing together a collection of Australia’s best known and respected graffiti writers in one show in Melbourne’s highly cosmopolitan Collingwood arts district. I spoke to the owner of Lindberg Contemporary Gallery, David Moulday, about the show. Read the rest of this entry »
Our local postmasters are wonderfully autie friendly. However I might get away with being meaning deaf, meaning blind, mono tracked, lacking simultaneous processing of self and other and tumbling pretty much what’s left, these people handle it well with everything from a good natured ‘chuckle with’ to turning a blind eye… CONSTANTLY. Read the rest of this entry »
April 23rd – May 4th has something cool happening in Northcote’s art district in inner Melbourne. Kick Gallery, renowned for it’s contemporary art, have a solo exhibition called Advanced Vandalism featuring the works of award winning mural artist, Duel. Duel featured in the cult Australian graffiti documentary, Sprayed Conflict and his work today is of a particularly high standard. Stylish, transcendent, vibrant and expressive, this show Read the rest of this entry »
Each month I send out a challenge for those on my mailing list to send me a 1-2 word topic they’d like me to write a poem to and I must write all the poems in the challenge within 48 hours. People CAN’T send names (yes, everyone wants one named after their child 😉 but they can send other 1-2 word titles. Each sender only gets me writing one poem per poetry challenge and the more surreal the challenge, the better. Read the rest of this entry »
Geraldine Robertson is a teacher, an autistic teacher, and she teaches autistic children whilst her presence also teaches their non-autistic classmates about the ability in disABILITY. Read the rest of this entry »
Ron Hedgecock, one of Australia’s oldest diagnosed Aspies, is 72. He’s an Aussie actor, a lecturer in Phrenology and Art History and a public speaker about living with Asperger’s Syndrome. Here’s our interview: Read the rest of this entry »
The world of diagnosis is very strange. Read the rest of this entry »
11 Weeks into our new government and Kevin Rudd, the leader of Australia has had the courage to do what 41 previous Prime Ministers did not – to say the most important word in the healing of Australia’s racial division – the word ‘sorry’. 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 .