So far we have been through the Medical Model of disability, then moved to the Social Model of disability and more recently the ‘pride movement’ moved on from the social model of disability to an Affirmation Model of disability. But in addition to the medical, social and affirmation models of disability, from this day forth I’d like to propose a new model… THE EMPOWERMENT MODEL Read the rest of this entry »
How do we each perceive our own disability/ies? How do our communities perceive them? Our families? Our society? Our support workers, therapists, doctors? There are a variety of models of disability and each has levels of validity and equally associated pitfalls in over application. What is a model of disability? Read the rest of this entry »
In the 60s autistic was the adjective to describe children with Kanner’s Syndrome which was then a form of ‘Infantile Psychosis’, psychotic children. As such it was psychiatrists and psychoanalysts who diagnosed autism. These ‘autistic’ children were rare, only 1 in 10,000 children were diagnosed with ‘infantile psychosis’ (the autism of its day). Read the rest of this entry »
Got It by Donna Williams
I was wheat/rye free in 1990, then returned to wheat on and off until 2001, then was dx’d as gluten intolerant Read the rest of this entry »
When it came to screaming, my mother had the ultimate revenge. She used the vacuum cleaner. I had an intolerance, even an auditory phobia to, and even now almost never vac… all polished floors here, sweep it, mop it, Chris vacs. Read the rest of this entry »
Ego SYNtonic means “identified as part of self”. Ego DYStonic means “one has these conditions but doesn’t experience them as part of self”. Autism is not the 2D, linear, static collection of relatively homogenous stereotypes that many on both the culturalist and the curist sides proclaim. Autism is actually 3D, non linear, dynamic and is not one condition but a syndrome, an umbrella term, made up of quite different pieces, ‘fruit salad’ that collectively present as the person’s ‘autism. I first wrote about the Fruit Salad Model of Autism in 1995 in Autism, An Inside Out Approach and then expanded on this model in 2005 in The Jumbled Jigsaw. Read the rest of this entry »
Warrior by Donna Williams http://www.donnawilliams.net/Gallery/Available/index.html
In the 1950s and 60s, children with autism were deemed to have ‘infantile psychosis’ Read the rest of this entry »
I really would have hated to be called “A Non-Verbal”. 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 .