Polly's pages (aka 'Donna Williams')

Ever the arty Autie

Stereotypies – Lets stop calling it ‘the autism’

April11

Donna Williams aged 4

Donna Williams aged 4

What is Autism? What is autistic behaviour? What is a ‘stim’, a self stimulatory behaviour? What about those ‘funny’ movements? Read the rest of this entry »

Autism and Equality

April8

Autism and Equality

Autism and Equality

If only all on the autism spectrum who seek equality know with their entire soul that non-autistic people are as diverse as they are, and deserve more than reverse prejudice Read the rest of this entry »

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Autistic Identity Disorder ?

April7

Back to Normality by Donna Williams

Back to Normality by Donna Williams

A. A strong and persistent identification with the condition of autism (not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantages of being someone with the condition). Manifested by four (or more) of the following: Read the rest of this entry »

posted under Autism, autism politics, Donna Williams, health, psychology, sociology, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Autistic Identity Disorder ?

Armchair diagnosis: Identification in itself is not a threat

April6

Absent Friends by Donna Williams

Absent Friends by Donna Williams

I believe identity matters. As such I support the right of humans to identify with any culture, belief or condition. If one believes one has a condition one can accept that belief without harming those who are formally diagnosed with the same condition they identify with. There’s room in this world for both AUTismS the condition and ‘Sexy Autism’ for those who identify with it as a way of thinking/being. And there will be those who live in one or the other and those who have lived elements of both. Read the rest of this entry »

Autism and bullying

April6

Breakthrough by Donna Williams

Breakthrough by Donna Williams

Anna Kennedy wanted to interview me about bullying. I invited her to send me 6 questions. Here’s our interview. Read the rest of this entry »

Meeting Temple Grandin

April3

temple grandin aged 9 with her mother and younger siblings

temple grandin aged 9 with her mother and younger siblings

When Nobody Nowhere was about to be published in 1991, I was terrified. So I wrote to Temple Grandin as the only published autistic author before me. It was written by a ghost writer, Margaret Scariano in liason with her and titled Emergence: Labeled Autistic. It was with a therapy book publisher and not yet in mainstream Read the rest of this entry »

Visual Perceptual Disorders in children with autism

April2

Donna Williams aged 4 months old

Donna Williams aged 4 months old

There are a lot of people who think I was a cute baby, and sure, I was. But there were things amiss. Read the rest of this entry »

Emergence Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin

April1

Temple Grandin aged 4 reaching for a toy from her father

Temple Grandin’s first book, Emergence: Labeled Autistic (by Temple Grandin in liason with her ghost writerMargaret Scariano), was published in 1986 by Arena Press which was a publisher of Academic and Therapy publications. Read the rest of this entry »

Childhood pictures of Temple Grandin

April1

Temple Grandin months old in her mother's arms

Temple Grandin was born in 1947 and diagnosed as brain damaged at age two around 1949. I was diagnosed as psychotic at age two and a half in 1965. I wondered how two people later both diagnosed as autistic (which was deemed childhood psychosis until the mid 70s) had quite different early diagnoses. The first picture here is of Temple Grandin at probably two months old in her mother’s arms taken around 1947. Read the rest of this entry »

Diagnosis of autism before the Triad of Impairments

March31

Autism Diagnosis

Temple Grandin was born in 1947. I was born in 1963. The diagnosis of Temple as brain damaged around 1949 (aged 2) and me as psychotic in 1965 (aged 2) was BEFORE the use of Lorna Wing’s triad of impairments which we’ve only used since 1976! Read the rest of this entry »

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