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 »

Most people have heard of people with autism being annoyed by the tag on their underpants or T shirt, their distress at the discomfort of their shoes, their distress at wearing anything but the softest of fabrics, even wearing their clothing with the seams on the outside to avoid the distraction/irritation of ‘imperfect’ feeling clothing. And then there’s those who reduce their foods to only those of a certain brand or packaging, or begin to manifest vomiting upon expectation to try foods outside of their comfort zone. But is this specifically autistic? Read the rest of this entry »

Show me a lust for pride and I will show you a narcissist. We can strive to create identities out of militancy, become entranced with self aggrandizement and the icons that embrace it and it’s ultimate philosophical seeds of ‘master race’ mentality. We can take temporary but ultimately insatiable solace in boosting fragile egos through over identifying with those in high places as if their status and power will be ours by proxy. We can replace core self with a DSM entry or self diagnoses with sexy labels by virtue of their imagined association with ‘the greats’. But here is presented another choice, a simple choice… you can follow insatiable narcissistic glorifiers or simply become one of the egalitarian humanitarians who strive for humility, hope, empathy. Read the rest of this entry »

The media has portrayed Autism as a disease, the DSM has defined it as a disorder, many in the ‘Autistic Pride’ movement call it a condition. But is there really so much difference between these terms? I thought I’d explore some of these definitions: Read the rest of this entry »

ADAM FEINSTEIN:
Hi Donna, sorry to trouble you, but I am currently reading a 2005 article by Brigitte Chamak about the autobiographical writings of people with autism and she contrasts your position and that of Temple Grandin and Jim Sinclair. Chamak says that Temple sees her particular gifts as inextricably linked to her autism and quotes Sinclair as saying that his autism is a “way of being … It is not possible to separate the autism from the person.” Read the rest of this entry »

I was asked re methylated B12 shots. Read the rest of this entry »

It is natural for children to dissociate before the age of 5 so spotting Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in children is difficult. Most adults diagnosed with DID began splitting around age 4-6 with others as young as 2 and as old as 10 when they first begin splitting and developing alters. Read the rest of this entry »

An interesting article on recent findings with regards to False Memory Syndrome. Read the rest of this entry »

Before I became an autism consultant in 1996, I had heard about a teen and a young adult who both ‘outgrew’ their autism by age 5. It was around 1992, before Aspergers had become a diagnosis in the English speaking world. Both had been formally diagnosed as ‘classically autistic’, one in the late 1960s, one in the late 1970s, both in an era where autism was deemed rare, 4 in 10,000, where one had to be quite recognizably autistic to get a diagnosis, far more so than today with a rate of 1 in 150 where almost any avoidant, solitary, developmentally delayed child with delayed speech who stims is diagnosed with ASD. Read the rest of this entry »

Dissociation is the ability to cut off from what is happening around you or to you. In its simplest form it is daydreaming. It is a skill all children have and which children with autism tend to overdevelop in managing a world they find overwhelming for a whole range of reasons. Dissociation, Derealisation (the feeling nothing is ‘real’ or that everything feels like a dream), and Depersonalisation (cutting off from emotions, detaching, inability to take experiences personally), are experiences most of us have had. Dissociative disorders are where these create problems with functioning and coping in every day life. Read the rest of this entry »