I heard from Nupur. She was from Boston USA and had recently I have started online community for children with special needs called ‘Special Children’s Art Work’. Her passion is to give special needs children and their families some place where they can come and submit their creativity. She thought I would be an inspiration for them and asked me for an interview. Here it is: Read the rest of this entry »
Recent studies in reputable medical journals have linked Autism to seemingly farfetched things like being born to mothers with pre eclampsia, being born prematurely, being born to older fathers, being born to smokers, being born by cesarean, being circumcised under the age of 5. Read the rest of this entry »
Got It by Donna Williams
Hello Donna,
My name is Tilly and I’m an A-level art student from a UK secondary school called Ruislip High.
While searching through the Internet for inspiration, I came across your website and was completely inspired. Read the rest of this entry »
It was 1995. Kimberly Gerry Tucker first entered my life quietly through a door in a cute living doll’s house in Connecticut. I was a newly published author on a publishing tour in the US and in Connecticut for my first ever public lecture at Trinity College. Kimberly was an undiagnosed Aspie with Selective Mutism and severe social anxiety. She was towering and I felt very short in her presence. Read the rest of this entry »
Dissociative Identity Disorder is on the same spectrum as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). They are both DISSOCIATIVE disorders. Those who develop DID have over developed abilities in dissociating, a skill very commonly overdeveloped in children with autism. Dissociation is a natural process in children under the age of 5 but most children grow out of it. Those with developmental disabilities may have stronger motivations to dissociate from what they find sensorily overwhelming or too hard to process and so those with autism may be predisposed to dissociation but also other dissociative processes, such as depersonalisation and derealisation. Some personality traits can also predispose some children to overdeveloping these dissociative processes. Read the rest of this entry »
Hanging out with Anne Mc Donald
Following Andrew Rule’s feature on the relationship between Rosemary Crossley and Anne McDonald in the Herald Sun in recent weeks, Crossley and her supporters want to set the record straight. Read the rest of this entry »
When my first book, Nobody Nowhere, became a major international bestseller, my Australian publisher, Doubleday received a submission from Chris Eipper for his fiction novel he was hoping to get a publisher for. His submission was rejected. I then received a letter from him via my UK publisher (I was now living in the UK) informing me that he was involving himself as a researcher in my case. I also received copies of letters he sent to each of my publishers and to the multitude of journalists who had interviewed me. I also heard from Autism Victoria that he had contacted them to try and discuss my diagnosis with them. Read the rest of this entry »
I remember one night when three of us, me, my husband Chris Samuel, and a friend of ours Kieran, went to dinner at Rosemary Crossley’s house. Rosemary and her partner, Chris B were always great hosts but for me, I felt most compatible with Anne. Anne was feisty, cheeky, star of the flooring one liner. She was an egalitarian, who wouldn’t be having been dumped since age three to spend up to the age of 18 in a Victorian style institution deemed severely retarded where she almost starved to death. It would make any of us rather political, if of course were were credited with the intelligence to be so. 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 .
