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 »
Finally, 16 years of public image damage since the defamatory ABC interview by Kathy Gollan which was initiated by Chris Eipper, the second of the two ‘experts’ who had backed them, US Autism expert, Dr Kathleen Dillon, sent me a retraction. My Wikipedia page continues to stain my reputation with the defamation they started and the hate that continues to inspire, and it seems that will be my legacy. But perhaps the day after I announced I’m retiring, this retraction was at least ‘something’:
Hi Donna,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to reply.
Not having ever met you in 1996, I was giving my opinion to questions posed to me in a radio interview based on what I had read by and about you at that time. I did not presume to have been able to provide you with a diagnosis.
Much has changed in the field of autism from 1996 to 2012. Although it remains the same that I have never met you and can only offer you, as before, my opinion. In my judgment today, your presentation then and now is much more consistent with those who currently identify themselves as on the autism spectrum. From your autobiographical information, you appear to have had a very complicated history of unfortunate events happen to you regardless of how anyone chooses to label you and yet you have managed to have many accomplishments. For that you are to be commended. I wish you only the best in the future.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Dillon
Send in The Clowns (from Wikipedia):
The “clowns” in the title do not refer to circus clowns. Instead, they symbolize fools, as Sondheim explained in a 1990 interview: I wanted to use theatrical imagery in the song, because she’s an actress, but it’s not supposed to be a ‘circus’…. It’s a theater reference meaning ‘if the show isn’t going well, let’s send in the clowns’; in other words, ‘let’s do the jokes.'[1]
Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker. http://www.donnawilliams.net
I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Owners of this country throughout Australia, and their connection to land and community.
About a year ago I met with a local published poet, Sandy Jeffs. We were at a writer’s convention and she and I were guest poets together. We met again recently and she told me about a poetry night she has just established which will have its gala this May, 2012 in what she calls “Yarra Glum”. I decided to explore this further. Here’s our interview Read the rest of this entry »
OK, so whilst there’s a war about who is autistic, who has Aspergers, whether someone with AS can once have been more autistic, whether someone autism can become someone with Aspergers or outgrow degrees of their autism, the group people most don’t ‘get’ are those slightly outside of the bell curve who nevertheless have the type of personality traits that mean they experience their oddity profoundly or move in circles which are so normality monging that they can smell a weirdo at 500 paces. Who are these people who feel they have no disability but identify as having AS, even identify as ‘Autistics’? Often they are people with subclinical Aspergers Syndrome. Read the rest of this entry »
If you identified with AS, wanted to confirm your own identification with the label, but had no significant disabilities why would you seek a medical diagnosis? 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’ve met Aspies with and without Personality Disorders... including some with NPD, BPD and Antisocial… but more often those with Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive or Schizoid personality disorders… so if their PDs constituted 50-70% of what they and others termed their AS, and they were proud of their ‘AS’, are THOSE ONES actually inadvertently saying they are celebrating ‘Personality Disorder pride’? Read the rest of this entry »
I have worked with attachment disordered kids with autism and those who are not. Sometimes its a matter of the level of sensory perceptual chaos they live with, sometimes its about growing up treated more as a case/condition than a person, SOMETIMES its about being in an intensive program your particular personality PERCEIVES as repeatedly invasive, abusive, traumatizing even if an achievement driven (such as those with OCPD), pleaser types (those with AvPD) might thrive in exactly the same program. Of course if we acknowledge any of this we’d have to lose the idea of one-size-fits-all approaches. 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 »
