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 »

He wrote the introduction to the diaries of Donald Friend, diaries detailing 10 years of Donald Friend’s sex with Balinese boys as young as 9 years old. In the introduction Barry Humphries referred to his friend as a “Benevolent Pedophile”, suggesting that as his friend had up to 20 of these ‘houseboys’ and gave accommodation and schooling in exchange for sex, that this was somehow benevolent, and Humphries certainly visited and stayed with Donald Friend during the 10 years, enjoying his ‘hospitality’. Read the rest of this entry »

Stephen Hinkle wrote to me saying “I am writing a book about the social challenges of having autism. I was curious if I could interview you about your hidden curriculum experience”. It became a very interesting interview. Here’s how it went. 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 »

This month’s artwork is titled ‘Picnic’.

It is 20cm x 20cm, acrylic on wood.
It reminds me of people who are so busy they never stop to smell the roses. Or like that advertisement 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 »

Ok, so plantar warts, cold sores and now diarrhea… happy new year! Saw the doc who says, no reason to worry, I’m doing all the right things Read the rest of this entry »

In the 1950s and 60s, children with autism were deemed to have ‘infantile psychosis’ Read the rest of this entry »