I know of adults and teens with autism who have spoken or written about losing awareness of parts of their body… they’ve felt they are floating without awareness of volitionally using their legs, or felt they are just a head and the body is working ‘without them’. I wanted to know about other people’s experiences so I put it to those on my Facebook Page:
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I am diagnosed with both autism and a dissociative disorder called DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). I have met others with both diagnosed conditions so the two can certainly co-exist. Read the rest of this entry »
To answer this we really need to ask several questions. Read the rest of this entry »
Merry Jesus, Happy Santa, all insane things to those happy to indulge them, happy puppy clips with gift wrapped Santa bones, merry Christmas lights to you all with baubles, blissful ignorance, glorious kitsch, may it rain wrapping paper and bubble wrap, rejoice in E-cards and ensure no cat will go without tinsel-topped gourmet cat food, indulge your milk and cookies, roll in your aerosol snow. I’ll send your regards to Oxfam.
Madly and warmly,
Donna et al.
Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.
http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com
Dear Ms. Williams,
My name is Sofia Piedrafita, the daughter of Toni Ortiz. I am a 5th grader at Flora Vista Elementary School in San Diego (California) and I am working on a project about Autism. Thank you for helping me with my report.I would love you to answer my next three questions. Read the rest of this entry »
Interestingly, the majority of those with Asperger’s Syndrome have Alexithymia, an inability to read their own emotional states or even know if they are having any.
My Core Self though well dented and fragmented had taken a backseat in the body around age 2-4. As an adult it is finally able to begin to present in and through the body. But my question is whether Alexithymia could be the product of living as a split off self which became like a satellite, doing social interface on behalf of the Core Self and that once the Core Self was ‘replaced’ by this ‘meta self’, the meta self went on to experience itself as Alexithymic? Read the rest of this entry »
Being diagnosed with autism and with Dissociative Identity Disorder I reflected on the hundreds of children and adults I’ve worked with as an autism consultant since 1996. Given dissociation is such a natural process in young children that DID cannot reliably be diagnosed in early childhood, was dissociation something only non-autistic children did? If autistic children also farted, yawned, ate, toileted, slept, breathed, did they also have this natural ability to dissociate? Could their autism be complicated by issues of dissociation, depersonalisation, derealisation? And what might these look like in someone with autism? Read the rest of this entry »
Do you have a child self, selves? How old are they? Did they get stuck and why? Are they integrated parts of you or hidden in shame? Do they try and communicate with you and how? Or have they given up? If you have them, how do you try and help them have experiences so they can ultimately get past developmental blocks and ultimately integrate? What could/would you do for them? Read the rest of this entry »
I HAVE DID and I HAVE autism, and I HAVE tourette’s and I HAVE OCD and I HAVE immune deficiencies and I HAVE agnosias, but I AM Donna. Read the rest of this entry »
I had an email from Jenn Watzke, a senior at Northshore High School in Slidell, Louisiana. She wanted to ask me about Savant Syndrome so I agreed to be interviewed. Here’s our interview: 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 .