Musically supported by The Aspinauts Donna Williams performs How To Be A Boy and Mirror from the rock musical Footsteps of a Nobody. Filmed by Lindsay at The Guild Theatre in Oct 09, the show was well received and travels next to the USA in Jan 2010 before returning to Australia for a show in Geelong.
Info on upcoming shows can be found at http://www.aspinauts.com Read the rest of this entry »
A parent, Sarah O’Connor, has started her own blog drawing on her experiences with her autistic daughter, Beth. I invited her to send me some interview questions. Here they are. Read the rest of this entry »
Jame Jar, produced by Charlie Stuart for UK’s Channel 4 TV in association with Fresh Film UK and directed by Simon Everson, Jam Jar was filmed in Wales in 1995 about author, Donna Williams.
SYNOPSIS:
Bestselling author Donna Williams lives on a farm in rural Wales with her first husband, a man on the autistic spectrum.  Here they live according to a different culture and rules that are taken for granted in the world beyond their own. Donna becomes a tour guide showing us the person beyond the labels on the ‘jam jar’.  Poetic and artistic, Jam Jar explores Donna’s meaning deafness, meaning blindness in the context of autism and the social, emotional and communication bridges she uses to navigate with the world. Read the rest of this entry »
Win Win by Donna Williams 09
Compete, compete, I watch my feet, I watch my back, I watch the cracks.
Delete, delete, me from your Facebook, behind the curtain, steal my jacks. Read the rest of this entry »
This week Australia was again wrangling over asylum seekers headed for Australian shores. Whilst the Rudd government has not been as overtly racist as that of John Howard, it still fails to lead the Australian people in how to combine both warmth and sense in tackling ‘the asylum seeker issue’ and the media as still to self interested to address their use of loaded terms which fan the flames of racism and sell their papers. Read the rest of this entry »
When an artist has a condition there is always the question of how or if that condition influences their work. I was sent an interview about my relationship to sculpting, particularly the relationship of my autism to my sculpting. Thought I’d share it. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve made a slideshow from the photos from the shows of Footsteps of a Nobody. Hope you enjoy it.
Donna Williams, Dip Ed, BA Hons.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.
http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com
The term autism is highly politicised with some claiming their child as THE face of autism or desperately clinging to sinking stereotypes disappearing until the waves of diversity within the label itself. One of the face of that diversity is the aspect of personal space. Read the rest of this entry »
I used to be a dreamer, a romantic, a person of ‘if only’ who believed the word ‘maybe’ held the promise of ‘yes’. Then I became an idealist, someone who developed the warriors visions of a better world or worlds, the way things should be, could be, with all the dogmatic passion of a rebel. Read the rest of this entry »
I was never one to wear shoes as a kid and didn’t think much of socks either. I felt they were suffocating my feet. It was like being blindfolded or having your hands in gloves all the time. So whether the ground was covered in frost or the Australian summer tarmac so hot the tar stuck to your feet, those shoes came off! 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 .