July12
 Following the recent incendiary theatrics surrounding international autism expert and author, Tony Attwood, I invited him to a Skype interview. I recorded the hour long interview in which I asked Tony about his involvement with FAAS, his take on CAAD, his view on autistic culture and the autistic pride movement, about the concept of hate groups and whether he does farcical characterisations of non-spectrum people too. The result was an amusing interview over on my podcast site, Odd Pod. Read the rest of this entry »
June27
 Michael Jackson was a fascinating human. But as much as the autistic community wants to claim him as an icon, he was likely only as autistic or not as most members of the human race. But whether he had Exposure Anxiety, a condition easily confused with (and which commonly co-occurs with autism) is another question, and perhaps he had more of that than most.
As a performer he was fearless, wildly creative, innovative, in his own world and a league of his own. As a person, he was somewhere between painfully shy and extremely vigilant. In his interviews he’d fluctuate between almost autistic in his avoidance of direct touch, eye contact and his voice could retreat to a timid whisper. Then, in the blink of an eye, he could confront before, just as quick, he’d be gone again. Read the rest of this entry »
June24
 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is not Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) but its often confused with it. Read the rest of this entry »
June22
 In an autism fruit salad can be a range of things and two of us in The Aspinauts experience Tourette’s tics Read the rest of this entry »
June18
At one of my UK lectures a warm, solid personality sat not far from the front. She exuded a feeling of stability, peace, acceptance and on the break she came over to my book table and gave me a book of her own. Her name was Phoebe Caldwell. Read the rest of this entry »
June12
 
 When an 18 year old Sky Walker, a severely autistic man, bashed his mother to death he was facing charges of murder even though he couldn’t understand the charges of what he’d done. Read the rest of this entry »
June9
 I had a letter from a mother who wanted to share her letter. Here it is: Read the rest of this entry »
June7
 I have done consultations with those who fit Exposure Anxiety since 1996 and still do online consultations with those wanting to manage this highly problematic condition. This is a snip from an upcoming abridged version of my book, Exposure Anxiety: The Invisible Cage.
If there were a diagnostic criteria for EA it might fit this: Read the rest of this entry »
June7
This month’s art work is titled ‘‘At The Typewriter“.
And it was at the typewriter that I began to find I could express something more than echoed speech. I was about 9 years old when a typewriter was left in my room for my discovery. Being a child with extreme Exposure Anxiety, I was reticent about it. Surely it was an attempt to test me out, to get me to accept it, and clearly it was of ‘their world’, not mine. Read the rest of this entry »
