Around 80-90% of adults on the autism spectrum have no full time employment.  Even of those whose only spectrum issue is having an obsessive-compulsive personality, being a mono-track or details oriented type thinker, or having social emotional agnosia so they struggle to read facial expression or body language, one of the only easier places they get employment is in the geekville of I.T.

I directly employed spectrum adults where I can. Over the years, 9 of them, 2 of them in full time Read the rest of this entry »

  It’s a fact that whatever humans set about eating soon becomes depleted unless farmed.  So if your dandelions, thistles, onion weed, nettles, oxalis, fennel, lemon balm and burdock are driving you bonkers, why not go harvest them?  Read the rest of this entry »

THE BUTTERFLY CLUB
presents…Donna & The Aspinauts play at The Butterfly Club, Melbourne’s swanky home of camp kitsch, in an evening of irreverent avant-garde poetry and flamboyant musical surrealism with a satirical bent.

Dare to be there.

Wednesday 4th March 2009
8pm-9pm
Cost: $22

The Butterfly Club
204 Bank St, South Melbourne

For bookings, email: info@thebutterflyclub.com
other enquiries: phone (03)9690 2000

http://www.thebutterflyclub.com/

   OK, so you’re face blind, a little meaning deaf, maybe you have social-emotional agnosia and can’t read facial expression or body language to save your life or are as literal as a real life Mr Spock.  Would you be a little socially phobia?  Have a little social anxiety?  Struggle socially in the mainstream?

Well, how do a bunch of autistic people with this stuff rock up to a popular live music venue in the inner city and hang out among a crowd of potentially largely non-autism-spectrum people?  Read the rest of this entry »

   Kissing… it can be engulfing, sloppy, overwhelming and messy and even worse if one of the parties has a gut disorder, tooth decay or just doesn’t brush – ew.  And some of us have to warm up to directly confrontational mouth kisses, especially those of us who see faces in pieces or are face blind – ew – that fragmented face comin’ at ya when it hasn’t yet registered fully what or who this belongs to – aik.  And then there’s Read the rest of this entry »

  I’ve run 48 hour poetry challenges for over a year and they were really popular.  But many people didn’t get their challenges in in the 48 hour window.  So for 2009, I’m doing it differently.  You now have 30 days to send in your poetry challenges.  So of you go – feel free to send me a TITLE or THEME to write to in the comments section and in the next 30 days, you’ll find I’ve responded by posting a poem here addressing it.   Come on, give it a try. Read the rest of this entry »

This one is actually sent to me by an autie who gave me permission to blog it (and keep him anon). And although he suggests kangaroo mince, keep in mind that in Australia there are sometimes so many kangaroos that if not culled they can end up starving themselves out (hmm humans may do that one day!) .  For those of you who are vegetarian (as I mostly am these days) you could swap the kangaroo for mushrooms & pecans and if you’re kosher or vegetarian, skip the bacon.  Anyway, here goes: Read the rest of this entry »

  Happy New Year alll!!!

with warmest wishes,  Donna *)

  Hi friends, colleagues and enthusiasts!

It’s Christmas and what a year! Read the rest of this entry »

  A forum recently started a thread called ‘I hate’.
I went on a bit of a bender but I can promise my ‘I love’ list is much longer than my hate list. Read the rest of this entry »