International Women’s Day

It's International Women's Day, and I haven't done anything to prepare for it. I haven't made any wishes or baked a cake... there's a chance I don't know the etiquette. Perhaps instead I shall talk about autistic women and celebrate them. I'll begin with one of the reasons I started this blog (mainly so you'll … Continue reading International Women’s Day

Duvets and Bears

It's Monday. The sky is a wrinkled sheet of grey. The dawn chorus is chiding me for staying beneath my duvet just a little longer. Just as I brace myself for a change in texture, from brushed cotton to cold clothing, the rain starts to patter and I falter. Today I have made space to … Continue reading Duvets and Bears

Feelings ARE Thoughts

I've been thinking about thoughts and I've been thinking about feelings. For years I've wrongly categorised those two things. I've always seen them as two separate entities controlled by two different systems. I'm adjusting my thinking. 'Thoughts' is the umbrella term for the movement of ideas and actions around my head. Feelings I often associated … Continue reading Feelings ARE Thoughts

How to help an Autistic

Last year I was sent this wonderful Ted Talk to listen to. I wasn't sure of its relevance at first, but it soon became clear. Here it is, well worth a watch: Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen It got me thinking about so many of my problems, and they are all … Continue reading How to help an Autistic

Truth and Beauty

Here's a truth for you; you don't have to have experienced something for it to be true. It's a good truth. A pure truth. A worthy truth. I experience the world through my senses. I process the world through my autism. Everything I feel and hear and see is poured into me through my … Continue reading Truth and Beauty

Red Kites and Autism

There are a pair of Red Kites that circle the skies outside my window. They flit in and out of view throughout the day, flashing their red at me, rolling in and out of air currents splendiferously. Home is where the Red Kites roll, and rock, and roll again. Thirty years ago they were a … Continue reading Red Kites and Autism

The Day my Autism Saved my Daughter’s Life

I wrote this back in October. Then I decided not to post it. Why? Because I feared judgement. When it happened I blamed myself. I should have been watching every second. I should have been better. I had run a risk assessment of the field: I'd noted no heights to fall from, no water to fall … Continue reading The Day my Autism Saved my Daughter’s Life

I don’t understand.

"I don't understand." I say this often. It's one of my catchphrases these days. I use it when people behave in a way that seems illogical and strange to me. I use it when I'm hurt. I don't understand why people can't let me know if they're running late. I don't understand why people don't … Continue reading I don’t understand.

Silliness

I'm hiding in the kitchen. I should probably admit that up front, just so you don't think I'm someone I'm not. Family have come round. I'm tired. There was this sudden feeling of proximity and being encroached upon. I have made my excuses, and am hiding. I don't want them all to stop interacting and … Continue reading Silliness

New Year’s Eve

Here I go again. Travelling off to see people for New Year's Eve. Quite the social butterfly. I'm sitting, strapped down, wings tucked in, as we race through the windy, Welsh roads. All corners. Welsh roads skirt every obstacle, and when your country is built of valleys carved by water and its wayward passage making, … Continue reading New Year’s Eve