What is it like?

  Inside our autistic minds

BBC2 has published some video clips in which several people with autism describe their experiences of life.      Click icon to see them.

• The feature item is Thinking differently.      In it, Chris Packham helps autistic people illustrate how their minds work, helping them connect with their friends and family in a new, more authentic way.
• The Open university also has some illustrated text introducing a few autism basics.

  Ambitious about Autism

Ambitious about autism has produced a range of videos.       Most present what young people on the spectrum have to say.       One exception is Autism and happiness in which a practitioner presents some thoughtful insights.       Click icon for Youtube search results.

See also on this website: Opinion aimed at parents of children and Personal reflections about adult life.

  Far more challenging than The A word

Like in the BBC1 series, writer Katy Brent has a young son with autism but that is where the similarities end.

  Safron’s amazing world

When she received her diagnosis her mother Sam thought the doctors were describing an extraordinary child rather than someone with a disability.       While not without the difficulties associated with autism, Saffron’s extraordinary, colourful imagination, articulacy and sensitivity certainly bear out that impression.

 Glass half empty?

Some parents of disabled children can appear unwaveringly positive.       But one mother says her children’s autism has left her with “dark thoughts” and she wishes their impairments would disappear.      Christine, not her real name, loves and is proud of her children, but she says she cannot abide the pressure she feels to be “relentlessly positive” about their condition because of the restrictions it puts on all of them.     Michael says the “autism pride movement” can be problematic for those who don’t assign to it – and there are also those with autism who take pride in their difference, which is “perfectly legitimate in many ways”.    

For more contrasting opinions see Mind the gap on this website.

Different for girls?

1. Schoolgirls with autism share their thoughts on the question.      See article.      The article introduces their novel and also shares a discussion about girls on the spectrum.
2. Some people talk about Female Asperger’s.        Females with Asperger’s of all ages are said to have more subtle symptoms and girls to be less aggressive when frustrated.        See:    introduction        more detail       list of traits

 Everyday Asperger’s

Everyday Asperger’s is a personal blog.      The author’s pen name is Sam Croft and her mission is, to raise awareness about Asperger’s and females.       Click page icon to view.       It is linked to a Facebook community group of the same name that features posts of a supportive nature.

  We are autism too

My boy, with his classic autism, the kind that used to be the only face of autism half a century ago, is the one who does not belong now.    

Charlie’s mother looks at us strangely, not unkindly.     She isn’t sure what to do.     In fact, everyone—all the other parents, the volunteers, they do not know what to do with my son with autism.      See also related links at bottom of article

Shoe Shopping

Shoe salesman helps 6 year old with autism shop in peace.       See:  article