‘People saw me differently in comedy; I found they misinterpreted my shyness as coldness and my almost constant overwhelming anxiety as anger.’ Fern Brady, comedian and Taskmaster alumni, struggled with her mental health for years before accepting that she was autistic and might need people around her – including herself – to make certain adjustments […]
My daughter once asked me if I wished her brother wasn’t autistic. My instinctive response was no, because his autism is inextricable from him and it is impossible to imagine who he would be without his neurological differences. I’m fairly sure that this was not the answer my daughter expected to hear, as she views […]
Imagine seeing colours when you hear sounds. Jasper does. Some are beautiful, some are ugly, but all of them help him understand a world he often finds confusing. Tuesday is bottle green. Wednesday is toothpaste white. And Bee Larkham’s murder was ice blue crystals with glittery edges and jagged, silver icicles. What’s it about? Jasper […]
There are many times when I’d love to know what my son is thinking. What is he thinking when he completely ignores me repeatedly calling his name? (Has he heard me or is he too absorbed in his play?) What about when he says, “Mummy…” then falls silent for a full minute, before repeating the […]
Autism is everywhere. Regardless of the cause(s), diagnoses are increasing and, having grown up with two autistic siblings, I was keen to read Keith Stuart’s ‘A Boy Made of Blocks’, which promised to be ‘an astonishingly authentic story of love, family and autism‘. What’s it about? Alex hates his job and, essentially, his life. He loves his […]