Awareness

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? My new job is going well – very well. That is the biggest reason that I’ve not been writing here. It’s not that I couldn’t find the time to write, it’s a little more subtle than that. My new job has become my current special interest, and has taken [...]

One, two, three, four…

You know how it goes: Ring-Ring. One… You don’t like calling people on the phone, and have just spent ages trying to pre-play the conversation in your head. Ring-Ring. Two… Anxiety is sloshing around. Ring-Ring. Three… It’s ok, people rarely pick up on three rings, unless they are sitting by the phone. Ring-Ring. Four… Ok, [...]

Peter Pan’s new coat

Ah yes – Peter Pan, the boy that never grew up. I was left feeling like Peter yesterday. It all started when we rushed out the door on Sunday morning. I took the kids to the rugby ground – my son for his weekly training session, and my daughter to stand and watch with me, [...]

A different focus

I wasn’t intending to have a break in writing these last few weeks – it’s just the way that things have worked out. Interestingly, the reasons behind my lack of writing have ended up being very life-affirming for me. First, the good news: I was approached by someone I used to work with a couple [...]

Empathy from two perspectives

Last night, something dawned on both me and my wife. Whilst I can empathise with others, I can’t empathise in the same way that she can. It’s not that my ability to empathise is less strong than hers per se, more that I can’t use empathy in the same scenarios that she can. This all [...]

An allegorical story

Perhaps the most visible aspect of my Asperger’s – if you were actually to look for it – is the way in which I interact with other people. There is quite a distinct style behind this, and some strongly embedded techniques that I use all the time to try and make my life easier.

Relationships with women and tales of regret

When I was growing up, my relationships with women were unusual. This article covers a time line that stretches from my early teenage school days, right through to my mid twenties, and as such, covers situations that happened at school, university and in my early work life. This article is deeply personal, and contains mild [...]

Maybe we are not so different…

This, in a sense, is a follow up to the article I wrote earlier about my experience with dipping into autism advocacy. If you haven’t already done so, it would make sense for you to read that article first. – Imagine if you will, a hypothetical mother. She has an autistic son. She believes that [...]

Sitting on the advocacy fence

I got a shock last week, and it has made me realise that I have been subconsciously keeping quite a tight control over what I read and how I publicise my blog. In a blog article I wrote a week or so ago, I lamented about how few hits the blog was getting. I felt [...]

Awareness versus propaganda

I’m glad I live in the UK. Here in the UK, autism isn’t well understood outside of families that have been touched by it. I believe it’s still very much seen as a condition in kids that causes them not to interact with others, and to rock backwards and forwards. Many people in the UK [...]