Autism See the Potential Within

Ok so my level of autism is moderate to severe. 

They say at my level of severity we shouldn't be able to achieve

and if we do achieve then how can we be moderate to severe autism.

I look normal

I am a neuro diverse individual

I have multiple neuro diverse needs

ADHDer

Sensory Processing Disorder

Auditory Processing Disorder

Trauma 

Catatonia related to Autism.

But is Autism what we think it is 

is everyone with Autism incapable of achieving anything

Does society perceptions of autistic individuals

limits our ability to achieve 

and make us more disabled over time.

I believe so 

Society sees the labels

and gives up hope 

on us 

ever achieving anything in life.

We start of with a neuro diverse need

a different way of thinking and being.

but no one sees the 

potential within us 

unless your that

someone 

SPECIAL

that does see potential

Instead we end up with being 

severely disabled

by society miss perceptions

of our abilities.

Autism instead is a 

mind-body disconnect 

I am able

I will

I am determined

to achieve.

Don't be put of by 

my inability to control my movements 

making it appear

I am unable 

to 

understand or express myself.

Well in the conventional 

ways anyways.

I communicate in a different way.

My best mode of communication 

is with typing.

I can understand what 

you say to me 

most of the time

accept when I'm in a severe 

sensory overload 

or the choice of words 

are beyond my abilities to

process that degree of 

speech 

due to my 

auditory processing issues.

I am able

and

capable.

I am Autistic and I am proud of it

Reflections of the First Voices Training today after the 1st day!

Today I went to my first day of the First Voices training which was put on by the Mental Health Foundation and a intiation by Like Minds Like Mine

This is my personal story from the speeches we done today

I done mine on my speech generating device.

I thought I done a totally fantastic job of getting my voice across so here goes.

Speech A - Personal

As a person with lived experience of mental distress, I missed the chance to interact and to be included.

I lacked the social and communication skills to be heard.

I could have used different ways to communicate my thoughts.

A key memory for me was my first experience of being in a psychiatric ward.

I wanted and needed friends.

I needed more autistic specific supports.

I have found support from facebook, the autism and disability sector.

I like the way I never gave up.

I take interest in Autism research.

I believe I am getting better at communicating my needs.

I look after myself by keeping a balance in life.

I have found strength in God. 

I feel more in control.

I dream of a fully inclusive and accessible society. 

And after this speech the facilitator said you would of done better if you used your own voice, I wanna see you use your own voice tomorrow! And I'm thinking is this not my own thoughts, are my experiences any less because right then and there my AAC was my voice as I couldn't speak myself right then and there in that moment, although the other participants really liked what I had to say. 

Stay tuned for Speech B tomorrow after 2nd day of training! 

History of Autism and Aspergers all revealed in one book : Neurotribes

I've just finished reading Neurotribes today, on my bus trip back to uni where i live currently.

And WOW amazingly AUSOME what I read in the book.

Did Kanner only really see NON VERBAL AUTISTICS?

Did Asperger only see HIGHLY INTELLIGENTLY GIFTED ASPERGERS?

How were we really treated back in the history of HITTLER?

The amazingly AUSOME truth is that both Kanner and Asperger saw a variety of spectrum back then. However they chose different ways to embrace it.

On the Kanner side he didnt want to see the gifts that individuals with autism showed, and classed them all as mentally defective and agreed with murdering autistic individuals. Only 3 of the 7 children he saw were completely non verbal, the rest were verbal to a degree.

Asperger recognised it as a spectrum, but he only chose to report on the highly intelligent gift aspirer individuals but the truth is he also those with non verbal, limited communication autistics as well. But only chose to report the gifted group like he did to try and stop us from being murdered by the NAZI's but we were bloody murdered anyways.

It is totally well worth the read.

I am wonderfully Autiscally made.

Are We Really a Fully Inclusive Society

With all the media attention around the immigration act in New Zealand and disabled individuals being discriminated against in the act.

It appears that only certain cases are brought to the media attention, usually those that are well known.

Are we really a inclusive society when our government purposely discriminates against disabled immigrants?

Then we have Australian born children to New Zealand parents, where there parents pay the NDIS levy fee, but yet their very own children born in Australia are unable to access any of it, or other support until they turn 10 years old. Yet Australians immigrating to New Zealand get the full funded public services including disability support as soon as they immigrate to New Zealand as long as they provide prove they will live here for 2 years or more.

Are our immigration laws in both countries fair and do not discriminate on the grounds of disability?

They say disabled people will cost the government money, but do they not see the value and contributions of disabled people?

Are disabled people really citizens of their countries?

The truth is even in todays age, disabled people are treated as second class citizens.

Every time we deny a disabled individual from being a citizen in any country, we are sending a clear message that we are still not ready for a fully inclusive society, where the disability is always seen, and not the ability that individual has to contribute to society.

Its time to rattle and shake governments all over the world.

we are human beings as well, we deserve to immigrate to countries just like non-disabled people.

New Zealand and Australia are both signatures to the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - we must keep them accountable to their actions.

I have been called all sorts of names since speaking up for children with disabilities born to NZ parents in Australia.

According to someone who surely doesn't understand the UNCRPD.
I'm a:

A: diminished mind
B: im unequal because i have a disability.
C: I contribute less so I'm unequal. 

Book Review: M is for Autism

I got passed on the book M is for Autism, its by The Students of Limpsfield Grange School and Vicky Martin. by a friend of mine in the autism sector in New Zealand.

Now I have got many things to say about this book, this is exactly how I felt growing up as well, without a diagnosis to much older in NZ literally when i was at high school in 5th form, even though seriously I was delayed and behind all my peers etc, lol there was no book to say how life was going to be for the rest of my life etc.

I wish I got handed a book like that when I got the diagnosis, actually I think all teen girls with ASD should be handed that book to read after a diagnosis, or when they get to be teens if they were lucky enough to get a earlier diagnosis then high school etc.

We are so much more different then boys with autism, who's behaviours come out left, right and centre etc. Our behaviours are so much different, we can hide it for a little while, but eventually it does start to come out which maybe people think that we are more worse off then what we started, but thats not true, we just have gotten so overloaded and overwhelmed from hiding what our true difficulties are (literally we wear a mask, that is how we cope, not a real mask, but a mask to hide away our difficulties etc)

Its totally a must read.

I am upset that I didn't have a book like this when I was first diagnosed etc. It would of meant the whole world to me if I did have a book like that, but I didn't.

I think in some ways the UK system has it better for individuals with autism over there compared to our NZ education system which seems like 20 years behind then the UK.

Autism special schools or mainstream school, or in with special needs schools generally, I think this is the question every family has to make at some point especially when it comes to girls with autism etc. All though I might add in Home Schooling as well.

If I had a choice over where I would of wanted to go to (if it was actually in New Zealand).

I believe I would want to go to a very small high school with about 100 students with autism and girls only, or a very small christian based high school without the added pressure of getting taken advantage by students that lead me on the wrong path etc (not that it did happen, but i would want to eliminate that personally for myself)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZhZ0k1lyF8

The above video is from the girls themselves made last year that go to the autism specific girls high school in the UK, please watch, and decide what is best for yourself or your family.

Where am I at now! PANDAS, catatonia in the context of autism. mental health diagnosis's all a big mistake

So wow what a journey I have.

So my previous diagnosis were

Bipolar 2
Tic Disorder
Impulse Control Disorder
and numerous other diagnosis's

Here's whats actually going on.

Actually I don't have any of those mental health diagnosis, they were all just a big massive mistake.

Here's what actually were going on etc.

2013, I started my journey on finding out more strep infections related to conditions that are similar to mental health issues that require a different approach to healing.

Yes I found that clue, the missing piece clue was PANDAS and is still now to a degree. hey look it up you will be surprised over what you find etc.

Since that day Ive worked my butt off to heal underlying issues making me feel like crap on the inside etc. I succeeded all those mental health diagnose were removed, mental health discharged me in 2014 after I requested for it, I just needed a bit of hope that everything was gonna be ok.

I done a radical diet change etc, certain herbal stuff etc, and including pencilin/antibiotics treatments etc. I was on my way to being healed etc.

I got the autism specific support needs when my government brought in new disability funding policies for all people with autism spectrum conditions etc. Yay what a relieve this is to me etc.

However I still have ongoing issues, and it seems to most prominent term for my ongoing issues is Catatonia in the content of Autism which Dr Lorna Wing and Dr Shah have been studying etc.

Now my next port of call will be to a biomedical dr that understands autism, to see if they can help me, helpfully they can. This is essentially a regression in adults and teenagers with Autism who have high high demands put on them with lack of support etc. (in my case funded support from the government) and giving anti-psychotics for like 6 years which triggered a subtle form into a more advance moderate level of impairment. And I am seeking help to get better etc. this requires totally a sensitive approach. I am still here I am still fighting the battle that i have with my movements and speech and I will eventually get there with the right amounts of support, while i'm studying at the same time etc.

Until next time.
Love to every one. 

Brain Lost in Translation

Hmmm my brain has been switched of all day basically, my counselor only got 3 sentences out of me today although those were written down. since she doesn't know a lot about autism and is new to me, she asked me if i could process what was happening around me, and in my reply to her i said that I process things fast but takes longer to respond, so she suggested that i try mindfulness so we tried that, which really i didn't notice anything like it didn't calm me down or anything like , so when we finished mindfulness she asked me what was going on in my brain and all i could type was that my brain was too fidgety today and thats all i could notice of what was happening during mindfulness like it was way too overwhelming for me, was too intense, and so there goes my mind for the rest of the session until she tried to bring me out of it, suggesting perhaps i try and this sand box thing which she had and lots of plastic toys to try and communicate what was going on, she did show me how to do it, and although her talking me through it and showing me how to do it, reasonable calmed the fidgety thing, it didn't completely bring me to my normal self. So then she brought the paper and crayons out to see if i could draw what was going on inside my brain, and guess this time i got through by does drawing patches of bright colours all smudge into one another that my thoughts were going way too fast for me to communicate them across, and then she got me to try and write down something which i did of course which took all my energy out of me in the last 5 mins of which i wrote

 "I can do stuff some days and gain certain things, and then the next thing I know its all disappeared, like someone has stolen it, and I have to go on a hunt to claim back my gains and abilities but that this hunt but that it takes forever to get it back"

she interpreted this as part of her contributing to the loss gains, but really no one can make me feel like this. This is the normal journey for someone with autism, they can gain skills in certain areas and then the next thing they know they are 5 step back but still 2 steps forward if you get what I mean!  

It basically feels like my brain is lost in translation between autism and the world. And you just need some help to get out of this stuckness! But I felt like this all day today, and I have only just started to come right, and now its bed time!