Weakness and Strength

“I am strong because I’ve lived life as an individual on the Spectrum who, without a diagnosis, has never understood why they’re different. I am strong because I have learned how to manage my differences without even realising that’s what I’m doing.

“I am strong because even though the people around me have never understood why I am who I am, who have always tried to have me be ‘normal’, I have remained who I am. I never changed myself to suit them, even when that meant I was ostracised by others my age.”

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Anne-Marie
Be Present when Playing

Playing with children is important. Playing together builds strong relationships, by adding joy, vitality, and resilience.

Go ahead and let your inner child run free! Put your phone away, be present when playing - swing on the swings, go on the seesaw, laugh and have fun!

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Deborah McCarthy
Never Fear Change

There is great comfort in the known, yet the deepest growth comes from facing the unknown. We are wired to seek comfort and solitude in the familiar, and yet on the other hand we crave excitement and adventure. So how can we balance between the two?

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Cassandra James
A Tale from Love on the Spectrum

The media are the portrayers of that which most cannot see and thus may they be educators and advocators of empathy and comprehension of that which hitherto may have been incomprehensible. Documentaries are the most earnest of portrayers for often are they made by those who wish yearningly to show to the world that which they think should be seen and understood.

And I suppose that, in this idea of representation, I simply desire for myself that the stories should be about people on the Spectrum and not about the ideas that others have for whom it is that these people are..

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Jayden Evans
Autism & The Conquest of Prejudice

When I first went to the house of this boy, so truthfully was I aware of the stress that he enticed. The processes of alienation were manifested from the ancient abode of the Amygdala and I could not choose to hold any willed barriers against it. But I yet chose to believe that this stress was for someone I did not understand and that I should try only to learn to understand him.

The most aggrieved victim of my prejudgement has been my own self. I have behaved towards myself with intolerance and impatience once upon a time. I have feared those areas of myself that were unknown to me, for Autism was an area of myself that I never departed to explore. But there came a time of discovery and I found ownership with myself. And thus, I know the processes of prejudice in myself and I know the good that can come from its confrontation.

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Jayden Evans
Reflections on 2020

Most of that which exists from the past does so exist in books. Authors have romanticised this and glorified that and though the inhumanity of our misdeeds and mistreatment of one another thus may be relayed to us explicitly, not so explicitly will be relayed the asininity of our species.

But we now do live in the digital age. In modern history, there is no means to conceal the imbecility that is innate to us. There is no romanticisation nor glorification – there is only the icky and yucky wound of this year, 2020.

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Jayden Evans
Autism and Identity

(…) I can say that I am Autistic, and from those who are learned on that identifier, and who know what my needs may be by their awareness on Autism, there is empathy. Autism is a neurological disorder for which there does exist patternicity and symptoms, and wherefor exists a likelihood for study and learnedness. I thus can say, I am Autistic, or, I am a person with Autism, and by what awareness others have about Autism, I can be given help and insight from my fellowship of friends.

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Jayden Evans
Autism, Growth, and Knowing Carley O'Donnell

(…) The title of “Volunteer Coordinator” had to Miss O’Donnell as much meaning as the title “Support Officer” has for me – and that is not too much meaning at-all. Such titles only simplify roles that possess in themselves a far greater richdom of meaning. It is for Miss O’Donnell a meaningful quest to believe that folks are empowered to find their own sense of meaning in the time that they give to their fellows and the bonds that do form therefrom, and also from the awareness that there is a tiddling of hope and tad of worth that anyone can offer.

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Jayden Evans
Being an "Autism Support Officer"

(…) the varied assortment of unnameable tasks that Nelle can defer to others are thus surely deferred to me. In doing such, it is thus feasible for her effort to be allocated more thoroughly to her offered consultation. I, as well as others in our team, are a basis wherefrom she can be kept standing to serve people.

But it is not strictly Nelle that I am helping. Help is offered to myself in what knowledge I can glean. And help is offered to others as Nelle employs the abilities of her team as a service to those who come to us. It is the format of this help and the principles embedded on its circumference wherefrom I can define, for the inquisitive, what I do, why I do it, and the depth of its meaning.

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Jayden Evans
Autism - Going Beyond the Comfort Zone

What does it take to get a young person with Autism out of bed?

What does it take to get them up and out into a world that rarely sees or understands them? What kind of mental toll does this place on them? What kind of burdens do they have to take on? What does it mean for them to find triumph, and how do they overcome challenges and defeats?

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Nelle Frances
Autistic Meltdown - What It Is And How to Manage It

[…] we all have meltdowns. We all get fed-up. We all just need a time-out sometimes.

But for those with Autism, stress, dread, fear, anger, and so much more can assail them mercilessly and intensely. Remember, we do not possess a sensory disorder – when we are upset, we certainly may be more bothered by sensations. But not usually to such a nauseating or overwhelming extent.

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Nelle Frances
Social Bonds - Building a Network of Trust

Autistics need to be honest to the core, to be themselves – only themselves, and nobody else. And what about the people who run for the hills when they see the crazy, quirky and entirely unique and free member of society?

Bugger them, really! Ask yourself seriously about what they are losing, not about what you are losing. Autistics need to have the sense of esteem to understand that there is a problem when somebody decides not to accept them. The problem is with that individual’s intolerance, and not the character of somebody who is just being themselves, but who is not conforming as they do so.

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Nelle Frances