Tag: The Art of Autism

Autism Acceptance Revisited

A post sharing some of the best recent stuff about autism from the true experts – autistic people.

INTRODUCTION

As this is an Autism themed post and we are still in the month of April my text will all be in #RedInstead. Links will be in bold and underlined. 

AUTISM ACCEPTANCE

Autism acceptance is about people accepting us for who we are, focussing on the positives and on our abilities, not on our limitations (both perceived and actual, though the former are both much greater and much more important in terms of the effect on us). The Art of Autism recently put up and excellent post about this titled “THIS BEAUTY QUEEN’S MESSAGE IS AUTISM ACCEPTANCE“. I offer this screenshot as a tempter:

AOA

ABA THERAPY = CHILD ABUSE

ABA stands for Applied Behaviour Analysis, and is still recommended in certain circles. Those who were subjected to this as children and have subsequently written about it are unanimous in condemning it. It would appear based on this sample that the most frequent outcome of ABA therapy is that an autistic person ends up an autistic person with Post Traumatic Sress Disorder. I link to two very substantial pieces by a former practitioner of ABA who has learned the error of her former ways, with thanks to Rachel Rainey who put me on to these two pieces today. The pieces posted by madasbirdsblog are:

  1. The original mea culpa piece titled “I ABUSED CHILDREN FOR A LIVING”
    MC
  2. A follow up piece provoked by a response defending ABA, titled “I ABUSED CHILDREN AND SO DO YOU: A RESPONSE TO AN ABA APOLOGIST“. This piece is very long (over 9,000 words) but I recommend you read it in full. My screenshot comes from just after the start of the post, and I hope muy reasons for this choice will be obvious:
    ABAdetailed.jpg

A NEW FIND WITH A
GREAT “WHAT IF?” PIECE

  1. This next piece was originally published in May 2016 but is still absolutely relevant. From a blog called autnot and titled “If the world was built for me” it does precisely what you might expect from the title. The screenshot below is from the end of it:

If.jpg

ERIN HUMAN’S ABLEISM SERIES

Regular visitors to this site will know that I have been greatly impressed by Erin Human’s series of posts focussing on ableism. I am delighted to share with you two new posts in this series:

  1. A piece titled “Is there a cure for ableism?” which tackles ways in which this scourge can be dealt with.
  2. Under the title “Ableism Therapies” a post which lists some important links:

‘AWARENESS’ IS NOT ENOUGH

Some of you may have noticed that unusually for a post of this nature I have yet to mention thesilentwaveblog. Fear not, I conclude the business part of this post with a link to a post titled “Awareness’ is not enough ~ Part 3: Talk is cheap.  Please take action“.

PHOTOGRAPHS

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Another railway themed horse brass. I will be doing a piece connected to this on my London transport themed website eventually. This first picture is formatted as a link to the website of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.

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Too Much Information and Autism Acceptance

As Autism Acceptance/ Appreciation Month gets underway I share some of the best autism related pieces of the moment, some thoughts of my own and some photographs.

INTRODUCTION

I have a number of autism related links to share. Some of you will notice that the heading of this section of the blog is a different colour from usual. One of the links I shall be sharing gives more detail on this. For the moment suffice it to say that for the month of April save when it features in photographs the colour blue will not feature in this blog. As for the second half of this post’s title, I refer you to my last post, accessible by way of the graphic below:

AUA

TOO MUCH INFORMATION

Last year the National Autistic Society released a video entitled Too Much Information. This year they have produced a second, which has already had approximately a million views. As I cannot embed this particular video I link to it by way of the screenshot below and this link to the original.

TMI

SOME OTHER AUTISM RELATED LINKS

My first two links both come from a site I have recently come across called “A Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism“. 

  1. We start with a post titled “Autism Science to Watch Out For”, which you can visit by clicking the screenshot below.
    ASW
  2. My second selection from this site, titled “An Open Letter from an Autistic Child in Meltdown, Written by an Autistic Adult Who Still Melts Down From Time to Time”
    does precisely what it says on the tin. Again the link is by way of a screenshot:
    Meltdownletter

The Art of Autism site have put up a post titled “APRIL IS AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH – WE PREFER AUTISM ACCEPTANCE MONTH“, which can be viewed by clicking their lovely graphic below:
AutismRainbow

My next link comes from a recent follower of this blog, americanbadassadvocates, who this morning, having very generously reblogged my previous post, came up with this splendid offering titled “#NORMALAUTISTICHERE | SESAME STREET’S JULIA HUMANIZES AUTISTICS, AND SOME FOLKS HATE THAT“, which I link to by way of the image below.

This brings this section to a close because although I have a couple more links to share they are on the same theme and I have chosen to give them a section to themselves…

LOOKING AHEAD –
ACCEPTANCE TO APPRECIATION

Autism Acceptance Month is a better title than the old title for this month. Some however, and I fully sympathise with their reasoning, consider that even this is inadequate, and have introduced another title, Autism Appreciation Month. This appeals greatly to me, as an extension of the principle by which the title Autism Acceptance Month was arrived at. I have two superb posts to link to which between them make a good case for Autism Appreciation Month:

  1. Eclectic Autistic, whose post titled “Autism Appreciation” appeared not long after my own post of yesterday. Click on the screenshot below to read this excellent post in full:
    AutismAppreciation
  2. Finally, no post of this nature would be complete without something from thesilentwaveblog. This post, titled “#RedInstead ~ Autism Acceptance / Appreciation Month” both fills out the case for Autism Appreciation Month, and provides some detail as to why I am not using blue in the text sections of this blog during April, and why with blue ruled out I made red the first colour to appear. To read it in full please click on the picture below.

SOME FINAL WORDS

At some point in the near future I will be putting up a general sharing post, and a post about public transport specifically. Also, this afternoon I will be attending a Musical Keys session, and I will take plenty of photographs there for sharing – this session will definitely feature in a blog post as well. I have no doubt that I will also find plenty more excellent autism related posts to share. My final words before the photo section are these:

“DIFFERENT” AND “LESSER” ARE NOT SYNONYMS

and

ENJOY AUTISM ACCEPTANCE/ APPRECIATION MONTH!!

PHOTOGRAPHS

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The first five pictures in this selection were taken on Sunday.

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These last two pictures were taken on Thursday.

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A Comic Strip Explanation of Life on the Spectrum Courtesy of “The Art of Autism”

This post comes from The Art of Autism, altough on this occasion I am keeping comments open here. It is a superb explanation of life on the spectrum.

This wonderful post from The Art of Autsim can be viewed in its original niche by clicking here. I have also reproduced it below:

Although I do not usually do so when sharing other people’s work I am on this occasion keeping comments open here.

The World Athletics Championship – A Retrospective

A Retropsective on the World Athletics Championships, More on the Inhumane Despicable Sociopath case, some photographs and some important links.

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece I have some photos, links and infographics to share, including a section following up my much shared “Inhumane Despicable Sociopath” post..

BRITAIN’S BEST EVER

At the World Athletics Championships which concluded yesterday Britain won a total of four gold medals, their best ever. Mo Farah with both the 5,000 and 10,000m, Greg Rutherford (Long Jump) and Jessica Ennis-Hill (Heptathlon) all ascended the top step of the podium in Beijing, all having experienced Olympic misery there seven years previously. There were also a stack of best ever performances from less experienced British athletes, encapsulated by BBC TV in this infographic…

Young Guns

Shelayna Oskanp-Clarke had never previous broken two minutes for the 800m, and until Proctor did so no British female long jumper had ever gone beyond 7.00m. The performances of Asher-Smith and Hitchon were also British records. Dina Asher-Smith having already become the first British woman go sub 11 seconds for the 100m and being part of the 4*100m relay team now has three British records against her name.

INHUMANE DESPICABLE SOCIOPATH: A FOLLOW UP

Partly because of a twitter storm conceived by a well known twitter user named Gail which tied in perfectly with it my blog post about the revelations of DWP deaths, forced out after a long and hard fought campaign, was very widely shared. I have a number of superb related links to share in this section:

Now, a few infographics about this story, starting with this great tweet:

Killer Stat

This, formatted like a DWP case study, differs from them in being a true story:

Simons Story

Finally to the end this section, a screendump from a text book of the future that somehow appeared on my screen…

THE IDS

A PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

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LINKS

I am dividing this in to two main subsections, starting with…

AUTISM

Within this section I am starting with a case which is reaching a conclusion soon…

JUSTICE FOR KAYLEB

I have blogged about this outrageous case of an autistic grade 6 boy facing a lifeltime with a felony conviction, but since the case is now going through the courts I include these two links:

Also, for twitter users (I have already done so btw), here is a temporary profile pic you may wish to use in solidarity with Kayleb:

JK

OTHER AUTISM RELATED LINKS

THE REMAINING LINKS

I start with a couple of petitions:

I have three more links to purely text based material:

  1. From patienttalk comes this about helping a disabled child to have a better experience at school.
  2. This from Shelter about the fact that golf courses take up as much of England as does housing.
  3. This post from anotherangryvoice deals with the much peddled myth that national economies are like families.

My last link is to a wonderful protest song by Welsh singer Charlotte Church.

On Appreciating Nature

This post may be considered my personal response to the death of Cecil the lion.

INTRODUCTION

This post can be considered as my response to the tragedy involving Cecil the lion. Before getting into the main body of it I am once again going to share details (as I did in my previous post) of The Art of Autism’s calendar for 2016, currently being sold for $12. Full details can be seen on their own post on the subject, but I offer you this picture as extra inducement…

A picture to show you why as well as wishing to support the activity I am genuinely enthused by this calendar.
A picture to show you why as well as wishing to support the activity I am genuinely enthused by this calendar.

ON APPRECIATING NATURE

We are now in the main part of the post, which as well as what I am writing on my account will feature some photographic highlights relating to nature from the last few months, a variety of important links, and leading from here into the rest of the post my first essay in the craft of infographic creation…

Swan infographic

CECIL THE LION

Cecil, a 13 year-old lion who jointly controlled his pride with another lion called Jericho, was shot by a wealthy American who had paid $50,000 to have him lured out of the reserve in which he lived. Walter Palmer, the shooter, has a long and bloody history of such activities, including at least one felony conviction involving poaching. Cecil was a huge tourist attraction, and even from the purely monetary angle (not a viewpoint with which I identify) his death has cost far than the $50,000 that was paid to bring it about. Before moving on from this introduction I have a bunch of Cecil related links to share with you:

There seems little doubt that Mr Palmer’s activities, and those activities that were paid for with his blood money were in breach of Zimbabwean law, and as a staunch internationalist I would say that the American government has a duty to ensure that Mr Palmer gets appropriately punished, either by putting him on the next plane to Zimbabwe to be punished in the country where he committed the crime or by arranging for him to be tried, convicted and punished in America.

I would also like to see a blanket ban on “trophy hunting”, enforced with stringent penalties for those who breach it. Also, I have concentrated on the American, rather than the two Zimbabweans involved in the atrocity because it is the American who bears full responsibility – without his money the two Zimbabweans would have had no motive for their nefarious contact – Mr Palmer is guilty on his own account and has made criminals of the other two involved.

SOME PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS

This subsection is devoted the only kind of shooting I am interested in performing – that done with my trusty Nikon Coolpix P530. Yes I have recently acquired a set of five obsidian arrowheads – but that was purchased as on object of interest, not with any intention of using them as weapons!

The first two pictures are of an insect that was crawling on the window of an X8 bus in which I happened to be a passenger.
The first two pictures are of an insect that was crawling on the window of an X8 bus in which I happened to be a passenger.

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These two robins, enjoying the local park, formed the basis of my second ever pictorial thank you message.
These two robins, enjoying the local park, formed the basis of my second ever pictorial thank you message.
This lone robin was by the bandstand in the local park.
This lone robin was by the bandstand in the local park.

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A squirrel preparing for the main ascent!
A squirrel preparing for the main ascent!

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A Moorhen
A Moorhen

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A swimming gull, reflected back by the smooth water.
A swimming gull, reflected back by the smooth water.

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A moorhen showing a turn of speed
A moorhen showing a turn of speed
This one was standing on a submerged log
This one was standing on a submerged log
A cormorant - the first of many.
A cormorant – the first of many.

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Cormornant showing off its wingspan
Cormornant showing off its wingspan
Fully extended.
Fully extended.

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A cormorant on the structure that I named Cormorant Platform because they make so much use of it.
A cormorant on the structure that I named Cormorant Platform because they make so much use of it.
Swans in the parkland off Littleport Street
Swans in the parkland off Littleport Street

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Bunny enjoying the thick grass.
Bunny enjoying the thick grass.

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One of my ornithological alter egos - a magpie.
One of my ornithological alter egos – a magpie.
The only time I have ever got a really got shot of one of these white butterflies - they move seriously fast
The only time I have ever got a really got shot of one of these white butterflies – they move seriously fast

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A cormorant and black backed gull together.
A cormorant and black backed gull together.

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A cormorant in swimming mode.
A cormorant in swimming mode.
These were the first ducklings I saw in 2015.
These were the first ducklings I saw in 2015.
This crafty duckling had realised that it could use the lily pad as a kind of boat.
This crafty duckling had realised that it could use the lily pad as a kind of boat.

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These three shots were gold from my point of view - usually if a cormorant is swimming it is looking for food and therefore dives regularly, making it tough to capture on camera.
These three shots were gold from my point of view – usually if a cormorant is swimming it is looking for food and therefore dives regularly, making it tough to capture on camera.

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Gulls in full flight
Gulls in full flight

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Mallard drake and moorhen being companionable on the edge of the upper Millfleet.
Mallard drake and moorhen being companionable on the edge of the upper Millfleet.
I had seen swans on various rivers, but until July 2015 never on the Great Ouse which is tidal and flows seriously fast.
I had seen swans on various rivers, but until July 2015 never on the Great Ouse which is tidal and flows seriously fast.

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These birds like marshy land best, but mud flats when the Great Ouse is at low tide are clearly also acceptable to them.
These birds like marshy land best, but mud flats when the Great Ouse is at low tide are clearly also acceptable to them.
The base of my current pictorial thank you message.
The base of my current pictorial thank you message.

Every single photo in this subsection was bagged within walking distance of my “compact” town centre flat – if you truly appreciate nature you do not have go very far to find glorious sights, and nothing need be harmed.

A FEW NATURE RELATED LINKS

These two links are both to petitions that anyone who takes an interest i nature should sign and share:

1)This from 38Degrees is an emergeny petition about bees

2)Take Part are running this petition against unsafe drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

A FINAL REMINDER

To finish the main section of this blog I have another infographic, which gives the same message as the one I opened the section with – the fundamental message of this post…

Nature infographic

GENERAL LINKS

Just a handful of links today:

James and Sons: Auction and Aftermath

An account of James and Sons’ July Auction and its aftermath, with plenty of pictures. Also a mention of a Calendar being sold by The Art of Autism.

INTRODUCTION

This post, with one exception, deals exclusively with yesterday and todat at James and Sons. The exception which I shall deal with now is a link that will be appearing again in this blog. The Art of Autism are selling 2016 calendars for $12 each. If this takes your fancy, more detail is available in their post announcing the offer. I will be doing a more substantial blog post later.

A picture to show you why as well as wishing to support the activity I am genuinely enthused by this calendar.
A picture to show you why as well as wishing to support the activity I am genuinely enthused by this calendar.

YESTERDAY: THE AUCTION ITSELF 

Being in Norwich, the auction necessitated a seriously early start (certainly ridiculous o’clock, possibly even qualifying as ludicrous o’clock), but being a fairly small auction it finished reasonably early, and I was home only twelve and a half hours after having set off (for a Norwich auction that is not too bad).

There were some spectacular triumphs, some flops and lots of middle of the road sales. Old football programmes fared well, one which  was not expected to get more than £10 going for £28. Overall, it was a successful sale, and here are some pictures from yesterday…

This little display section was organised by me
This little display section was organised by me
The arrowheads in their new home.
The arrowheads in their new home.
Not an auction pic, buth I just had to include the rainbow flag fluttering from Norwich Castle.
Not an auction pic, buth I just had to include the rainbow flag fluttering from Norwich Castle.
A close up shot with the cover of the display case removed.
A close up shot with the cover of the display case removed.
The obsidian arrowheads found a good home!
The obsidian arrowheads found a good home!

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Reoghrnasing these display boxes to better effect.
Reoghrnasing these display boxes to better effect.
Two gold coins, which sold very well.
Two gold coins, which sold very well.
The whole auction in all it's glory
The whole auction in all it’s glory

TODAY

Most of my day at work today was taken up with making sure I had full and accurate records of all the people who had registered bid online via the-saleroom but I did also get some work done on the August sale, imaging a couple of new lots and locating images in our archive of items that were being given another chance to sell…

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These Pevsner's are in impeccable condition - let's hope it is second tiem lucky for them.
These Pevsner’s are in impeccable condition – let’s hope it is second tiem lucky for them.

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AFTERWORD

Sharing is a running theme of this blog, and I hope that some of you have enjoyed this post enough to share it with others.

England Staring Down Both Barrels

INTRODUCTION

As well as a personal account of yesterday’s cricket I have my usual selection of links, infographics and photos to share with you. Enjoy the ride…

ENGLAND STARING DOWN BOTH BARRELS

England bowled reasonably well yesterday, taking the least eight Kiwi wickets for 220, the fly in the ointment being that this was from a starting position of 303-2 and therefore still left them facing a first innings deficit of 134. This was compounded by the loss of debutant opening batsman Lyth and the no 3 Ballance in the reply. To give themselves a chance of escaping England need to still be batting by lunch time tomorrow (and probably a while after as well).

This England team, with Moeen Ali batting at no 8 and therefore being considered a front-line bowler, bore all the hallmarks a team selected with avoidance of defeat in mind, rather than going for victory, and the lack of bowling depth told in the New Zealand innings. Just to make one thing clear: Moeen Ali is a fine cricketer, it is just that he is not by any stretch of the imagination a front-line spinner (and his county, Worcestershire, have never used him as such).

Struggling like this against New Zealand does not bode well for the main meat of the summer, the visit of the oldest enemy.

INFOGRAPHIC

Just the one infographic today, concerned with the Irish referendum on gay marriage:

MR

LINKS

My first two links concern disability hate crimes, the main article having been shared widely on twitter (13 RTs and counting since I posted a link to it). The first of the two links is to the post on Vox Political that put me on to the story (although I must register a mild protest about VP’s current policy of putting out vast numbers of small posts – it seriously clogs the inbox) by way of acknowledging my source. Here then after that preamble are the key links:

1) Vox Political Intro

2) Guardian Article

The natural follow on from this is an article from Welfare Weekly about the scandalously high unemployment rate among disabled people.

My next two links both concern Autism. The first is a petition via 38 degrees which I urge everyone to sign and share. The second is a link to a post about a research project for which I have already signed up and I urge other autistic people to do likewise.

My last link is to a petition being run by change.org calling for 16 and 17 year-olds to be able vote in the EU referendum. Since I would extend all political votes to this age group I had no hesitation in signing and sharing, and I hope that others will follow my example.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Only a few pictures to share with you today (I take this opportunity to thank everyone who is still with me and urge you to share any or all of this post)…
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Yesterdays Auction: A Personal Account

Before getting to the main meat of post I have a few links to share with you.

LINKS

My first link is to a devastating expose of the bogus organisation Autism Speaks, courtesy of The Art of Autism.

My next link, for those of a scientific bent is to an interesting post on Faraday’s Candle.

My last two links are related, in that they refer to the necessity of making sure that on this day next week Downing Street is the scene of an eviction. First of all, a piece focussing on the NHS. Secondly, and accompanied by the picture that is at it’s heart comes this expose of just how vile the Tories are courtesy of Vox Political.

Despicable Tory Poster

YESTERDAY’S AUCTION

I have already written about the presence of a display for the Great Centenary Charity Auction on their website. Here is a single picture to whet your appetite for that…

GCCA1

A combination of the necessity of being on a bus that was due to leave at 7:00AM and wanting have lots of time to make my preparations before setting off meant that I rose at a ludicrously early hour (suffice to say that even with summer approaching and the cricket season well under way I was up before the sun).

The presence of TV cameras filming Antiques Road Trip meant that I felt obliged to dress for the occasion, wearing a previously unworn shirt, a tie and a smart jacket that I knew would go with the shirt. I knew I would be on camera, because I was going to be on the rostrum next to the auctioneer when the road trip lots were going under the hammer. We were also providing training to a colleague, who did a couple of stints on the rostrum, immediately before the break to set up for the road trip stuff, and taking over after the road trip section had finished to do the final furlong (well we were at a racecourse!).

The two experts, Charlie Ross and James Braxton, both made a point of shaking hands with David and myself before leaving. It will be interesting when it finally goes out on air to see how it all looks.

After a quiet start, with the postcards doing nothing and the banknotes not all that much, things did pick up. I got one set of bookmarks, although not the ones I had really wanted.

The auction finished as expected just before 3:30PM, and then it was just a matter of clearing up. Finally, at 4:50PM the last van load was dealt with, giving me time for a pint at the Bull Inn, Bridge Street before catching the bus home.

I finally got back to my flat almost exactly 12 hours after setting out. A change of clothes, a quick call at my Aunts house to pick up the post and see if the plants needed any watering (they did not – it had evidently rained in King;s Lynn earlier in the day) and I was finally able to switch off.

Here are some pictures from the auction room before things got underway properly…

Antiques Road Trip lots on display
Antiques Road Trip lots on display
All the Antiques Road Trip Lots are visible in this shot.
All the Antiques Road Trip Lots are visible in this shot.
The view from the rostrum.
The view from the rostrum.
The front cover lot.
The front cover lot.
The view from the back of the room
The view from the back of the room
Precious items in this auction.
Precious items in this auction.