Yes, dear reader(s) it's that time of the year again where I drag this out for its annual - albeit slightly rewritten - World Autism Acceptance Week airing. You may not know/care that in 'the real life' I spend the time between drawing stuff for a living and wandering around meeting various folk to find out what they actually want me to draw (it keeps me off - well on - the streets I guess) inanely blogging about films. And sometimes (not often mind) serious organizations will even ask me to talk about them. As was the case with the Autism Through Cinema project who invited me to wax lyrically - and probably a wee bit over-excitedly - about THE greatest animated movie ever, Disney/Pixars Cars . And there are other occasions when I'm actually involved in making them . By the way you, if that wasn't sweary enough for you, you can find my usual cinematic ramblings here but beware as it's frequently not safe for work according to Google. And it's...
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World Autism Acceptance Week 2025: Beyond The Fringe.
I reckon that World Autism Acceptance Week is as good an excuse as any to reshare (again) the transcript of my Spectrum Sinema performance from The Edinburgh Fringe - the actual gig was edited for timing reasons/my rambling ways so it was fairly short 'n' snappy which was unusual for me but it seemed to go down OK. I mean there were no walk-outs but I did make a man visibly uncomfortable with the sheer Autistic intensity of my love for the films of 1982. This has been a dream of mine for years if I'm honest. Which I always am obviously seeing as Autistics are incapable of lying. Probably. Anyway, rather than share the short 'live' presentation I've decided instead to post the current work in progress long version of it. You see I'm currently (still) writing what could either be a book or a show based around the whole idea of Spectrum Sinema so see this as a (saucy) taster. Yes I'm such a tease. Regular readers may recognize some bits from previou...
World Autism Acceptance Week 2025: Twin Machine.
Something a wee bit more grown up for today's Autism Acceptance Week post - thought I better do at least one mature adult thing this week. Fear not tho' as I'll be back to posting rubbish tomorrow. A few years back (you can tell from the kids ages) I was asked by the Twins Trust to write an article for their Multiple Matters magazine regarding Twins and Autism. Which is nice. So without further ado feel free to enjoy the full (uncut - I tend to ramble) version - again - below. Hi everyone! Your illustrious editor has asked me to pen a few words for this issue regarding twins and autism – or Autistic twins if you like. Now before you quickly flick the page thinking “Gawd this’ll be a wee bit depressing/preachy” (delete as applicable) let me just alleviate your fears by pointing out that unlike most Autistic overviews that seem to concentrate on the differences and struggles parents of autistic kids seem to have when intera...
The Eleventh Hour.
Amy: You told me you had a time machine. The Doctor: And you believed me. Amy: Then I grew up. The Doctor: Oh, god. You never want to do that. 15 years ago today THE greatest era of Doctor Who began...looking back I don't think Amelia will fit into her Amelia Pond outfit anymore, tho' the Matt Smith jacket may fit her now....
World Autism Acceptance Week 2025: Like Clockwork.
Part of the Different Minds One Scotland initiative I was helping with/working on a couple of years ago involved the issues of social interaction for Autistic peeps so I thought what better time to reshare the sorry tale of one of the probably only two occasions I've ever been drunk - I mean really, really drunk - in my entire life. Because there aren't enough reasons to take the absolute piss out of me as it is. Take yourself back, if you will, to the heady days of 1995...a pre-DX me has planned a Clockwork Orange themed night out for my 26th birthday to - hopefully - cap off a fairly eventful albeit slightly shitey year where a massive group of us Droogs (well 6 of us) were going to spend the nochy out for a slap-up pischa-fest followed by much drinking with a wee bit of dancing thrown in. No Synthmesc or Drencrom tho' as I was booked in to work the next day. This may be important later. I must just add tho' that anyone expecting a drunken tale of ul...