...Do you know when you have one of those days when you finish up a major project and the client loves it so much they immediately commission you for another piece of work?   Today is that day.   Which is rather brilliant but a wee bit confusing, you see balancing the utterly stressful transport shite with the giddy highs of some fantastic new work news - plus the excitement the girls are showing at being in college - is fairly draining.   Too many totally different feelings and all as strong as each other so nothing to focus on.   My brain does black and white...subtle shades can be really tiring and very, very confusing...like being drunk on conflicting emotions.   Normal service soon hopefully!   As ever....Thanks for listening!

Just a quick update on what appears to be turning into my version of War and Peace.... Well day 2 of the girls college adventure and still no transport....social work never called back, disability student support deal with everything except transport and no-one appears to know how to answer a phone/use email....   so currently it's costing almost £50 per week to take the girls to and from college....   From next week they start an hour earlier so we'll need to get Cass into his school cab at exactly the same time as getting the girls into town...oh joy.   Girls are loving college tho' (which is fab) but I'm not loving the added stress, (my) routine changes and utter lack of (supposedly) essential support from organisations that are allegedly there to help make things smoother....   As a bizarre aside I've just found out that you're not supposed  to ring Social work and ask for someone directly unless you've made an appointment to speak to that person before...

  *Warning! Rant incoming*  Well after 2 days of transport related stress I'm absolutely shattered - post meltdown aches and headache coupled with a feeling of utter 'blah' (yes that's a real thing) due to the fact that it seems that when it comes to Autistic provision literally no-one in an position of authority gives a f*ck. Before anyone says it, yes I've been aware of this for years but one tiny detail has really struck me this morning. In the last 4 months we've had 2 really abusive, uncaring drivers - firstly one who when asked to turn the radio down for a sound-sensitive kid answered "It's my taxi I'll play the radio if I want to!" before swearing at the kids to be quiet and on Thursday the grumpy arse who not only complained about picking up a child but didn't even bother locking the cab door allowing Cass to run into the road he was so stressed.... It's kinda hit me full on today (look I'm Autistic and sometimes I miss th...

Transitioning from school to college in an Autistic friendly Glasgow.... Advice (in May): "You need social work to unlock the girls PIP to provide transport!"  Us: "Great! Hello social work, can you unlock the girls PIP for transport?"  SW: "We're busy...leave it with us!" 3 months later.... SW: "It's nothing to do with us, you need to talk to magic transport man....anyway they may want to walk/get the bus/fly there....personal choice and all that!" Us: "They can't travel alone, it'd be really unsafe!"  SW: "But they might want to! Thing is, we've had you on file since 2005 but we thought we'd attempt to send psychic messages to tell you this, you never responded so we reckoned you were OK!" Us: "Did you think to ring us to see if we needed help?"  SW: *silence* SW: "To be fair we did once come to your house to say hello to Cassidy." US: "Yes you did, then you left and...

Readers with long memories (or Short Nights of The Glass Dolls) may remember from days gone by the amount of ahem, utter shite we've had to put up with from taxis in the past. Just search for taxis if you fancy a laugh, I'll still be here when you get back. Anyway all those transport troubles seemed to be in the past until that is yesterday morning. Oh joy. With the girls off to college next week* boy child Cassidy is currently our only child in a taxi, which feels a bit odd but heyho he's getting there. His escort is great, he knows the other kids onboard and it turns up round about the same time, 8.30 AM, every day. Because routine and schedules are really important to us Autistic folk. It's basically rule number one. Remember this as it may be important later. Anyway as is Cassidy's routine he gets up at 7.55 Am, potters on his computer for 5 minutes, gets dressed, grabs his music player then sits on his laptop (again) and waits patiently for the taxi to turn up,...

Autitude issue 18 is available to download now ! End of plug.

Way back in 2018 I did a review of every (well nearly every) Autistic friendly venue in Glasgow, you see at the time our fair city had announced that it would be Europe's most Autistic friendly place by 2024 which would have been nice if they'd not got bored by 2019. Oh well. Luckily some of the venues involved have kept up the good work, including  The St. Enoch Centre , a huge shopping hub located in the city centre adjacent to St Enoch subway station. You can read the original review here . As an added bonus for them they also kindly agreed to showcase the Glasgow Refugee project I created in 2017 so fair play to them.     Anyway, recently the St Enoch centre has launched updated sensory maps for autistic people to use when visiting the centre. The maps were created in collaboration with Scottish Autism and includes guidance on sounds, smells, lighting and temperature changes to make a more Autism-friendly environment.      Anne Ledgerwood, centre di...

 Quick plug time! Scottish Autism together with National Autistic Society Scotland, we're asking for your views around appointing a Commissioner to promote and protect the rights of autistic people in Scotland.   You can take part in the survey here to help influence the commissioner's role and responsibilities and find out more information here .