New work type thing incoming! Supplied the poster art (plus some photos and commentary) for this upcoming exhibition of Autistic art and photography being held from 15th November - 31st December in Tolbooth Gallery, Stirling. more info here .

 Well that's us survived the first full week of escorting/assisting all 3 of our kids to/from (and all day in) college. Still no word/support from social work (surprise) save the usual excuses. Good job we don't need to work/shop/tidy/have lives isn't it?  

  She should be OK...it'll take 3 years for them to respond and then only to tell her they can't do anything because she's not filled in the right forms.  

 Well after a brilliant and productive week of awesome Autism based shenanigans it's only right that it should end with being brought back down to earth with a depressing bang and a quick social work update. Oh joy. Anyway for those following the whole sorry tale, here's the link to the story so far . Got all that? Great, we can now continue. Well after Cassidy having to already miss a week of college due to me being unable to take him/stay with him the whole week it appears that he can't have anything put in place at the moment because Scottish Social Care inadvertently cancelled his DLA when he turned 18 so there's no way that Social Work can be sure he's actually disabled (!) and should get support... Yes really. As a plus point they do actually seem to (begrudgingly) acknowledge that the entire system isn't fit for purpose but they can't do anything about it because "their hands are tied". Seriously the whole organisation seems to be one giant ...

Been a busy rollercoaster of a week at chez Loydon 'tween the lows of the whole Social Work/college debacle and the highs of AUTISM PLAYS ITSELF having its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival so we decided to celebrate the fast approaching end of the summer holidays with a family trip thru to The Edinburgh Fringe to see Paul Wady's excellent Eccentrics Assemble – Guerrilla Autistics Year 10 show .   Now I've been good friends with Paul for the last 6 or so years but bizarrely we only ever get to meet up 'in the flesh' as it were during the Fringe or on one of my (infrequent) trips to London so we decided (on a whim) to take the entire Autistic clan (and token NT Rho) to see the show this year so he could finally meet everyone as I'm pretty sure he was beginning to think I'd actually made up my entire family.   Obligatory Twins point at dads artwork shot.    Suffice to say that everyone had a ball - Cassidy sat for the longest time ever (the full sho...

Well that's me back home and (mostly) recovered from the UK premiere of AUTISM PLAYS ITSELF at the Edinburgh Film Festival yesterday and what a day it was.     Yes it was great to finally meet my fellow contributors in the flesh (and yes, they were very lovely) and catch up with the director Janet Harbord after what seems like an age but more importantly (and scarily) it was brilliant - and daunting - to watch the film with an actual audience. Obviously I made merch. And I'm happy to say it seemed to go down fantastically, the audience members I spoke to appeared to just 'get it'....much chat, laughs and excited social interaction ensued.   Team Autism Assemble!   To be honest I'm still processing the whole thing here so no doubt I'll come back to it at some point when I've fully recovered but suffice to say it would be an understatement to say that this is one of the pieces of work I'm most proud of. I hope you can all see it at some point.   But whilst...

A brand new podcast where AUTISM PLAYS ITSELF director Janet Harbord discusses the film.  And you can listen here .

  Me right now and evermore.       Apologies for the seemingly constant gripes and complaints at the moment but heyho, that's real life for you - if you want inspirational Autism memes you'd be best to go elsewhere. But after a week of meetings, excuses and a total and utter meltdown/shutdown situation (whilst out in public, yay me) I'm sitting here in my PJs feeling emptier and more useless than I have ever felt before, the last few weeks of constant - and intense - dealings Social Work and to a lesser extent education - have made me realise how as an Autistic adult your suggestions and solutions are just ignored even if you have experience of the problem at hand. I'm freeform ranting right now cos it's literally the only thing I can do to clear my head of all the anger and frustration that's been building up for 3 years or so whilst trying to organise the kids going to college. Yes, that's all we're trying to do....not a trip to the fucking moon or a c...

So that's our (new) Social Worker just left and to give her her due she's seems very nice (well she did put up with me in full Autistic intensity mode seeing as Rho and the laydees are on holiday so my - human - social filter isn't here) and it went exactly as I reckoned it would. You see it appears that they need to do a whole new assessment for Cassidy because, um reasons but this is now very complicated because his PIP was 'accidentally' cancelled after he turned 18 he's not officially disabled till it's reinstated. Or something. The pesky guardianship issue is still there but no-one has any idea how we're meant to get it organised in the current situation. But we've not to worry as it should all be sorted by Christmas (or is that the new year?). So in a nutshell from next week we have to figure out how we can get all 3 kids to 3 different colleges and back as well as do 'normal' stuff like shopping, work, laundry etc.....Exactly as...

  Just a quick reminder that AUTISM PLAYS ITSELF has its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival on 19th of August at 12:15 as part of the Out of Competition Shorts Programme.   And to remind you that as a special treat myself and the rest of the the team will be doing a Q and A session post screening.    And quite possibly be skulking about in the bar if you want to buy me/us a drink.        And you can watch the trailer here:           Film summary:    A film shot in 1957 at the Maudsley Hospital, London, captures children under observation for atypical behaviour. In the present day, three autistic respondents watch the footage, offering new and insightful interpretations of the children’s actions. Through speculation and identification, with wit and audacity, the responses forge a new soundtrack from an autistic point of view.

 With regards to my last SW post (it's here by the way)... with just under 3 weeks till Cassidy's meant to start college (and 18 months since we - and the school - requested a support worker) we still don't have anything at in place but we do have another new Social Worker to begin the whole process again next week...joy. Luckily with allies like Tory Councillor Liam Billington suddenly taking an interest in all things Autism I feel that things can only get better*....   More as it happens if I can manage to make it to next week without a total utter meltdown. *Who says Autists can't do sarcasm?

An update (of sorts) on where we stand regarding transport/assistance for college. Just for some background - and to save you trawling thru' old posts (unless you want to that is) our kids are 20 and 18 and the ONLY support we've ever requested in nearly 20 years is help getting them to and from college.  That's it.  Nothing else.  And guess what? With 3 weeks to go till Cassidy is meant to start his course it looks like he now wont be able to attend as his place relies on him having that support. Social Work have known about this for over a year and have so far done absolutely fuck all except explain that they don't have staff/budgets/not their area. The dreaded Autistic meltdown (followed by shutdown) has now been replaced by vomiting, chest pains and headaches whenever I have to answer the phone. Yes it's that bad. All I can say is this - to anyone in a position of authority or with a duty of care in Glasgow - from the city council to social work - you should be...

 Was planning a blog post on the amount of hideously cringe-worthy songs about Autism on the interweb (a kinda semi-sequel to the terrible t-shirt post from a while back) when I came across this banger. Enjoy - in the style of a slightly dodgy 70s radio deejay - my pop pick of the week!