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....

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...

  So, none of the major political parties posted a fucking thing about Autism Acceptance Month, neither did the Prime Minister or the First Minister up here or any MPs/MSPs  but an animated sheep did. We bloody love you Shaun (and Aardman) - a tiny amount of my faith in humanity is restored.  

  Didn't want Rhona to feel left out today. Being married to someone with neurotypicalism can be hard, their lack of rigid routines and ability to just wing things can be tricky to navigate but she copes with her affliction really well and we're all dead proud of her.  

  It's a pesky preachy/semi-serious/slightly annoyed Autism Acceptance Week post incoming that I have to do a variation of every year but only when I've lulled you to a point of comfortableness with nice family photos and music. Yes, I'm sneaky. I know that some people don't think this is worth getting angry about but have you seen the state of the artwork that gets banded about on Autism Acceptance Day/Week/Month/Fortnight? It's not just that it's twee and infantilising but really badly drawn too. Tho' to be honest the infantilising bit is probably more important.     The last one also features the classic "I love someone with Autism" trope too. As I've said before, why not love them with your heart and soul instead? And that's why I decided to design this t-shirt for myself to wear when out with Rho.  I'm sure she'll appreciate the message.     The different approaches/attitudes to Autism (both online and in the 'real-lif...

So s eeing as it's actually, really truly World Autism Acceptance (2025) Day today (obviously it can't bet on April Fools Day that would really be taking the piss) I thought I'd rehash (sorry repost) a quick introduction type thing I've put together for occasions just like this. So if you make it thru' this and return on a regular basis expect rambles, rants and vaguely amusing tales of an Autistic nature that may contain cult movie mentions and pictures of dodgy haircuts mixed in with me mostly shouting angrily about Autistic provision (or lack of) or me getting excited about work projects. You have been warned.....     But not mine obviously.   And what better way to start than with some quite interesting facts taken from (partly) an interview I did for an academic paper on Autistic parenting and bits of the interview process I went thru in regard to the Chris Packham fronted BBC project Inside Our Autistic Minds that was broadcast a couple of years b...

    I know it's not the actual, real and official Autism Acceptance Day till tomorrow (as I said you couldn't start AAW on April Fools Day, that's just taking the piss) but I didn't want to leave you hanging so thought I'd entertain you with a song. Or two. You see I've posted about music - and music related stuff - on loads of occasions, especially after a late night chat regarding my fairly amazing autistic memory bank and the ability to remember exactly where and when I heard my favourite songs or saw my favourite films for the first time in minute detail.   For example Tears of A Clown, 30 April 1975....followed a news report on the fall of Saigon, I was sitting cross legged in front of our old stereo in the maisonette we lived in in Coseley (or Wallbrook as the area was known then).   Oh yes, and we had this wallpaper (I insisted).       Anyway, in a musical vein (see? it all links together) and to add a wee bit of fun and hopefully brighten ...