“Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot.”    Born on this day in 1924, my favourite author, Cassidy's namesake (and my height twin) Truman Capote.    Let's forget all the shite going down in the world and celebrate today with a 'special orange drink' and a good old bitching sesh!

 ...to come out of the whole Trump/RFK jr. Autism debacle it's that more people outside our little community are now aware of the work of Grunya Sukhareva and Eugen Bleuler so swings and roundabouts really.   And with that in mind I'm off to top up my Autism. Goodnight. 

As with last time, there's not much you can say about the Glasgow Film Theatre re: Autism accessibility because as far as venues go it has to be one of the most all round disability friendly and inclusive places in the city, if not the country. And seven years on from the initial Glasgow city council Autism Initiative it's actually gotten even better.  And yes I'm biased. And not just because I've had my work on the big screen there. The cinema does it all -  Access Film Club  (Autism, Neurodivergent and Learning Disabled-friendly screenings), closed caption, Take Two family events,  Visible Cinema  (Deaf and hard of hearing-friendly screenings),  Movie Memories  (Dementia- friendly screenings) and it also has genuinely brilliant and knowledgeable staff (amongst other things) which all adds up to make the GFT a perfect example of how a venue can tackle the issues of inclusion and get it right. And the fact that it's a small cinema with charity status and a majo...

 Well Trump made that big Autism announcement and it's as bat shit crazy as you'd expect.     All our kids have Rho's height, build, hair colour, stunning good looks and charm....All they got from me was the 'Tism and now Trump wants to take my proudest achievement away and credit paracetamol instead....bastard.   I mean a s a kid I was promised that the 21st century would bring us moonbases, robot companions and flying cars...they lied to us!  (Oh yes and just in case you hadn't realised the big Autism announcement is bollocks by the way).  

 In an exciting move that will be no way detrimental to the Autistic community in the USA (or here probably) Donald Trump announced yesterday that his administration would make an announcement regarding autism on Monday.  He, however, declined to offer specifics related to the announcement. "We're going to have an announcement on autism on Monday" Trump said.    Excitedly rubbing his hands together with a gleeful excitement usually reserved for small children being handed a big bag of Haribo Starmix, Trump jabbed the air with his pudgy little sausage fingers and spewed forth a word salad of Pip and Jane Baker proportions: “We have to make the announcement; it’s so BIG. We can’t let people keep doing this. I don’t want to wait any longer. We don’t need anything more, and if it's wrong, it's not going to be wrong, but if it is wrong, it's fine that we have to do it because we are going to have an announcement on Autism on Monday. It’s going to be Monday;...

  10 years ago.... my auction pieces for the UK Twin Peaks festival... time does indeed fly.  

  Can't believe it's been 7 years since I was at the Scottish Parliament ( talking about an art instillation I'd been involved with )....I'll be there Wednesday excitedly - and probably angrily - talking all things Autism to anyone who'll listen (and a fair few who wont) if you see me say "Hi!"  

 To break up the seriousness around here of late I just have to say that next month  Pure Autismo Kino is most definitely back on the menu...     GET. IN. MY. EYES. NOW!   And also announced for an April 2026 release...                        And breathe. 

Next up in the ongoing Seven Up reviews  is Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art . Located in the centre of Glasgow, just off Buchanan Street and is probably most famous for having a statue of The Duke of Wellington outside it with a traffic cone on his head. Glaswegians eh?   As mentioned in the original piece , GoMA was quite a tricky one to review, being as it is quite small (relatively speaking) and walking around it is used to be a wee bit like wandering around a brightly lit rabbit warren as designed by Stanley Kubrick.     But it the intervening years the lighting in the gallery seems to have been softened and the use of space seems to have been altered so the whole place is now seemingly much bigger and much more warm and welcoming. Plus - as like last time -  the staff are always incredibly friendly and helpful with plenty of time to chat about the venues Autism provision which includes a variety of workshops and the availability of sensory backpack...

  The Autism leaving my body when someone says I don't look Autistic.

A triple bill of Autistic outings today as we revisit St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and art and also to an Autie-eye view of the Provand's Lordship and Glasgow Cathedral to see how the venues are fairing seven years on from Glasgow's Autism initiative . A quick note that these reviews will be fairly brief as (spoiler warning!) Glasgow Museums have actually been really consistent when it comes to Autism friendly venues since the original Autism initiative began all those years back in 2018 . So, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin, with the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art. As mentioned previously, named after Glasgow's patron saint and based in Glasgow's Cathedral Precinct, the museum is built on the site of the medieval Bishops’ Castle with galleries of objects and art exploring the importance of religion in peoples’ lives across the world and throughout history. Like Cassidy and his love for The Riverside Museum , St Mungo's is a favo...

Regular readers may have seen the post from a few weeks back regarding the removal of the seating used primarily by disabled students and their support staff at  City of Glasgow College and how it'd been replaced by a large, self-congratulatory poster. Looking into the issue I became aware that the college principal ( and Chief Executive Officer) Paul Little was behind the decision so decided to email him about it. Alas I received  no reply. As luck would have it I bumped into him in college today and  actually got a chance to discuss it with him. Well if being shouted at like an errant child for a mere nobody like me daring to question his decision whilst he shook his fist and turned an ever brighter shade of red is a discussion i mean.    Anger is an energy. So what I came away with (apart from a deep feeling of concern that someone in a position of authority and care in a place that has a high volume of disabled young adults could be so aggressive to a compl...