Living with Autism

Got back from Aus last week. Forgive delay in posting as I managed to smuggle a cold back into the country - in my own head.
So a little photo diary of the trip:

First stop as always was Singapore. We flew Singapore Airlines and I simply cannot overstate how important it is to fly with a good airline when you have special needs kids. We get our priority seating choice, we get priority boarding. We get treated like Royalty when we do board and Liam gets to settle comfortably for the hour or so it takes everyone else to board and secure their hand luggage. We get our child meals and we get the worlds most fantastic economy service. Yes, I wish that they would fly direct out of Dublin - but they don't so we go via London Heathrow or Amsterdam..

This time I booked night flights and that was also wonderful as I got a good nights sleep prior to leaving and a full day to fuss around with suitcases and prepare. Also good to arrive in Singapore in the evening and get a good nights sleep in …

I have a confession to make;
I just cried at a Jack Black movie.

No, not at how bad "Gulliver's Travels" was (which it was) but at School of Rock when the kids play:

I love this movie, and watching it again on Film 4 I just realised why.

You see, when I was in High School in the 80's - I was kind of in a band.

It's okay, nobody let me sing. Or play anything really. But I wrote a song and my English/Music/Video Making Teacher Don Kerby liked it enough to make everyone in the class with any real talent play and record it.
He was in a band too.

Another Lisa -  Lisa Widgery, sang lead vocal. Robert Bell was on Lead Guitar. My friends Helen and Mandy played flute (one of the few flute solos of the 80's) and I may have got to hit a xylophone during the recording at Redwood Studios
I cannot be sure that my few donks of a xylophone made the final mix. But the video made by the Video Making Class of.. I wanna say 1994?  was on Glen Ridge's Channel Six Music Show.

I…

Correlation does not imply causation
I have been wary of discussing a certain ex-Medical Doctor and his faked and fraudulent evidence to prove that Autism was caused by toxicicity of anything a parent may have done to protect their child from preventable diseases. Not because I ever believed it - no Sirree! I have two beautiful and very healthy children who happen to have Autism.
But because any discussion of the above topic will usually bring on a hail of Trolls whose only mission in life seems to be to believe just about anything that cannot be proved. The Earth is flat, and it was made by a Guy riding a Cloud in 7 days, and You Know What causes Autism - they believe it.


I can see where the myth starts, and for that I forgive the parents who were bamboozled into believing it.
People talk about Autism "kicking in" suddenly at the age of 18 months or so. They also talk about "Degenerative Autism" which is not a real thing. What they are experiencing is actually increa…