Living with Autism

This year, Gracie is saying "Happy" when prompted to give a seasonal greeting.
So Happy Happy to all my friends and supporters. It has been a huge year for me and my company.  A lot of hard graft but also a lot of lovely feedback and that is what keeps me going on the difficult days.

My lovely Gracie is doing great at the moment, lots of unique requests* and interaction. Lots of giggles and fun so we have nothing to complain about.
Liam has made a huge list of DVD box sets that he wants. Like everyone, Santa was a little bit short of cash this year but he managed to find a few of them and a few surprises too.

To make it easier on parents, Santa, Aunties, Uncles, Grandparents or really cool supportive friends who want to help you get the gift of independent communication, you can now get Grace App for €20 or $25 which is the average value of an iTunes Gift Card, for the next few days.
Even if you don't have a device yet, you can download the app on your iTunes account an…

Liam made this lovely picture a few years ago, inspired by an episode of "Bear in the Big Blue House" or "Arthur." Note: the Colombia Tristar™ inspired winged horse pulling a carriage. Last time we were in Ballarat he had my sister find him a Menorah in an antique store. And my sister was delighted to find a lovely neon blue Krishna light that she plugged in on the deck to add to our ecumenical holidays that year.

So whatever you celebrate, I want to wish you a wonderful season. And please, if you have any trouble sorting out your priorities with regard to obligations, always put your immediate family first. You will never have cause to regret the time you spend with your kids doing what they like, whatever that is.

xx

It is my Liam's Birthday as of 5 am on 11th December. 

Still as beautiful to me as he was when I first held him in my arms 14 years ago.

And at the noodle market last weekend.






PS. It's also The Grace App Wizard's 23rd Birthday today. Go and wish him a Happy Birthday here

Here's a lovely new video made by Grace App Developer Steve Troughton-Smith.

For your interest, it explains how a person might request a particular DVD featuring our favourite little red monster, ask for help with choosing a chapter, request a snack, and a particular drink all using the features built in to the App. In essence the idea is to explain how Grace App gets you whatever you want.

xx

Just watched "You've got mail" with the previously quite adorable Meg Ryan and always loveable (to women at least) Tom Hanks. (why do men HATE Tom Hanks so much?!?)

So it got me to thinking about all the things that have changed since this supposedly era defining film was released.

* Big super store putting small personal but obviously much more expensive shop out of business.

Ok. This happens. It happened when we were all rich but we wanted more stock and we wanted more STUFF like coffee and muffins AND books at the same time. It also happens in small villages where a big shopping centre with a roof and free parking opens up out of town and suddenly your rainy parking officer infested main street becomes a pain in the butt. Then it becomes a dog shit footpathed, pound shop & thrift store boarded up wasteland.
However, when was the last time you went into Easons/Borders/Angus&Robertson to ask if your favourite author had anything new, and was told "no, but …

Remember how I said the Tabloids wouldn't cover "Life With Autism"  because they couldn't find a negative angle?
Seems The Irish Daily Star did.....


Don't worry, I am using that "Selfish" headline on Mr Hammie every time he fails to bring me tea or a glass of wine..

I was also kind of perplexed to see a thread on a Special Needs Discussion board saying how sad it made them feel??

I was heartened to hear from the producer who said that the show had got HUGE viewing figures and she was delighted. I had hoped that this would mean the media could start telling positive stories about disability and special needs without losing ratings.

As the show is no longer on Real Player you can't watch it but hopefully someone might get it uploaded to vimeo so you can watch it yourself and judge.

In any case I had some really good news to share. I made it on to a Beauty Blog!

I was in the chemist on Monday night getting Gracie's prescription filled (at the last …

In case you hadn't heard, The Domican Family (aka; Boo, Bratty and Mr Hammie et al) appeared in a television documentary last week called "Life With: Autism"

It was part 3 of a series of programs which demonstrate that life with a serious condition can be just as joyful and rewarding as any other, sometimes more so. We took a risk taking part but have to say that while the experience of filming and being interviewed was quite stressful, the final result was wonderful.

Gracie in her little nest
If you are in Ireland you can watch it on the above link. If you are outside of Ireland you have to wait until we can get it uploaded on to something else. When you do watch it you will get to meet not only my children but my other half, who finally gets to tell his side of the story. It was so positive in fact that the press department of the TV company had trouble getting any additional media coverage for it. Seems it is easy to latch on to a hard luck story like: "My Autism H…