Donna Williams
Those of you who have read my blog for a long time know that I used to quote Donna Williams a lot. I have to thank her because she was really the first autie I ever read who began to change my perceptions about autism. Not only that, she is a marvellous writer and as you will see here, an artist. Enjoy this video made by her. I like the picture of her as a baby twirling a twig. Looks just like my Adam:
5 Comments:
i love donna willems as a feaml with autism she was the first i could realte to im also an artist and fishing up a book
I forgot to call.
Sorry.
Will be online if you want to talk via email.
S.
I had a very hard time reading Donna's book when I first found it a long time ago "the first book she published"
I read a little bit and had to put it away.. I thought to myself, this is the writing of someone who has a serious psychiatric disorder.
Later I picked it up again and was able to make it through the book.. I respect Donna for the involvement she has been in in the autism world.. But some of her latest writing bothers me greatly as she mixes psychiatric explantions to autistic people.
Her examples of Dog/Cat people also disturb me.
Hi Vicky,
I can't say I disagree with part of your point, but Donna was my foray into "autism lit" as well as of course, Temple Grandin. I could relate better to Donna's writing style, although I found Temples statement about autism ability extremely important. Temple has done a lot of practical work that is very important.
And there are so many other authors and bloggers who are autistic that I read and discovered and keeping learning and discovering....
Hello folks,
glad you've enjoyed the video.
for those who can't afford or don't want to buy the album its from, you can still hear (for FREE) samples of all the tracks on the CD baby sites for the albums http://www.cdbaby.com/donnaw and http://www.cdbaby.com/donnaw2 .
About the psychiatric challenges of mood, anxiety and compulsive disorders. Recent stats have suggested around 30% of people with ASD have co-occurring psych issues like these and the most recent stat I read suggested 63%, which is massive.
Unless someone comes with a big sign over their head saying 'anxiety disorder', 'mood disorder', 'compulsive disorder' its usually impossible to distinguish a melee of this stuff from the autism and often when its treated the 'autism' is dramatically less obvious because the person isn't so burdened.
So whilst 40-70% don't have co-morbid psychiatric stuff, I think its relevant to be open about it and positive that life is still full of possibilities for those with both autism and psychiatric challenges.
I have published 9 books in all and the most recent of them have lead the field to discover how rampant co-occurring sensory perceptual and psychiatric issues are in the ASD population but I certainly never proposed these apply to all. I've worked with over 600 people on the spectrum in my consulting work and I have a pretty good view of the vast diversity on the spectrum.
all the best to you all.
Warmly,
Donna Williams
http://www.donnawilliams.net
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