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“Butterflies”: A beautiful poem (and painting!) by Donna Williams

Thursday, November 26th, 2009
Filed under: Regular ContributorsDonna WilliamsThemesAuties & Aspies

butterfly

By now, you all know Donna Williams. Here’s a poem called “Butterflies” that Donna wrote recently.

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if someone takes your disabilities and makes them your
gilded cage
then you take charge of your disabilities like never before
for they are your fallibility, the keys to your cage

a key you allowed someone else to call theirs
because they taught you this was love and caring
and in the light of day you realise it had nothing to do
with you

so you look in the mirror and say, wow, there’s a fool
and brush off the dust and say, ok, so the world is full of
fools so I’m in good company

and you look at your life and say, wow, there’s an island
but islands can build bridges

and you look at your smile and say
wow, I’d forgotten I could wake up with this

and you look at your time and say
you ain’t Florence Nightingale, so follow that smile
because a heart shouldn’t be heavy
it should be light
because a heavy heart will never fly
and butterflies can.

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Buy Donna’s gorgeous (and reasonably priced!) paintings

(Holiday tip: Nothing says "I love you" like original art!)

Check out Donna’s band

(With a name like Donna and The Aspinauts, how can you resist?)

Read Donna’s blog and visit her website

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If you live in Canada, you can support Donna and Irked SIMULTANEOUSLY:

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“Like peanut butter and jelly, Cowboy and Wills are the perfect pair”

Monday, November 9th, 2009
Filed under: ThemesAuties & AspiesBooks & Book Reviews, QuIrked Kids, Irked VideosInterviews

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The book Cowboy & Wills opens the day after critically-acclaimed author Monica Holloway’s adorable three year-old son Wills is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She takes him to a pet store; and from her first impulse purchase of a full aquarium, Holloway quickly graduates to hermit crabs, hamsters, African dwarf frogs, and a rabbit. But like all children, what Wills wants most is a puppy. That Christmas, eight-week old Cowboy arrives and forever changes their lives.

Where Wills is cautious, fastidious, and tender hearted, Cowboy is rambunctious, affectionate, and impulsive. Soon, the boy who could barely say hello to his kindergarten classmates is going on playdates, learning to swim, and sleeping in his own bed. Through it all, Cowboy is there, dragging him toward other children and giving him the confidence to face his fears—with her by his side. But love is not enough to save the beautiful Cowboy from her fate, and the cruel world of puppy mills quickly catches up to them. When Cowboy is diagnosed with lupus, Wills and his family realize that they must be there for her, just as she was there for them.

Monica Holloway sat down with Simon Spotlight Entertainment (a division of Simon & Schuster) for a discussion of her life’s path as a mother and memoirist, and the unexpected trajectory this path has taken through her life. Here are the highlights:

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A riveting online chat with Pulitzer Prize winning (Aspie) author, editor, music critic, producer and professor Tim Page

Saturday, October 31st, 2009
Filed under: ThemesAuties & AspiesInterviewsBooks & Book Reviews

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Tim Page, author of “Parallel Play: Growing Up with Undiagnosed Asperger’s” and a Pulitzer Prize winning music critic, was online at washingtonpost.com Tuesday, October 27 to take readers’ questions and to discuss the effects of Asperger’s syndrome on his life and coping mechanisms he uses to treat it.

The entire conversation was fascinating (and well worth the read), but in case you’re in a hurry…here are some excerpts from Tim’s responses that leapt off the page:

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Autism Vox blog “in transition” yet again

Friday, October 30th, 2009
Filed under: ThemesAuties & Aspies

Autism_Vox_title_graphicBack in January, it was announced that popular Autism Vox blogger Kristina Chew, PhD would no longer be blogging for Blisstree.com.

Then, two months later, we met Jeff and Jill—Kristina’s replacements.

Which is why we were shocked to read Jeff’s goodbye note posted yesterday.

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Come back Autism Vox! Please come back!

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Spoken during the Trent University Community Leadership Awards ceremony…

Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Filed under: Regular ContributorsLewis SchofieldThemesAuties & AspiesQuIrked Kids

“Lewis, I think you embody the spirit of Trent—you’re mighty, tenacious and very creative,” said Su Ditta, a selection committee member, in front of a crowd of about 60 people.

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Donna Williams and Dr. Stephen Shore featured on the new Autism Hangout webinar

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Filed under: Regular ContributorsDonna WilliamsThemesAuties & AspiesInterviews, Irked Videos

Remember Craig Evans, the wonderful man behind autismhangout.com who interviewed Donna Williams via Skype earlier this year? Well, Craig recently interviewed Donna and Dr. Stephen Shore for his new “Thriving with Autism” webinar.

Here’s the absolutely remarkable, riveting interview:


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Learn more at:
autismhangout.com >>
autismasperger.net >>
&
donnawilliams.net >>

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Then…
Read Irked posts tagged “autism”
Read Irked posts tagged “interview”

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Lewis overhauls his website, and it shows!

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Filed under: Regular ContributorsLewis SchofieldThemesAuties & AspiesQuIrked Kids

LewisThisislewis.net has been updated in a major way…

According to Monsieur Lewis, “there’s lots of new and interesting links and some files you can download such as Famous People with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Famous People with Myasthenia Gravis.”

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So…

Check it out!

Check it out!

Check it out!

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Then…

Read all Irked posts by Lewis

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Donna Williams biopic in the works

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Filed under: Regular ContributorsDonna WilliamsThemesAuties & Aspies

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According to beverlyneroproductions.com, the upcoming biopic about Donna Williams’ life—titled “Nobody Nowhere,” based on Donna’s international best-selling autobiography of the same name—is officially “in development”!!!

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Sign up to receive email updates about the film

Then…

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Rethinking Mental Health: Competition for Ideas (LAST day to enter!)

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Filed under: Campaign Watch

Quoting author, filmmaker and co-founder of the Asperger’s Resource Group Larry Welkowitz, Ph.D.:

Special thanks to Anisha who sent me a notice about a real cool idea arising from a partnership between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Ashoka (the promoter of social entrepreneurship): A competition for new ideas about improving mental health, community by community (I might pass on an entry myself). The deadline is October 14 so hit their website and get going.

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Learn more about this extraordinary competition

Then…

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Mr. Lewis Schofield (aka Irked’s “Alphabet Souperintendent”) receives some Saskatchewanian good press!

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Filed under: Regular ContributorsLewis SchofieldThemesAuties & AspiesQuIrked Kids

Lewis_giving_thumbs_up_in_Hell_Michigan

“I just want them to know the facts

instead of all this gibberish.”

— Lewis Schofield

CBC.ca:

A 14-year-old Regina native, now living in Ontario, is earning recognition for his efforts in dispelling myths about autism, a general term for neurological disorders that can impair development. Lewis Schofield is a Grade 9 student in Peterborough, where Trent University is honouring him with a Community Leader Award for Youth. Schofield is often online, using blogs, artwork, videos and podcasts, providing information about his health issues including Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. He also participates in a Family Autism Forum on Yahoo. ”I was just doing what I always do,” Schofield said in an interview with CBC News. “I always do my best. It’s just how I was raised.” ”He was very surprised and very shocked that he had been nominated, never mind had actually won this honour,” Elyse Bruce, Schofield’s mother, told CBC news.

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Read the rest of this great article >>

Then…

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