Hey there
Zifendorf, you are a star.... you pretty much got it mostly right...You stated my reality pretty much as I see it
mate. Good for you, and a damned sight better than most bother!
I loved the part about just being someone muddling along... don't you worry, this reclusive life I choose gives me some of that! thank god huh... or I'd go nuts. The public eye thing is totally not my thing... I'm a creator, not a performer, an artist, not someone who likes or even tolerates applause well or gawking or any of that and certainly not the 'what color is your underwear' style interrogations... celebrity? yeah well we both know what we think of that. I still have my opinions... don't worry you'll be happy to know I'm writing fiction now... films in fact... but in any case there's some things people don't know.
I am actually NOT pro-medication AT ALL and have been really flustered that people have taken me that way. I was staunchly against in total but only ever felt I had a right to decide that for myself and when I found I was safer on it than off it (mostly because of suicide risk due to extreme mood, anxiety, compulsive disorder stuff, but also impact on immune deficiency) well, I still NEVER proclaimed that this was for all people with a label... just that if someone was at serious risk of safety or health at this level it was an option... otherwise I NEVER suggest medication and even if I do think it might help I ALWAYS tell people to try environmental strategies FIRST, supplements and diet second and only if their are clear health indicators these are needed for very important health reasons and only medication last as in this way even if it is needed it is likely far far less of a dose than would otherwise be.
I am certainly not PRO-medication but knowing what the real risks of long term immune deficiency really are (cancers, death from a cold), the reasl risks of co-morbid mood disorders that lead to suicide risk or severe anxiety or compulsive disorders that significantly up the impact of untreated mood disorders THEN, for these MEDICAL conditions, yes, I support whatever makes people stay alive BECAUSE I celebrate their lives... I COMPLETELY respect the need to fight neuroleptic abuse, I myself was drugged at age nine with sedatives that didn't help me and which made me anti medication as an adult... BUT, I have also seen people kill themselves who didn't have to and I strongly fight for recognition of medical co-morbid conditions occuring under the label and considered part of the package of someone's Autism diagnosis.
I DO NOT think Autism is treatable with medication nor that it should be, but I DO believe that some extremely overtly distressed people who pull out their own eyeballs (you know I met one!), walk deliberately in front of traffic intent on getting killed, etc not because of autism but because of unmedicated undiagnosed mood disorders... yes, I will not ignore what I see...many of these folks have family members who committed suicide... same in my family. I, for example, have 4 relatives on one side of the family who have done so and many more who are substance abusers, have attempted suicide, gone to jail for violence or are diagnosed with depression and one with bipolar... more than many but really not uncommon in those who come to me as a consultant (and I wish too they were all healthy, safe, just dealing with Autism but they generally aren't.
So, THIS is where I'm coming from. To extend it into some political statement about treating Autism is not understanding what I'm really on about... had I know that Exposure Anxiety was underpinned by mood, anxiety and compulsive disorders I'd have said that these medical conditions can combine to cause a problem that exaccerbates suffering in some people with Autism and which is unecessary. This doesn't 'cure' their Autism, just makes life possible for some who were otherwise extremely distressed.
Anyway, hope that clears things on the medication front.
I also wrote a quote about being a Social Philosopher. I have never considered myself an expert, only a philosopher, raising possibilities worth exploring that have made so called experts look in places they otherwise never had. So what I write as theory should only be taken as that. Others have called me an expert, I see myself as a philosopher.
Thankyou so much for your kindness.
I'm glad you liked Nobody Nowhere and Not Just Anything. You know I'm really proud of the poetry book. Its my favorite. Feel free to review it for me on Amazon ok? Nobody has yet! .... oh and there's a second album, even better than the first... it had an autie producer and songs like 'beautiful behavioural mutations' and 'simply be', etc which are very very autie friendly and damned challenging stuff to the status quo out there.... you can have a listen on the CD Baby site if you like. And there is also a fourth Autie-Biography in the series, Everyday Heaven, which you haven't got on your list. A reviewer who doesn't like my other three loved that one... it covers stuff about deaths and sex as I moved out of my Asexual phase and into a Bisexual one... another fact you haven't mentioned but would have if you'd read that one.
Anyway, truly a pleasure to have met you. Thankyou for supporting my humanness and dignity.
Warmly,
Donna Williams *)
ever the naughty autie