Functioning labels are
useless

F
O
R

the autistic
person.

We don’t wake up every morning and think:
“I am so
low-functioning,

I feel
so sorry
for myself,

I
am
too needy

and I don’t
really
have a chance to be
valued”.

We wake up
and face the life
we have,
being the best
we can be.

If we have any hidden
abilities, they will remain
hidden.

Or we might show some special talent
but if we still look weird
or too different from our peers, we are
still pitied,
as if we are under constant
suffering.

And we don’t wake up
every morning and think:
“I am so high-functioning,
I look almost normal

. Today I will try to be normal,
like my peers.
I want to be just like them,
indistinguishable from them”.

We wake up
and face the life we have,
being the best
we can be.

— Martina at http://breaksintheverse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/my-story-told-by-someone-else.html?m=1

“Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important, Capture the good times. Develop from the negatives, And if things don’t work out, Take another shot”

(Via reddit)

“A sign seen in Luxembourg for a car parking space, translates as “If you take my place then take my disability”.“ (by bencracknell on reddit)

Just got back from ISAAC in Lisbon. The next one is in Toronto. Time to learn some sign language

Not sure how this passed me by. Check out more on Martin Finn and the whole “Autisms got Talent 2012” on google.

Martin Finn - You’re Beautiful (Live @ Autism’s Got Talent 2012) - YouTube

The ramblings of a mad person. So I figure I can do something as a weekend bit of fun and do a Open source version of a Tandem Master using a Teensy. There is some code to work from (see the bitbucket listed here)

My soldering is shoddy. I’m going to hold my breath and try and dig deep to do some C to make this work - if you fancy giving me a hand I’m all ears (NB: There is a real need to get this working. It is for fun but there are users who need this..)

theotsiproject:

Terrific visual of handwriting grips. #OT #Handwriting #Grips

Real classy inclusion Mr Photographer

“If you want to take my parking, take my disability” Sign in Saudi.

I keep getting picked up on my pronunciation of town names up in Manchester and I think of this.

For individuals who struggle to re-position a mouse it can be useful to build a frame so when they hit the edge it’s a reminder to lift up and re-place the mouse in the middle. Well, make one or use your degree certificate..

Been following these ideas for a while since the early trials in Sweden/Denmark. Nice to see its working in the UK too.

laughingsquid:

Poynton Regenerated, English Village Revives Town Center by Removing Traffic Signals

Fab video - chuffed to bits for everyone who got involved with this. The outcome is great.

If you look at the research on vocabulary acquisition, you’ll find a surprising result: weirdly enough, learning groups of similar words (apple, pear, banana) is significantly harder to learn. You’ll be much better off if you either learn words in unrelated groups (apple, dog, red) or in groups that form stories (apple, sweet, to eat). — Interesting article discussing the research on efficient ways of learning vocabulary. In short - chain words together to learn them - not group them in categories. Be aware though - this doesn’t neccessarily mean categorising them in a AAC system is a bad idea - its just questioning how we learn the words. See here for the full article.

Hellen Keller and her communication system.

“It is not blindness or deafness that bring me my darkest hours,”.. “It is the acute disappointment in not being able to speak normally. Longingly I feel how much better I could have done if I had acquired normal speech. But out of this sorrowful experience, I understand more fully all human tragedies, thwarted ambitions, and the infinite capacity of hope.”

See also this video of Anne Sulliivan and Helen with some more information about her speech development.

This is a pretty amazing little film. Interesting for anyone interested in Occupational Therapy, Assistive Technology, AAC and Communication, film-making.. Everyone.

Wonderful little film. The backstory is just as interesting.

Shelter: a look at Manchester's homeless. Full film. from Mike Staniforth on Vimeo.

CiteUSync (python)