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I must have missed that memo in me younger days..
I know it sounds cynical
And I remember and episode of Star Trek where the Enterprise crew landed in a funky world where they flicked the lamp on their table on and off in appreciation of the act.....
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
On a residential course I was attending, there would regularly be impromptu performances during mealtimes, with enthusiastic applause. However, there was a toddler in attendance who was very upset by the noise, so we got into the habit of applauding with two fingers on each hand, which made an appreciative (toddler-approved) rustling noise.
There was also Ivor Cutler, member of the Noise Abatement Society, who disapproved of loud clapping, as he told the audience at a sold-out Royal Festival Hall (he was supporting Elvis Costello). Cue several thousand people trying to clap very quietly.
It's quite fun to have your expectations overturned like that. And to try to combine enthusiasm with being quiet, too.
Ironically I heard about this story from Alex Brooker's twitter feed.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
I still wouldn't have gone though, wretched places
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
I know I'm a bit of an old fart, but at least when I was the age of these students, did not go on about the PC rubbish that seems to be going on with student unions now. More interested in smoking a joint listening to music, and generally having a good time, or trying to ban the bomb protest against the Vietnam War, Greenham common and other good causes. Maybe because my generation were in fear of a nuclear holocaust at any moment. would we wake up in the morning, or would Khrushchev and Kennedy have pressed the button. I can remember the last few words what would have been broadcast if the four-minute warning come, sit down, , put your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye, or words to that effect.
https://www.chickenshed.org.uk/
https://www.chickenshed.org.uk/Event/planet-play-autumn18
Your life will improve when you realise it’s better to be alone than chase people who do not really care about you. Saying YES to happiness means learning to say NO to things and people that stress you out.
https://www.facebook.com/grahame.pollard.39/
"I don’t know much about autism but surely if you keep on accommodating and making allowances it’s not progress? It doesn’t help people overcome their problems and live a ‘normal’ functioning life?"
Yes it is progress. The quote in bold gets me because it's presenting this idea that autism is something a child can just overcome. This is palpably untrue in many cases. You find other ways of getting to the solution/end product but you don't overcome the problem.
When I have to grab Adam because he follows those people ducking across the road when the red man is up, it is making allowances. It isn't measurable progress. He can cross the road safely but he can sometimes forget when he's in a big crowd because he's overloaded in the sensory department (which is one reason why jazz hands works for autistic people. I've seen Adam react to an ambulance go past as if he's been tortured).
There is no way to totally overcome these barriers. You work around them.
Which feeds into the next section...
"I’d want them to learn and adopt coping mechanisms." - this is one of the hardest elements of autism. The way Adam sees things, he sees the start of the journey and the end of the journey. Figuring out the bits in the middle is the bit he finds so damn difficult. You may want them to find coping mechanisms but there could be a chance that they simply do not have the ability to develop the mechanisms you can and think they should.
"But I can speak as a parent and I wouldn’t want the world to change for my kids."
So if you had a kid in a wheelchair and the school didn't have wheelchair ramps, you'd be unhappy if that world then changed to include ramps? Putting Braille on signs for visually impaired kids is changing the world for them. Greater awareness for people with needs is changing the world for them, and that is as it should be.
I'm not trying to shoot you down and I hope this doesn't come over as being a shooting gallery. Autism is a fucking hard condition to understand, let alone parent. I'm sure @Chalky and others on this forum who are in a similar position to me would emphasise this point. What can come over as 'making allowances' is actually 'best practice' when looking after an autistic child.
Her words have stayed with me. You cannot fix autism. The kids cannot develop out of it. You certainly cannot overcome it. Back then someone told me its like a squeezed balloon - suppress it in one place and it pops up elsewhere. That's true. Coping strategies and mechanisms are good, but they are like crutches - they assist but do not cure, they do nothing to heal, and when they break, which they do at some point, you are back on your arse at square one.
Autism documentaries are really annoying. They typically show autistic folks at the lighter end of the spectrum or those who with high-functioning Aspergers. Rather like pointing @Heartfeltdawn's example kid in a wheelchair at the Paralympics and saying "Hey you could win a gold medal!", this puts a glossy sheen of TV optimism on a situation that is unrepresentative of the vast majority of sufferers.
The TV documentaries don't visit the homes of those young adults who have been through all the therapies, coping mechanisms, teaching, nurturing, loving care and support and are still never going to be functioning adults. Like those cancer victims who are diagnosed early and still die within the year, the media doesn't want to show them because ordinary people don't want to think about them. Why? Because its its too hard. If you get beyond that, they then try to blame someone - surely its the fault of the teachers, carers, therapists, parents, Government, someone!!
No - its the fault of Autism.
Now, I bet some reading this will think "he's being very negative". That is the last refuge of people. "If you are positive, it will all work out in the end". And with that those people leave reality behind and move into a world of superstition, where a positive mental attitude beats everything. Cancer? Just be positive! MND? Just be positive! Autism? Just be positive and it will be alright in the end. No it won't.
I actually disagree with the jazz hands because I don't want to stop other kids making noise - its one of those things that kids do to express emotions. Its a good thing. Sure it affects my kids. A ramp for a wheelchair user, braille on signs, the provision of a quieter and darker sideroom for kids who suffer sensory overload, none of these prevent the enjoyment of mainstream kids moving around them. But its wrong to stop kids doing something as natural as expressing emotion through loud sounds. Electric guitar anyone?