SPITTING YARN

Hi.

Welcome to my blog.

All tagged autism

Aug 21

Aug 21 Comfort zone

autism, culture, family, travel, memoir

“The heat is pressing in on us; a solid, slippery thing. I feel like I could cut it with a butter knife. The noise, rich smells and visual abundance of the souk have blurred into irrelevance because I am wholly focused on Spike and his distress.”

Butterfly Razorblade

Jun 8

Jun 8 Butterfly Razorblade

autism, memoir, family

“I saw how your attention might snag on the erratic movements of a butterfly, like a rough fingernail on the fuzz of a sweater.”

Oct 28

Oct 28 Don't

autism, creativity, family, memoir

A mini-zine about autism, anxiety and rules.

The audacity of death

Oct 1

Oct 1 The audacity of death

autism, Blogtober, family, memoir

“Auden [wrote] about grief and loss, but Spike shares his incomprehension at life having the audacity to go on after a death, (albeit viewed through his immature, egocentric world view - the death he is struggling with here is his own).”

Dec 29

Dec 29 Interscotia

autism, family, food, memoir

“Our routines are in tatters and we eat at odd times. We chug fatly towards New Year’s Eve. There is simply nothing to do except slide towards January 1st, particularly this year. And when the clock ticks over from 23:59 to 00:00, well, the year is over.”

Wish I was home?

Aug 17

Aug 17 Wish I was home?

autism, books, creativity, culture, family, memoir, travel

A mini-zine about holidays + autism.

Aug 10

Aug 10 Noisy Table

autism, culture, creativity, books

Make your own zine - or make mine!

Letter from lockdown

May 16

May 16 Letter from lockdown

autism, family, london, memoir

“Coronavirus cast its shadow over our chalk-edged island. WhatsApp groups thrummed with digital missives speculating about an Italian-style lockdown and my heart sank. Of all the Italian-style things I enjoy (coffee, ice cream, salad dressing), stringent lockdown measures are way down the list.”

May 3

May 3 Word arrows

autism, memoir, family, london

“Perhaps mindful that his words do not always have their desired effect, he gesticulates often. Finger writing fragments of his words which seem to hang in the air, like the trail of light that lingers when a sparkler is pulled through the dark.”

Sep 10

Sep 10 Homunculus

“…if I otherwise sang in the day, he would startle and clap his hands to his ears, recoiling, as if I had thrown a grenade in his lap.”

Aug 25

Aug 25 Margate

autism, culture, family, memoir, travel

“The road tilts down towards the south eastern edge, the sky grows bigger and I feel illuminated, lighter. And suddenly, there it is: the sea”

Jul 8

Jul 8 Blyton

autism, family, memoir, travel

“My school was nowhere so dramatic as the Cornish coastline. The nearest sea was the one frozen in the chalk of the nearby Downs which undulated their way from east to west.”

Apr 29

Apr 29 Hardcore

family, autism, memoir

“I lay in bed planning escape routes in the event of a domestic fire, and had wild dreams in which I had to stay hidden from unseen eyes, or else the world would end.”

Apr 2

Apr 2 Bubbles

autism, family, london

“When Spike was smaller, I remember giving him gifts that he liked so much, he couldn't look at them directly - only squint at them using his peripheral vision.”

Nov 22

Nov 22 Segue

autism, family, london

“The intensity and singular focus of his special interest and of the emotions it inspires seems akin to falling in love.”

Nov 6

Nov 6 Sometimes

“Sometimes, when we are asked "How was your day?" or "How are you?", we want to cast aside the "fine" that is bubbling on our lips and actually tell you.”

Oct 20

Oct 20 Future

“When we met with Spike's paediatrician for the first time, the words poured out of us like milk. We were grateful for a chance at certainty after months of carrying around this leaden question. "Is he autistic?".”

Oct 12

Oct 12 Curious

“If you fear my son, you make a monster of him.”

Oct 4

Oct 4 Pablo

“I took 10 minutes out of my day to watch the first episode of "Pablo" on CBeebies. It's a ten minute show, mixing live action and animation to tell the story of 5 year old Pablo, who is autistic.”

Sep 19

Sep 19 Light

autism, family, memoir

“Spike lay sleepy amongst the rumpled sheets of our bed. He squinted, raised his hand next to head and opened and closed his pudgy starfish fist. He had made the Makaton sign for "light".”