in regione caecorum rex est luscus

Watch this space

2011-12-24T18:56:00.004Z

I expect that this link will have changed by boxing day into something other than a picture of a boozy beggar enjoying a pint of German beer in the middle of Brum. http://larry-arnold.net/Scenery/wales.htm

The world does not know what it is missing

2011-12-01T23:50:00.000Z

It is with a shared sadness that I repeat this email that was distributed to the disability studies list by Colin Barnes (professor of Disability Studies at Leeds University) today. "Dear All It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of Vic Finkelstein, arguably the most important figure in the history of the ongoing struggle for meaningful equality for disabled people both in

In 1649, To St. George's Hill....

2011-11-18T13:54:00.002Z

I thought it was about time I commented on contemporary events and the crisis in capitalism, but as usual I will chose to do so from a historical perspective. Leon Rosselson wrote the song and I am sure given his political persuasions he will not mind me posting the lyrics, and Billy Bragg (amongst others sang it) The video I include is from Kevin Brownlows film about Winstanley and the

Interconnections

2011-08-21T18:34:00.000+01:00

Never mind the internet, never mind the "modern" or if you prefer "post modern" world. We all have connections. Last night while searching for something else I came across Nasa Begum's dissertation. "the burden of care" The reason why I have a copy is because Nasa was a courteous and responsible researcher and made sure that those interviewees who contributed to her study had a copy. One of

Harvard Referencing

2011-08-21T17:08:00.000+01:00

I do not doubt that I have had a grumble about the necessity for this in the past, however I was recently reminded of a time when it would have been useful. I was responding to a post in a research list and referencing my memory of an article I had referered to in a report which in turn had referred to a study, all this back in 1987 before google and the internet mind you. Now that is vague if

Disability Assessments and stuff

2011-08-11T20:55:00.001+01:00

Yes I can hear the sirens howling even now that I am one of the intellectual elite studying at a fancy University and I ought not to grumble, but when did that ever stop me. Yes I know my blogs get more esoteric by the bushel (whatever that is?) but heaven forbid I should write anything about "les evenements" and be thought of as a would be looter if I could just get it together to start a "riot"

Cat Watching

2011-07-19T21:04:00.003+01:00

As I walked back from the local shops this evening a cat strayed across my path. I watched the cat watching me. Cats are naturally set up to notice the smallest deviations in their environment and to see that as either a potential danger or a source of opportunity. I have never known a cat to miss a source of opportunity. And so it is today that after some little local difficulty over fee levels

Chiasmus

2011-05-23T20:00:00.007+01:00

I am oft reminded of a phrase spoken by the fool in twelfth night: "Wit, an't be thy will, put me into good fooling! Those wits, that think they have thee, do very oft prove fools; and I, that am sure I lack thee, may pass for a wise man: for what says Quinapalus? Better a witty fool than a foolish wit"That might be taken as a general truism that wisdom is found in

An opportunity not to be missed.

2011-04-21T19:56:00.000+01:00

Chair The National Autistic Society (NAS) was founded almost 50 years ago by a group of parents who were passionate about ensuring a better future for their children. Today, with a turnover of nearly £90 million and over 3000 staff, the Society has 20,000 members, more than 100 branches, and provides information, advice and specialist services to 100,000 people living with autism every year

African Dictators and all that

2011-03-30T20:00:00.001+01:00

Little did I know that shortly after I had posted my little recollection of times past with former African heads of State that a new scandal was about to break loose. Had I lived a little later and gone to the LSE instead of Warwick I might have rubbed shoulders with the scion of the Gadaffi family instead of General Gowon. Well whatever I don't know what is more scandalous, that unlike the

A little interlude from my interesting past

2011-02-03T22:52:00.003Z

I was thinking today about all this turmoil in Egypt and what I expect will be the imminent departure of Hosni Mubarak, but does anyone wonder what ever becomes of such past bêtes noir when they have been ousted? I am going back now to an incident in my history when I was a student at Warwick University. It was considered in terms of the student body to be a rebellious and a revolutionary body,

Owning Autism

2011-01-16T22:59:00.004Z

I guess the fact that my Supervisor and I have just submitted an abstract for a poster at the 2011 IMFAR is enough to put the wind up some, but having got that out of the way I shall now be working up a proposal for something much closer to home. I enclose the call for proposals below. Out of respect for Autscape I am not accepting any comments on this. AUTSCAPE 2011: OWNING AUTISM Monday 22

A beautiful Mind

2011-01-07T11:18:00.009Z

No the author is not talking about himself here he is talking about the movie. I have recently been re-watching the movie, and a few things have struck me about it. I don't intend to do the obvious here, play Lili Marlene's game and attempt to slap a dx of my own on the guy, but there are parts of the Russel Crowe's interpretation of the part that reminded me of myself at Uni as a loner not

Ethics and Confidentiality and personal story in the third person

2010-11-24T22:11:00.000Z

There is a conference presentation that has done the rounds, maybe is still doing it, where one of the slides contains a quotation from one of the "anonymous" participants in the research. I have seen this three times now, and each time, there is a certain tension in that the presenter has indicated that the author of that comment may well be in the audience. Indeed the author of that comment

An irritating and expensive day.

2010-11-06T17:16:00.002Z

Ever have one of those days? Got up ridiculously early to drive 80 miles to a meeting that isn't until next week ! Never mind that the clutch is playing up so I am not sure I will be able to risk driving that far again next week for the proper date without getting it seen to first, which could be horrendously expensive, considering this month I have to pay my car tax too, and I was overdrawn

All ship shape and Bristol Fashion

2010-10-09T21:21:00.000+01:00

I awoke this morning in the midst of a very strange dream, I am sure it will give the old fashioned analysts a field day, and some of my less sympathetic readers too, but so what, I am going to show and tell. To begin with I was on the regular 33 bus travelling toward my old college at this current time, and on the way I encountered a number of people who were students with me, on the way to

Catching up

2010-09-17T21:12:00.000+01:00

I can now reveal that the mysterious endeavour of my last blog was not successful, yep I failed. In what you might ask? Well that would be telling, and I am not inclined to share all my failures, they would be too many. So what has happened in my rather unusual life recently? Well I am nursing a swollen ankle again, having injured it on the last day of Autscape after an evening's stargazing at

Domine ad adjuvandum

2010-08-18T22:48:00.001+01:00

Well whatever. I am about to endeavour on something which I am not really inclined to tell anyone what it is. If it is successful then I have no doubt you will get to hear about it (and in some cases be truly apalled and afraid no doubt), but if I do not succeed (and I do not expect I will) then it will be like most of my endeavours merely "mingiare ad ventum" as the saying is in Eeyore land.

To scan or not to scan, that is the question

2010-08-14T13:16:00.001+01:00

New brain scan to diagnose autism By Jane Hughes Health correspondent, BBC News This is the story that broke whilst I was off away being Autistic (with a capital A) in the temporary UK capital of Autism at Autscape this year, enjoying an autistic paradigm (no that is not a malapropism) Whilst others have beat me to the blog my response will be measured and will have to

The train it won't stop going no way to slow down

2010-07-30T20:01:00.004+01:00

In the shuffling madness that is Birmingham New Street station, I got on the wrong train today. It would not have been so bad if it had just been the wrong train going in the opposite direction as I would have got off at the next stop and hoped nobody checked my ticket on the way back. However I got on a train totally devoid of passengers going to no station at all. I suppose it was all too

Nothing to do with autism

2010-07-22T14:06:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I returned from a conference, which took place in the rather scenic building you see here. It's the first conference for a while where I wasn't presenting, and the first conference that has had nothing to do with either autism, disability or education so it made a refreshing change. In fact it was a conference on research ethics in the generality, my interest in attending being

Abandoned Cars

2010-07-16T09:08:00.000+01:00

I scanned Autismo this morning with a sense of despair. There they are the "usual suspects" going about their business as if there were no progress in the world. Blindly adhering by faith and obstinacy to their pet theories as if they made any difference to the world outside. "ABA good, anything else bad" as if all one needed for life is one pair of trousers one never outgrew and that ever

The Lions Den, or to Cambridge then I came.

2010-06-08T22:59:00.002+01:00

I don't suppose too many people had an interest in my cryptic last blog, for those who are still curious, it was from the Norse Eddas, Havamal, to be precise. Well we don't know our fate, and I don't know if we even make it or not, it is la Machine Infernale, as Cocteau put it in his famous play. But my topic for today is neither the Greek nor the Norse classics, without a passing knowledge of

Ragnarok

2010-05-29T00:37:00.000+01:00

Veit ec at ec hecc vindga meiði netr allar nío, geiri vndaþr oc gefinn Oðni, sialfr sialfom mer, a þeim meiþi, er mangi veit, hvers hann af rótom renn. Við hleifi mic seldo ne viþ hornigi, nysta ec niþr, nam ec vp rvnar, opandi nam, fell ec aptr þaðan. David Cameron (if that is your real name) and Ian Duncan Smith, do you think you can resist your destiny, your doom? You are numbered!

The academic grind

2010-05-18T23:21:00.000+01:00

My key note presentation at the Normalcy conference last week, went down a storm, the material I quoted from fellow blogger Chaotic Idealism was particularly well received. It was certainly the best presentation I have done so far and I don't think, for a variety of reasons, that it will be forgotten in a hurry. But that is not the end of it. I have just about completed my poster on Ethics for

The can of worms

2010-05-10T09:20:00.000+01:00

For Martin Luther it was the diet of worms, for me it seems a can of worms, I'm not going to eat them :- It seems I still have not made myself clear enough. Over the past few days and if you look at Square 8 and LBRB you can see more discussion, hub bloggers have been indulging in even more navel gazing and recriminations, old wounds have been opened, disputes going back almost a decade, re

A true story and a little lesson about functioning level.

2010-05-09T10:04:00.004+01:00

Picture a women, who is so physically impaired that she cannot even get out of bed or sit up in it without assistance. She cannot get dressed without assistance or use the toilet. When she does her number 2's somebody has to wipe her bottom for her. She cannot cut up her food, and sometimes can't even even lift it off her plate to her mouth. Her hands don't look like hands ought to any more, they

The Amanda Baggs controversy

2010-05-07T19:32:00.001+01:00

No links there, no pack drill. I have been drilling down within this (what to outsiders is no doubt incomprehensible) controversy which has exploded on the autism hub. There is, and has been for some time a lot of controversy over the veracity of Amanda Baggs. Statement by Larry here. "I do not believe and never have that Amanda is low functioning" Now the qualification for that statement

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't

2010-05-06T11:31:00.000+01:00

It will not fail to have reached many fellow bloggers notice, that yet another internecine war has broken out between hub and ex hub posters, never mind the long rumbling war between hubsters and the age of autism, and their associates. Perhaps it has come time to call a halt on the hub and for each of us to go our separate ways, as the criticisms I made of the hub, when I was the subject of an

Not what you expect, but then it never is.

2010-05-01T21:48:00.001+01:00

I think I may have almost missed the boat for this "blogging against disablism day" For a start off it is ableism, cognate with racism, not disablism, whoever contorted the language to come up with that one?! But having got that particular semantic horrorshow out of my system I will procede with a poem, not even a new one, it has a date which is it's title - “Be not afraid” - 9th Oct. 1980

Enemies Part II

2010-04-22T09:44:00.001+01:00

The reading for today is "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer", which would explain why my blog is pointing towards Autism Speaks again today. There has recently been some speculation on line that the Autismo hub much popularised by the New Republic is to be avoided, not to mention to be declared anathema, because it not only highlights the blogs of those who oppose our opinions, it

Enemies

2010-04-16T21:48:00.003+01:00

Once in a while I become somewhat self indulgent in celebration of the eclectic mess of eccentricities that I am, in posting things that you can't google. Maybe someone else will recall a performance by the 'divine' Sarah Bernhardt, where she and her compatriots were on stage representing 'les Cathedrales de France' and she was Rheims, this was after the first world war of course and somewhere

The road less travelled

2010-04-14T19:46:00.005+01:00

We all know them, there is a certain tribe amongst us neuro diverse people who speak of cure and curse what they might have been but for the 'demon' of autism that possesses them. They tend to be resentful of others achievements and condemn there fellows at University as 'shiny aspies' as if we had a life in any wise different to theirs. Well I shall play with that thought experiment of 'what

Equal under God, we will not die because you want us to!

2010-04-13T22:30:00.000+01:00

"Until the philosophy which hold one race Superior and another inferior Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned Everywhere is war, me say war" Well I add this codicil, that until the philosophy that hold one person Superior and another inferior Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned Everywhere is war. I will not have it that there are those who seek our destruction

Out of Leamington

2010-04-12T22:42:00.001+01:00

Out of Leamington came Aleister Crowley but also this :- And in case that is a bit dated this also : - Yep you can't take that away from me, no you can't take that away from me. (F Sinatra) Well see you there at the next Peace festival time coming, I will be there and my flute.

I've seen things....

2010-04-10T12:40:00.000+01:00

"I don't know why he saved my life. Maybe in those last moments he loved life more than he ever had before. Not just his life - anybody's life; my life. All he'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us want. Where did I come from? Where am I going? How long have I got? All I could do was sit there and watch him die." Well when faced with uncertain times there is a phrase that carries

Don't let us be thrown to the lions.

2010-04-09T01:44:00.001+01:00

All I seem to read on a variety of blogs lately is a lot of controversy regarding ASAN. Well I will remind everybody of what it says in the book of Daniel. Yes I know this is a rather fundementalist thing to be doing, but you see my religion does tend to give me that perspective of absolute right and wrong. Call it black and white thinking if you like but sometimes we really do need to realise

A little lesson in linguistics, or the people first shibboleth.

2010-03-11T10:13:00.003Z

Chomsky notwithstanding (who talks of a technical reconstruction of syntax rather than a pedaogogical grammar ) The reality of grammar in terms of "people first" language means less than the actual usage and it's connotations. That is to say the communicative intent and how it is understood in any particular community always takes precedence over any strict 'by the book' rule I do not have

The wheat and the chaff

2010-03-09T21:26:00.002Z

In any system there is always a level of noise that interferes with the essential communicative process, at some point the noise becomes so severe that any message is liable to become swamped by it. It pains me to do this, and I know what the reaction of those who will suffer most from this decision will be, but I am going to employ much stricter moderation on this blog from now on. There is

Campaign to end discrimination in human fertilisation (update)

2010-03-06T17:35:00.003Z

Readers may recall a recent blog post, highlighting a particular incidence of such discrimination here and now, and may recall my intent to do some wider campaigning around this issue and wonder what happened.Well academic work got in the way, that is what happened. However it is time to become active again and provide an update.To begin with the expected response from an email campaign to

Another one bites the dust

2010-02-18T15:50:00.002Z

Has anyone else yet noticed that John Best Jnr's blogs have disappeared from e-blogger?Did someone get a result there? Is this a victory against hate speech?

Another Study Refutes Vaccination-Autism Link Whether measles shot was alone or in combination didn't matter, researchers say

2010-02-13T15:00:00.004Z

It is not my usual procedures to copy articles but this one certainly kicks the monkey study in the balls.I cite the abstract in full:Objective: The first objective of the study was to determine whether there is a relationship between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism in children. The second objective was to examine whether the risk of autism differs between use of MMR and

Nothing new under the sun DSMV

2010-02-11T15:36:00.002Z

So at long last the deliberations on DSMV are out. Well it has been what some of us have been predicting and campaigning for, for some time, a little logic in the equation, a little nod to where the research is actually pointing.Indeed there is nothing new under the sun and it does not behove me to write anything new either, this is what I am on record as having said in 2005. (from whichever way

The Cure or enough is enough.

2010-02-06T21:33:00.005Z

Well to begin with how does one conjecturalise tinnitus? a disability or an impairment or to quote one of Thomas Hardy's characters in 'a pair of blue eyes' an infernal frying of fish?It is not as if I have not "suffered" from this phenomenon for longer than I can remember which would be well over forty years, but only recently did I assay the possibility that I could actually be rid of it.Well

Genetics, Eugenics and Autism. It is not too late for action.

2010-01-03T22:04:00.010Z

This is undoubtedly one of my longer blogs coming in at something like 3500 words. I hope you have the patience to see it through as the implications are very important, and in my follow up blogs I will be suggesting courses of action you can participate in if you feel as strongly about this issue as I and some of my colleagues do.Those who have followed my comments on the sundry blogs throughout

Genetics and Eugenics: Time for action

2010-01-03T20:09:00.003Z

As the scurilous and effervescent Socrates has suggested, I am working on something at the moment.Well this is just an interim statement to say that my first position statement (why do they always have to be position statements, it sounds so pompous) on this particular issue first broached by my colleague Mike Stanton, and more recently re-iterated here, will have it's gestation later tonight, it

Being Prepared

2009-12-29T19:35:00.001Z

I am not an "end of the world as we know it" died in the wool survivalist inspite of owning a 4WD, but a number of events over the past year or so have shown up the need to be prepared.Firstly I had to evacuate after a fire, and did not take a lot with me, I was not much better prepared the second time either when I left altogether quicker than the first time forgetting my keys to let me back in

My journey to Wales, Will it happen?

2009-12-24T09:33:00.002Z

If I had not been derailed by my hospital stay I had planned to be driving off to Wales today. However looking outside at the icy roads and the fog, I am not sure I would not have changed my plans anyway.I am pretty determined to go tommorrow which will mean starting early in the morning to get enough daylight for photography, but again I think I have to pay regard to the weather.I had a long

Reports of my demise have been greatly exagerated (a close run thing)

2009-12-22T13:43:00.002Z

You will note that my recent postings have had family very much in mind.I will now relate what ultimately happened to my Dad as a preamble to what has just happened to me.In August 1985 at the age of 58 my dad was at his ladyfriends house hanging a picture when he experienced chest pains. He thought nothing of it at the time, but the pains continued throughout the afternoon. In the end it was so

Not all research is cause or cure

2009-12-19T21:14:00.002Z

Here is a report of a recent piece of research undertaken at my Uni.No best approach to education for all children with autism There is no one best approach that can be used in educating all children and young people with autism, according to a report by researchers from the University of Birmingham’s Autism Centre for Education and

Laurentius in Winter.

2009-12-14T13:53:00.004Z

I don't know how many people are familiar with the "Lion in Winter".It depicts the troubled relationship between HenryII, his wife and their rebellious sons.Well sometimes Christmas back home was like Christmas chez Henry as depicted in the movie.To be sure I have some distant memories of childhood Christmases, waiting for Santa to come down the chimney, Christmas trees with the same baubles year

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"

2009-11-29T12:03:00.004Z

If I have had it bad I should look at my dads life.Before the second world war he had already lost his own dad, a drunk, who drunk away the profits of his bootmakers shop. Before long he was to lose his mother too, a diabetic. He always blamed himself for her death, because her last request was for a bottle of stout, which my dad duly delivered to her. He was sure it killed her.After that he

On the psychiatrists couch

2009-11-28T15:11:00.005Z

My recent classic PTSD reaction to a recent posting on Facebook, bringing back painful flashbacks of something far in the past, has given me to much reflection, and my blog is about to take a somewhat dark turn as I confront and try to out the many demons of my childhood that still have the power to possess me with fear, shame and emotional pain.Now this is still going to be an autism relevant

Another ten minutes, another 9 years

2009-11-15T17:26:00.004Z

Here is a companion piece to "ten minute roughcut" I made all of two years ago now.This is also set around an NAS AGM. At the time of "Ten Minute Roughcut" I recall the board was just being introduced to the various top candidates for Chief Exec, of whom Mark Lever was chosen.Well it is altogether 9 years since I went to my first NAS AGM, and I did not know what to expect from the organisation.

Danger and Fear

2009-11-08T19:39:00.007Z

I have a confession to make, I like to read travelogues about danger and hardship, especially from the comfort of my armchair. I was recently googling up the Yungas Road in Bolivia, reputedly the most deadly in the world and I can believe it. I am not at all sure I would want to risk driving it.However it set me to thinking about perceptions of risk. Everyday we walk along pavements, sometimes by

A tale of two rivers

2009-11-04T15:16:00.003Z

I suppose I ought to comment on the current topic of debate, the disapearing trajectory of Asperger's (syndrome, disorder, call it what you will)I expect I could make all manner of historical comparisons and cite a number of sources, all of which I will subsequently have to do when I am writing up my research anyway. But (if I am allowed to start a sentence that way) I shall fall back into the

I feel honoured

2009-11-03T22:16:00.002Z

I have made a number of presentations before, at conferences both great and small but never as a "keynote speaker".That is about to change, I have actually been invited to be a keynote speaker for a conference to be held in Manchester next year, entitled "Theorizing Normalcy and the Mundane", which is a disability studies conference.This is some step up for me, and all the more inspiring to me

Ready to go:

2009-11-02T14:13:00.002Z

This is a repeat of my post to my other blog and also a reminder for those who signed up for my research a while back and have forgotten about it. You will be emailed soon, or if you have changed your email since then and don't recieve a copy by tommorrow morning, let me know and I will resubscribe you to the research mailing list.By the end of the 2nd of November (GMT) the online video

Five and Four make nine

2009-10-25T22:21:00.003Z

Just as the 29th of October will be the tenth anniversary of my diagnosis, tomorrow (the 26th as I write this) will be my 54th Birthday, and I recall some problems during my 53rd, not the least I demonstrated how innumerate I am by adding 5 and 3 together to make 7 :(Oh well this last couple of days has not been too brilliant either. Yesterday I managed to scrape the paintwork on a parked car as

Never the same water twice

2009-10-20T16:22:00.005+01:00

October 29th 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of my diagnosis.Much water under the proverbial bridge, and I question whether I am the same person I was in October 1999 (or any other time for that matter)Well in one sense I am. I am a continuity since childhood of certain characteristics, physical and neurophenomenological that govern the way I react to the external world and the way it will react

The Lord is my Rock and Salvation

2009-10-14T21:20:00.002+01:00

When life is shit, God is still good!!Never mind Maggie Thatcher (who perverted the words of St Francis) and her bastard son David Cameron:All Creatures Of Our God And KingAll creatures of our God and King,Lift up your voice and with us sing,Alleluia! Alleluia!Thou burning sun with golden beam,Thou silver moon with softer gleam,O praise Him! O praise Him!Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!Thou rushing

The Myth of Genius

2009-10-11T16:21:00.003+01:00

It was this somewhat misguided qoute on leftbrain/rightbrain that got me thinking;"The severe autistics are in fact geniuses. Autism will eventually be seen as symptomatic of genius and not retardation." Ok I could just say it takes one to know one, it's tempting, but .....Never mind the usual question of what do we mean by autism? what do we actually mean when we use the word genius?The word is

The NAS and Autism Speaks UK respond to "I am autism"

2009-10-06T17:53:00.005+01:00

Firstly this is what the NAS have to say:"The NAS is aware of a campaign video called "I Am Autism", produced by the US charity Autism Speaks.While we understand the huge pressure many families are under, we cannot support a campaign that is so negative in its portrayal of autism. We strongly believe that people with autism make a unique and valuable contribution to society.Autism is a serious

First thoughts on the NHS' autism prevalence survey.

2009-09-27T15:22:00.003+01:00

It might be assumed that I would welcome this study because it confirms what I would like to hear, what I might have long suspected, but no, this is not the case, I will not allow myself to fall into the same traps as those who argue the opposite to what I believe, of believing the first piece of 'evidence' that comes along uncritically.No study can prove anything if it stands in isolation, nor

Wales

2009-08-30T22:11:00.008+01:00

I arrived on Monday after taking a long drive, going via lake Vyrnwy pretty much my Christmas route and I had a little paddle in the lake for old times sake.Anyway I got to the site about six pm and struggled to put up the tent. Thing is it is so long since I did it I had forgotten how and I got a bunch of guys in on the act. Eventually I got it sorted enough to withstand a gale the following

Down time

2009-07-19T23:37:00.005+01:00

In another months time, I am going to disappear over the edge of the internet for a couple of weeks, where I will mercifully be out of contact from this mad mad world.That is because I shall be camping, and either not have electricity to spare to charge a laptop or be out of even the reach of cell phones (what bliss)Have to say I feel that I am coming to a certain juncture in my life, another of

The First to go

2009-05-12T19:37:00.000+01:00

What else can I say but Never Again!

Another one bites the dust

2009-04-26T11:59:00.004+01:00

We autists don't like change (at least this one does not)The announcement of end of my blogging presence here was perhaps a little premature because it still has it's uses.Yesterday I learnt from the BBC (not Yahoo incidentally) that Geocities is being buried.This follows on the end of Lycos Europe which recently caused me to lament the ephemeral nature of the web.Geocities might not be keeping

Pastures new, or any port in a storm.

2009-04-13T14:45:00.008+01:00

I have found a new blogging haven, and no I am not going to link to it from here, as I find it a haven of sanity and sound rational discourse in the face of what have increasingly become Punch and Judy knockabout exchanges on the autism hub.Yes my new blog does deal with autism, it does deal with science and that by implication would be enough to infuriate the ‘mercurian’ persuasion, whose

Our ephemeral history

2009-04-09T12:00:00.002+01:00

Today I have been occupied in revising the bibliographies in a number of papers I have written, with a view to publication, and have discovered on clicking through a number of the internet links that they no longer exist.Since ours is a predominantly on line cultural history, that much of our archaeology has been effectively wiped out and is inaccessible now.Of course key texts like the Institute

Under the liquid cosh

2009-04-08T00:01:00.002+01:00

I heard this article this morning, and thought that if nobody else blogs about it I shall."Hundreds of women sedated in care homes may be at risk of having children with birth defects, the BBC learns."Now the article goes on to relate research which indicates that "10 ex-residents of a children's home run by the Church of England in Gravesend, Kent, have had children with a birth defect."Now I am

Good science is not good science if it is unethical.

2009-04-03T14:05:00.003+01:00

I do not any longer think there is that much of a distinction between good science and bad science.For sure “crank” science is as much the bane of this generation as it has ever been, in terms of giving unsupportable validity to distasteful concepts, however following on my recent blog about the distortions of science in Nazi Germany I really think that what is equally important to good science,

Fort Apache the Bronx

2009-04-02T19:35:00.003+01:00

"The Bronx is burning." Does anyone else recall that time? Well it seems that Henley Green or at least my part of it is burning.You may recall my block of flats was hit by two fires in recent times, well now it is the turn of the pub which is just the other side of the green from where I live. What next?Over the years a number of pubs in this area have been torched, including the Shire Horse and

Indiana Jones and the lost tribes of Atlantis

2009-04-01T16:09:00.007+01:00

The ultimate destination of bad science and crank theories.....Whilst one can look at notions of the lost Atlantis, Lemuria, Theosophy and even naturism as merely eccentric, and trace there origins in 19th Century Germanic thought down one path to Haight Ashbury and onwards to today's new age exploitations, one can also trace them down the left hand path to death camps of the Nazi's for it is

I'd rather go to jail than die in a nursing home

2009-03-31T20:45:00.003+01:00

Yesterday (30th March) there was a protest in Birmingham. This is just one example of where issues go beyond autism and neurodiversity, and why pan disability solidarity is a good thing.I am sure many of my detractors will hate this, but here is reality. Incidentally I am the guy in the dark glasses you can see sitting in the doorway in the second video.

In the news again (Artistic Autistics)

2009-03-27T22:47:00.002Z

I had a photo call today. Now I know exactly what these photographers are up to posing people to get the image they want, which is not altogether real (so at least I had a haircut in anticipation)My friend Nikola has just completed the video "Artistic Autistics" and it seems that it is newsworthy, we have another photo call coming up Wednesday for another local paper.It was a bit annoying that

The rule of the gun, what is happening?

2009-03-11T13:32:00.002Z

I was going to comment about the Alabama killings and the recent real/continuation IRA shootings but something even worse has occurred in Germany a country one does not normally associate with such random shootouts.Before this I was speculating as to what the difference (if any) there is between the murder of two soldiers and a policeman by Irish Terrorists, the crazed shooting spree of the US "

Clumsy definitions of disability

2009-03-02T13:46:00.007Z

It occurred to me whilst shaving with one of those multi blade disposable razors whether that was ethical at all, given how few shaves one gets out of them, and the amount of steel and plastic they must use up. Granted they use less steel than the contraptions my father used, but still was there an acceptable alternative. (my annoyance was in part, how easily these razors become clogged with

Autscape 2009 Call for proposals

2009-02-28T21:59:00.003Z

We wish to explore these key concepts of autistic being in many different fashions. This can be through formal presentations or workshops, and may be theoretical or practical. Many different types of input are welcome: traditional lectures, creative expression, physical activity, interactive workshops and more.____ Audience _________________________________________________Although we welcome

More Violence against defenceless Autistics

2009-02-23T21:00:00.004Z

Yet another story of school/police overreaction is being reported on the autism hub.I am talking about the 14 year old child tazed unconsicous at school.I think this bears multi level analysis to determine just what is going wrong.Firstly I think there is a kind of legal paranoia, passing the buck, where teachers are so scared of adverse litigation if they have any physical contact with a child

What is Autism? and am I Autistic?

2009-01-17T10:03:00.003Z

Two big questions, and for all the talk of self diagnosis going about on the internet, most of the time in my life I do not see the autism any more than a neurotypical would see their neurotypicality, and for all of my life when I am on my own I am simply me doing what I do unobserved. I don't see the autism in the heat of engagements either because I am too busy figuring out what I am supposed

Lightning strikes twice

2009-01-16T19:58:00.003Z

I was just relaxing in my flat, having not long come home from Birmingham when there was a loud banging on my door. I went to my door and all I saw was someone scuttling off down the stairs, and then I realised, there was another fire in the block of flats, so I just grabbed my laptop, and a few documents from my top drawer, put my coat on and cleared off down the stairs before the smoke started

Why science will never have the answers to Autism

2009-01-10T11:59:00.007Z

I have a hangover, that's not relevant, but I am awash with ideas, and I feel after commenting in the same fashion on two blogs within the autism hub which deal with different theories of Autism, the one from our old friend and bogey Simon Baron Cohen, the other from the laughably named "Mind Institute", that it is worth repeating on my blog.Essentially so many theories of Autism are being

Urbi et Orbi

2009-01-01T13:46:00.005Z

Do I have a new years message for the world as one year slips by into the next?No not really, I have not the energy for it.I leave the old year somewhat embittered by my experiences of it, what could have been a year of hope, but seeing what has happened to the economy, never mind the prospects for world peace, seems like one I will not wish to repeat.I have had all the fight and the stuffing

Happy New year

2008-12-28T16:45:00.003Z

If such a thing is indeed possible in this world of crisis succeeding crisis :(Maybe someone out there will have a better new year. For my part I am glad that the big Christmas disruption is over, it takes some time however to get back into a routine, and indeed to address many of those issues that have not gone away in the meantime.So What!I intend to have one last fling while I have a hire car,

Merry Christmas

2008-12-19T22:40:00.004Z

Here is my Christmas Card. (I am not very good at posting them out IRL) and below is a video cobbled together out of something else which probably is closer to the mood I am in. It's the winter, it's normal for me to be feeling down.I have journey ahead of me, and when I return, I will look at life again in the new year and try and sort out what can be sorted, and as for the rest, well it is

Not a happy bunny tonight.

2008-11-23T21:18:00.000Z

Well you would think having to abandon my home because of a fire was bad enough.Well it is not the worst that could happen, no indeed, something worse has happened.I was getting over it, ready to move back in next week, but I have just received a very disconcerting email.Trivial for some, but not to me, because my research and hope of making something of myself academically has been the main

Big trouble in little Coventry

2008-11-12T10:34:00.003Z

If you follow the link you will see why.Having limited internet access is what really sucks right now.Well I am comfortable enough in B & B for now and I have recovered the things that are important to me.All will be well in the long term, but in the short term, it is difficult for me to maintain my various responsibilities, however it is important to me not to pass my misfortunes on to any one

Coventry Market the Musical

2008-11-04T22:41:00.004Z

Nothing to do with autism or me even, but this is where I live, and this town has a history.http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/coventry/realmedia/market_musical?size=16x9&bgc=C0C0C0&bbram=1http://tinyurl.com/5rsra2The building is of course threatened with demolition, never mind it's historical significance, It was designed by Frederick Gibberd and is actually the prototype for Liverpool

My 53rd Year to Heaven

2008-10-27T19:36:00.003Z

Not in the best frame of mind, the video speaks for itself.The title reference is to Dylan Thomas, who like me was a Scorpio, born on the 27th of October just a days difference in our dates.

Teaching Poetry to frogs.

2008-10-17T10:38:00.004+01:00

Yesterday in what I suppose must be a moment of madness, I submitted my DVD “Whichever way” to an assessment clinic at a local Institute of Videographers exhibition.I was there to check out all the new equipment which I cannot afford, though fortunately I will be getting some editing equipment out of my Disabled Students Allowance as it is essential for my studies.Anyway I told them from the

Getting along swimmingly

2008-09-17T21:37:00.002+01:00

Today I achieved something, that might not mean a lot to many people and for the world of me I cannot relate to Autism, but for the first time in my life after a year of learning I felt able to enter the deep end of a swimming pool and to swim 25 metres to to the end of the pool and then to swim back again toward the deep end completing the second length of 25 metres.Now a year ago at the same

An Asperger encounter

2008-09-05T14:05:00.002+01:00

I have just come back from a disability studies conference where I was presenting.I decided to stay an extra day in the accommodation so I would not be so tired, to catch the train tomorrow, and since there was no meal or anything provided I decided to use the kitchen, to make myself a pot noodle, to stave off my hunger for the evening.There were a couple of other delegates who were staying

One on't cross beams gone out askew on't treadle

2008-08-29T19:58:00.003+01:00

I expect there will be trouble at'mill by the time some folks have read and digested this post ..One of my abilities is the ability to think in pictures though images is probably a better way to talk about it, as there is nothing particularly flat or two dimensional about this. I believe this allows me to easily create analogies and to be able to approach problems from different directions, that

The past is a foreign country, conceptualising childhood.

2008-08-16T23:51:00.006+01:00

I often wonder on reading the parents blogs on the autism hub, if back in the fifties, before I was five, in an alternative universe where they might have been internet savvy and had the means to disseminate there joys, frustrations and perceptions of that puzzle that was the infant Larry - what would have appeared as a representation of my life?How would they have conceptualised me

Critical thinking is not a bad thing

2008-08-15T19:20:00.005+01:00

I talked a little about criticism in my last blog, and was indeed critical of a certain genre of writing about autism.I intend to turn aside from the sociological rumblings around autism and back to what seems to be everyone's favourite topic in the blogosphere, which is the science of autism.I will be presenting a paper very soon, which is rather critical of that science, and I expect the that

Off to autscape, musings on our "tribe"

2008-07-27T10:55:00.005+01:00

Had to be careful not to recycle an older title, but I am back to the subject of autism again for this blog.For the last two years Autscape has either been preceded by or followed by an operation, this year I have far more to worry about on my return :)Not that being part of the organising committee for Autscape this year has been the proverbial bed of roses either. How previous participants (

The world on wheels

2008-07-13T22:45:00.001+01:00

As followers of this blog might know, I recently had to give up my land rover, not by choice but by financial necessity. Well I can at least say I feel I have done something for the environment even if I would not have done it otherwise.I see the news and it distresses me, story after story about melting glaciers, extinction of corals, and I am not distanced from that because I can see close at

IMFAR 2008

2008-05-18T14:03:00.003+01:00

Note that I am just back from IMFAR and about to relax in a hot tub. When I have more time to do so, I hope to hotlink to papers, presenters, people and the issues I write about here, so come back in a couple of days to see how I have expanded this. There are two mains things I can say about IMFAR, one is to give a report, or summary of the presentations, and posters, what my general

Birmingham University you are on official warning.

2008-05-12T20:22:00.005+01:00

Blatant self interest prevents me from saying more at the moment other than that I am not entirely satisfied with the conduct of the University (or the veracity of the publicity)I dare not say much more about that and will leave you all to draw your own conclusions, but if the Uni cross the line too far I will cross over to the other side as well. I value my integrity more than I value a