I have had some serious illness over the past year, which I will write about in a post shortly. As a result I have been saving my energy for a number of important projects that I needed to keep on track, and I have missed my goal of posting here about once a week.
As a result I have built up a little pile of completed work that I hope to write up quite swiftly and you may see a small deluge of posts, if I have the energy to get them all written up.
Hi Stuart, only came across your’e blog on taking a break for lecturing. The comment section is closed. I feel so strongly that you are not lecturing that I want to take the time to comment. Stuart I feel Iwas so privileged to have been in U.C.C when you were lecturing. I got so much from your’e lectures. Your’e experience, strength, and hope.
Your’e experience with being on the spectrum was en-lighting. You put light into a place that was dark for me. Fear can grow because the unknown can be a scary place. Autism a word that means so much and different for everyone. Your’e first hand experience of living life. Some people lecture from books. Not you your’e lecture came from life experience, facts and a perspective that most people would have missed if not for you.
Your’e strength really came across when you lectured. Strength even though life has not been easy you didn’t sugar coat it. Strength that got you through to be where you are today. The honesty of a life worth living. You have climbed some mountains and are still climbing reading what you have said in this post.
Your’e hope. Hope for the future even though your’e life has given you lemons your’e hope shines through in this post and the post on taking a break from lecturing.
Stuart I was one of the luckiest people to have been in your’e lectures. The students that are attending the Autism Spectrum Studies are really missing out.
You put so much into your’e work. I wish you well and hope life balances out for you.
You’ve had a tough year. But again I can hear your’e strength. Thanks Stuart wishing you well for now and the future.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your comments and good wishes. I am actually feeling incredibly well despite the health difficulties this year, and very positive. I enjoy lecturing immensely and would do more if I find a venue, but was increasingly uncomfortable with the management of the course and the excessive load put on lecturers, without making any permanent appointments. The future of the course requires a stable, motivated core of people producing teaching material, and I hope they are addressing it.
I have managed to get several things done that are important to me – I really wanted to start a film discussion group, like a book club, for people with Asperger syndrome or autism to watch and discuss film portrayals, and we have run two six-week sessions, with a seventh week to recap and plan. It has been really positive and completely changed my perspective on portrayal. I have moved much more towards Neil Gaiman’s “there is no such thing as a bad book” perspective, and the view that lack of portrayal is far worse than bad portrayal. We need more films with autistic characters, preferably with autistic characters, writers and directors.
We also ran a small group art project, which I would love to do more of. The objective is not therapy but autistic people making (and possibly displaying) their own work. I also have a chapter in a new book out shortly, on first-hand adult sensory experiences of autism – I will blog as soon as it is published.