Autistic Outreach in Albany, Western Australia | Local service

Autistic Outreach

Locality: Albany, Western Australia

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Local service
• Community
• Product/service

25.01.2022 The Autistic Self Advocacy Network Australia - New Zealand will be recognising International Autistics Speaking Day this Sunday, November 1st. We are encourag...ing people to share links to their blogs and to organisations that are run by Autistic people on our Facebook page. We want to show that Autistic people are doing great things in our families and in our communities. Young people are strongly encouraged to engage with our posts on Sunday too. You can send us content that we can share on Facebook, or our website such as a photo, poem, picture or short bio talking about you and why you believe we should all have our ‘voices’ heard. If you would like to share content on our website please contact me via [email protected]

25.01.2022 AUTISM & EYE CONTACT: For many Autistic people, eye contact can be a highly uncomfortable and even physically painful experience. Whether it's in a classroom ac...tivity, Zoom session or social conversation, forcing eye contact can also significantly reduce the processing of what’s being said. For more Autistic insights, please see: From Judy Endow, "Autism & Changing Classroom Strategies" (tinyurl.com/3xxmksjf) From artist Beth Wilson, "Eye Contact", a comic strip explanation (tinyurl.com/2nnhvadr) From Amythest Schaber, "Ask An Autistic: What About Eye Contact?" (youtu.be/QXM9Mj5Zd7I) Special thanks to Isabella for letting us use your beautiful art. [Image description: Purple background with white text that reads: Autism & Eye Contact. "Eye contact is not necessary for listening or paying attention. Many Autistic people find it easier to listen and process auditory information when we don't have to also process visual information. Forced eye contact for the sake of 'appearing normal' can be challenging, tiring, even painful. We avoid it for a reason. Respect that." ~ Anonymous. To the left are three small images (same image, increasingly zeroed in) of a hand drawn girl with blonde hair and blue eyes that are looking away. Underneath it reads "Art by Isabella (at age 7)." I CAN logo is in the lower right corner].

21.01.2022 Did you know1 in 3 people with disability have avoided social situations. The need to change community attitudes and behaviours towards people with disability ...is critical to creating an inclusive society. To play your part, consider planning an event or activity for International Day of People with Disability. Visit www.idpwd.com.au for creative ideas to acknowledge the valuable contributions people with disability make in our community. Sponsorship opportunities to host dedicated celebrations are also available this year applications close on 9 November 2020. Please visit https://ddwa.org.au/ for more information. #idpwd #awesternaustraliaforeveryone #disablestereotypes

20.01.2022 HAVE YOUR SAY The Department of Communities and the Minister for Disability Services have commenced community engagement to establish an office of disability... to promote an inclusive and equitable Western Australia, where people with disability are enabled to participate fully in their community. If you’re a person with disability, their family member or a carer in the Great Southern or South-West regions, we’d like to hear your ideas about what a future WA office of disability could do for you. We want your thoughts on the roles and functions, and what we should name it. We have community engagement sessions coming up on: Tuesday 11 August in Collie and Bunbury Wednesday 12 August in Busselton and Bridgetown Thursday 13 August in Albany Friday 14 August in Narrogin Find all WA session details and how anyone in WA can share their opinion now on our website at: www.communities.wa.gov.au/officeofdisability

19.01.2022 The more specific and sincere you can be with an autistic person, the better we will match your expectations. -Chris

18.01.2022 Both are big, heavy and a little fuzzy.

16.01.2022 "Nothing about us without us"

15.01.2022 https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au//promoting-inclu

14.01.2022 Yenn thought for the day Image description: Purple background with text that reads "Autistic people do not have poor social skills. We have different social skills."

14.01.2022 Tammy shares why being labelled autistic is so important to her, and how it helped her to understand why she felt and saw things differently from others. ---- #AMomentOfMe #Autistic

12.01.2022 https://www.neurodiversitymedia.com/autistic-burnout-mental

12.01.2022 Friendship are challenging. This post reflects many autistic people's reality. Worth a read x

11.01.2022 Co-VidSpeak is a free open source, web-based video conferencing tool built for people who can't speak but still need to emotionally connection with those at a d...istance. When someone is intubated, on a ventilator, or otherwise non-verbal -- especially when unwell -- they can greatly benefit from positive emotional connections with others. https://www.covidspeak.org/

11.01.2022 https://www.vox.com//17/autism-average-age-death-36-stress

09.01.2022 When I have a feel good day, I try to cram in as much as possible because I’m not sure when the next one will come around Sometimes that backfires...

08.01.2022 Context Blindness Peter Vermeulen, in his book, Autism as Context Blindness, does a great job of explaining the importance of being able to read the context t...o understand the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others. The social and personal meaning varies based on the context for which the events occur. Therefore, the same response can have different meanings based on the context for which it is occurring. Also, a specific response may be appropriate and successful in one situation, but not in another. Actions of others have different meanings depending on the situations they are occurring in. Being able to read the context (surrounding variables that give meaning to a situation) allows us to modify and adapt a response to ever-changing events. No two situations are alike, so the flexibility of responding (to match behavior to situational demands) is dependent on rapidly reading the context to guide us in how to respond. This ability to read context is the brain immediately seeking the overall meaning (central coherence) of a situation to direct our attention to the relevant details. The interesting process of reading context is it happens in a fraction of a second (instantaneously) before we even recognize any details. This process also happens subconsciously without being aware of the process. Context includes the external (perceptional) characteristics of the situations as well as an internal context, which is our knowledge from past experiences with similar situations and people involved. With our example of crying, our interpretation of the emotions of others is not just about reading the facial expression of others. It requires us to intuitively understand the context to give meaning for what we see. Crying can mean different things based on the context. A person can cry when they just won the Olympic gold medal, when they see something sad happening to another, when fearful, when physically hurt, when angry or simply when cutting an onion. Usually, we instantaneously and intuitively pick up on the context to give immediate meaning to the crying that we are seeing. We never see things literally (in isolation of context). Another example is a child seeing others smiling at him. If it is a good friend, it will usually mean they are friends and enjoy doing things together, if it the school bully who is cornering him in the hallway it may represent a threat. If it is a pretty girl smiling while staring at him in class, it may mean she really "likes" him! These natural smiles have different meanings based on the context (people and situations) for which they occur. In Peter Vermeulen’s book, he summarizes numerous research studies that demonstrate that people on the spectrum have difficulty intuitively reading the context, making it difficult to read social situations and the thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of others. People with autism can learn to read context but must do so consciously (must think it out). Their brains are not wired to rapidly perceive the context and immediate meaning of events. Their brains tend to focus on all the details, and only by piecing the details into an overall whole does the meaning of the context occur. They can see the overall perceptual picture (concrete image) but not the contextual meaning. These studies also show that people on the spectrum showed good empathy and theory of mind when the context was pointed out to them. This demonstrates how important being able to read context is to understanding the social meaning and the thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of others. The two primary factors were (1) that people on the spectrum are not wired to instantaneously perceive the meaning of context and (2) if they learn to look for it, they must consciously figure it out or have it pointed out for them. This results in delayed processing, and often the contextual meaning has changed by that time. This significant processing difference is what makes it so hard for people on the spectrum living in the neuro-typical world. The ability to instantaneously and subconsciously read context allows us to move smoothly through the day, quickly adapting our actions to the ever-changing social situations. For people on the spectrum, this inability to intuitively read context also explains why navigating social situations is so stressful and exhausting. With repeated experiences, the person on the spectrum can get better at consciously recognizing familiar contexts, but since each situation is different, they will always be a little out-of-sync with us. For parents, teachers, and other caregivers, it is important for you to point out the important context and help them consciously figure it out. Help them connect the dots to define the plots. This article was published in the brown book, The Autism Discussion Page on stress, anxiety, shutdowns and meltdowns https://www.amazon.com/Autism-Discussion-Anxi//ref=sr_1_3

07.01.2022 "THERE'S LOTS OF SONGS IN MY HEAD, DYING TO ESCAPE." Meet Tyler, a 16-year-old non-verbal student from Denmark in WA, who's written a song in the style of Nic...k Cave. Tyler has cerebral palsy and communicates through an app. He wrote a poem called 'The One You Feed' about the battle in his brain and his classmates added music!

07.01.2022 This is a fantastic resource. It discusses seven strategies to support your child during this uncertain time. Personally I believe adults can benefit from this too. Check it out :)

05.01.2022 Here is our flyer. Please share!

04.01.2022 "Never underestimate the potential of an autistic person who is appropriately supported!" Image credit: H2Au: the stuff of our life