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Donna Williams

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Got an e-mail from Kent Autistic Trust detailing Donna W's 'tour' of the UK...

Thought it might be of interest. Very good pricing concessions at most venues for parents/carers/people on the spectrum :) :

 

Donna Williams Schedule 2007

 

 

 

Tues 11th Sept: Farnham 7pm ? 9pm Topic: Clashing Normalities

 

Venue: All Hallows Catholic School, Weybourne Road, Farnham, Surrey.

 

GU9 9HF

 

Contact: Jane McGuire

 

Phone: 07866961310 E.mail janemcguire1971@hotmail.com

 

 

 

 

Wed 12th Sept Brighton 2pm ? 4pm Topic: Autism as a Fruit Salad

 

Venue: Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton. BN1 1YD

 

Contact Dr. Leslie Ironside

 

Phone: 01273 709660 E.mail: administrator@emotionaldevelopment.co.uk

 

 

 

 

Thurs 13th Sept Bristol 7pm ? 9pm Topic: Just Act Normal

 

Venue: Groves Hall (Entrance Westbury Lodge), St. Christopher's School,

 

Westbury Park, Bristol. BS6 7JE

 

Contact: Malai Sontheimer E.mail: malai@blueyonder.co.uk

 

Phone: 0117 9537219

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fri 14th Sept Cardiff 1pm ? 3pm Topic: Addressing Learning Styles

 

Venue: ESIS, Ty Dysgu, Cefn Coed, Parc Nantgarw, Trefforest, Cardiff

 

CF15 7QQ

 

Contact: Jennie Thomas E.mail: jennie@autismcymru.org

 

Phone: 02920 463263 Mobile: 07966 453957

 

 

 

 

Mon 17th Sept Stourbridge 1pm ? 3pm Topic: Addressing Learning Styles

 

Venue: Professional Development, Training & Research, Sunfield School, Clent Grove, Clent, Nr, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY9 9PB

 

Contact Rose Welling

 

Phone: 01562 883183 E.mail RoseW@sunfield.worcs.sch.uk

 

 

 

 

Mon17th Sept Worcester 7pm ? 9pm Topic Understanding & Working with

 

Challenging behaviour

 

Venue: Elgar Technology College, Bilford Road, Worcester. WR3 8HN

 

Contact: Zoe Garratt E.mail bernie.adams@talk21.com

 

Phone: 0121 247 4856

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tues 18th Sept Belfast 1pm ? 3pm Topic: Autism as a Fruit Salad

 

Venue: Medical Biology Centre, Lecture Theatre 1, 97, Lisburn Road, Belfast

 

Contact: P2P AUTISM E.mail: donnawilliamsbelfast@yahoo.com

 

 

 

Wed 19th Sept Manchester 10am ? 12 Topic: Understanding & Working with Challenging Behaviour

 

Venue: The Castlefield Rooms, 18-20 Castle Street, Castlefield, Manchester. M3 4NA

 

Contact: Christine Breakey E.mail christine.breakey@SPECTRUMFIRST.CO.UK

 

Wed 19th Sept Sheffield 6pm ? 8pm Topic: Just Act 'Normal'

 

Venue: St. Mary's Community Centre, Bramall Lane, Sheffield S2 4QZ

 

Contact: Christine Breakey E.mail christine.breakey@SPECTRUMFIRST.CO.UK

 

Thurs 20th Sept Oxford 6.45pm ? 8.45pm Topic: Understand & Working with Challenging behaviour

 

Venue: Thames Hall, The Kings Centre Ltd, Osney Mead, Oxford. OX2 OES

 

Contact: Autism Speakers and Professionals

 

Email: info@autismspeakersandprofessionals.org.uk

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Also........

 

Donna Williams

International Speaker, Consultant and Author of nine published books on autism, including "Nobody Nowhere" which is due to be made into a film

Understanding the Working of Challenging Behaviour

Invaluable insights, strategies, ideas and information for professionals from all services, including teachers and teaching assistants, and all working with children & people on the Autism Spectrum; equally valuable for families and people on the Autism Spectrum

 

20th September 2007, 6:15 for 6:45pm ? 8:45pm

Thames Hall, The King?s Centre

Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES

Admission:

Professionals �20, Family members & Low Income �10, Concessions �5

Enquiries: 077 8080 5451

Email: info@autismspeakersandprofessionals.org.uk

 

Think i'm going along to the Farnham one AND this one... :blink:

 

Donna's lovely (- and she thinks my sparklie purse is luuurvely :wub::D )

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I might go to the Farnham one too - I'd not heard about that one.

 

Clashing Normalities (from NAS web-site):

 

Details

There is an assumption that the ultimate goal is to help people on the autistic spectrum to fit into non-autistic structures and much time and money is poured unquestioningly into that goal. But teaching any human being to suppress or ignore their own natural systems in favour of those of the social majority might be ?functional? or ?practical?, but is it healthy? Does it work in the long term? What do regressions, meltdowns and the ongoing need for ?behaviour management? have to tell us about the cultural ignorance of the non-autistic social majority, about the long term picture regarding one-size fits all approaches, and about what it means to really ?connect?? What are the systems and structures of communication, socialising, learning and employment from the perspective of someone with an autism spectrum condition, how do some of these clash with those of the non-autistic social majority and what can be done about it so that people reach out and embrace their place in the world and not just ?put up? how others define what that place should be? This lecture will take you beyond the symptoms and inside of the labels, to the cognitive systems, personality differences and chemistry states underpinning the natural systems and structures of people on the autistic spectrum and where these differ from those most common in ?the host society?.

Cost

�15 professionals; �10 parents, people with autism

Duration

1 evening; time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm

 

Karen

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I'm going to the Farnham one too. :thumbs:

 

I was told yesterday that the places were being taken very quickly, but they had managed to negotiate another 60 places, that were going like hot cakes!

 

I guess you need to book soon to get a place.

 

 

Nikki

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.....and there was me muttering to nikkismith 'Wonder if that's kazzen..... or that..... or that.....' :rolleyes::lol:

 

Second time i've seen Donna now - always wonderful. She gives me such an insight into M's world (and mine :ph34r: ) - which makes me a better mummy. Great gift to give people isn't it. :)

 

Really difficult to explain the talk here - without writing a flippin' essay! Put it this way - there were a lot of parents / professionals going 'Ohhhhh - that's might be why so-an-so does this...' It's a real eye-opener.

 

:D

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Weeks ago (maybe in July) I had sent them an email asking information for the Belfast one. They never replied. Is anybody going to that one? Is it necessary to book in advance?

thanks

 

Martina

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I went to this one of her lectures:

Thurs 13th Sept Bristol 7pm ? 9pm Topic: Just Act Normal

 

Venue: Groves Hall (Entrance Westbury Lodge), St. Christopher's School,

 

Westbury Park, Bristol. BS6 7JE

 

Contact: Malai Sontheimer E.mail: malai@blueyonder.co.uk

 

Phone: 0117 9537219

 

Back then I had not read any of her books. I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. While I'll grant that she was articulate - in so far that she had good clear diction - the overall structure of her lecture was incoherent and rambling. She stated at the outset that she'd talk for an hour, pause for tea/coffee, and then during the second half she would answer questions from the audience. In the event she ran out of time in the first half and ended up continuing her lecture after the break, which meant less time for questions. Considering this is what she does for a living, you'd have thought she could have practised the talk beforehand to ensure it was within the time limit, perhaps got someone to listen to her and give her feedback. I got the impression she wanted to rush through the Q&A bit to get to her final bit, where she sang one of her songs. The musical number didn't add anything of value to the lecture IMVHO, nor did I much care for DW's faux-American warbling style of singing.

 

I wasn't keeping notes during the lecture, but I remember that she kept talking about a "fruit salad" as if it were some kind of metaphor. When I was back in my seat after the coffee break (before most of the rest of the audience were in) DW happened to catch my eye and asked me what I thought. I asked her to explain the "fruit salad" metaphor; she retaliated by asking me "How would you define autism?" "Er, a developmental disorder I think it is," I replied, still puzzled. And then DW continued to talk to me, while I sat there wondering what she was on about; next thing the rest of the audience came in and the sound they made drowned out what DW was saying.

 

A few months later I read Somebody Somewhere followed by Like Colour to the Blind and was astounded at how quickly DW made her way up the British property ladder. Seemingly on the spur of the moment she decided to stay in England after having shipped her luggage to Australia and managed to rent a cottage in Essex - get that, a whole cottage on her own, not a shared flat, - with a piano too. By the next book she'd managed to buy a house in Wales with then husband while letting out the Essex cottage (which would imply that she owned the latter property outright by then - did she buy it from her landlord?). Oh for those halcyon days of knock-down property prices in the early 90s.

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Maybe the key to property success is writing :lol:

 

You should give it a shot - you write quite well - I liked your review, very honest - you could be a brilliant critic, and probably aren't scared of saying what you think, or messing around sugar-coating everything :thumbs:

 

(I don't think I'll bother going to one of her speeches)

 

Were the books any good?

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You should give it a shot - you write quite well - I liked your review, very honest - you could be a brilliant critic, and probably aren't scared of saying what you think, or messing around sugar-coating everything :thumbs:

Thanks for the compliment :) I have my reservations about writing an autobiography, as touched on elsewhere. To elaborate, I'm concerned about the repercussions, both to me and to whom I might write about, of having details of my private life in print. When I said as much to the person who originally floated this idea to me (a job coach I had when working in Exeter) she remarked that it was unusual for someone on the spectrum to display so much concern for the consequences of my actions. (Come off it, we're not all that nasty!)

 

It has been suggested that I could change people's names, but I don't think that would be completely effective. There's a scene in one of Agatha Christie's novels - possibly The Mysterious Affair at Styles, but don't quote me on that - in which Hercule Poirot remarks that in his experience it is unusual for people to come up with fake names without in some way giving an indication of the person they're really thinking of. In this circumstance one of the suspects has claimed to have seen Mrs Debenham in the library when it was actually Mrs Freebody: Poirot sees through the lie straightaway because Debenhams & Freebody is the name of a well-known London department store (the forerunner of the present-day Debenhams chain).

 

OTOH I don't feel that I've had enough life experience to write novels, certainly not adult novels which tend to focus on relationships, and I don't feel sufficient rapport for children to write for them. Perhaps that will change as my nephew gets older.

 

Were the books any good?

Somebody Somewhere had some interesting bits but was a bit disjointed, while Like Colour to the Blind could have done with a lot more copy-editing. There is far too much description of mundane details (including TV commercials and flatulence, for crying out loud!), intermingled with stuff about Donna obssessing over her "defences" and wanting to check everything. I couldn't help thinking that if her time had been taken up with a regular 9-17 job or the hunt for one (like us lesser mortals) she'd have had far less occasion for all that. Another thing that strikes me as odd is that DW is an artist, yet in all her account of her time living in Essex she apparently never bothered to visit the countryside which had inspired John Constable. Also, despite her being sufficiently interested in German culture (one assumes) to have learnt the language fluently and have spent some time in Germany (this according to Somebody Somewhere), none of the groundbreaking changes taking place in Germany or post-Communist Europe generally at the time evidently made much of an impression on her.

I know it's none of my business how people chose to spend their lives, but I can't help thinking that if I were privileged enough to have an expenses-paid sabbatical in Australia I'd hope to do far more with my time then loaf around at home watching TV commercials.

Edited by Aeolienne

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Great review - if I ever get around to reading either book I'll let you know if I agree :)

 

Last month I couldn't stop whistling that song! It got trapped in my head - I think I've just started it off again listening to it now :lol:

 

I don't like books with endless description - I struggle to imagine certain things in books, so don't particularly find excessive detail helpful, but some books can be good despite this...

 

I think you'd be better as a reviewer or a critic than someone who writes an autobiography - my thoughts on it are similar to yours - I don't think I'm old enough - haven't done enough - and am too close to the people I'd need to write about to be able to disguise them - I suppose its possible to use an alias for ourselves - but my luck is rotten and people would find out - plus I'd probably want to tell them about it - which means an alias would be a waste of time - too complicated :lol:

 

I think I'd have to do something pretty incredible for me to want to write about it - maybe later ;)

 

Yep the song is back in my head :rolleyes: good song though

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