I am useless with my hands, but my son and I have decided to build a go-kart. An old-fashioned go-kart. Not a modern engine-powered V8 thing made from carbon fibre, with rear wheel drive and ABS brakes. Not even nuclear boosters and dilithium chambers despite his insistence that it [...]
Go-karts, osmosis and cradles
I am useless with my hands, but my son and I have decided to build a go-kart. An old-fashioned go-kart. Not a modern engine-powered V8 thing made from carbon fibre, with rear wheel drive and ABS brakes. Not even nuclear boosters and dilithium chambers despite his insistence that it [...]
All those Words
I believe part of the reason my son has done so well is the way I have used words to challenge him. An issue with autism is that people on the spectrum tend to be very literal and concrete. I addressed this by using puns, absurdities and homonyms. He might [...]
Recalling the Good “n” Word
I live in a country where there is a incredible disparity in wealth. From people who live in houses valued in the millions to others who live in shacks made of corrugated iron and cardboard. With this in mind, you might realise how angry I became when once on a [...]
Lessons
In my journey as the father of a special needs child, I have learned a number of lessons. These are: Lesson 1: Milestones are there for a reason – to measure progress or delay. I read again and again of parents whose concerns were dismissed by the medical profession. This [...]
Falls the Shadow
Amongst my favourite lines from poetry are these from T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men: Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow Life [...]