Reflections
Essays from Kristy Forbes exploring PDA, autistic experience, parenting, identity, care, systems and the ordinary moments that shape family life.
I remember every single name, every single humiliation.
Aug 13, 2021
At fifteen years old, I left school midway through Year Nine and went into the workforce.
I vehemently expressed that I would not return to school and with that, my mother said if I was not returning, I needed to get...
This is how I live most of my life now.
Aug 13, 2021
Today I put aside a few hours to revisit my plan for thriving autistically.
Those drop-offs of the very things that support my wellbeing happen so subtly and quickly as time goes on that I don’t even notice.
Labels, labels, labels.
Aug 13, 2021
Trigger Warning: swearing, harsh words.
I hear families often speak about their fear in "labelling" their children autistic, ADHD, among other neurodivergences because they worry their child will be judged,
...My university days went like this.
Aug 12, 2021
I'm not an autistic researcher.
I am not a psychologist.
I take my hat off to my neurokin who are.
I am forever grateful to those who are engaged in research and academia, creating significant a
...She is so much more.
Aug 05, 2021
I often touch on how important it is to move beyond the generic support framework for our autistic children in the classroom. This includes a timer, dot points on the board and visuals.
Whilst these are really
...My PDA neurobiology.
Jul 29, 2021
I'm up at 5am this morning.
I have an appointment in the city and it's at a new address I haven't been to before.
This means that I get up early, google the address over coffee to check out some images
...We bring our children home.
Jul 22, 2021
We bring our children home
From failed systems
That have been enabled not to care
Not to care for our children
For us; when we were the children
We educate our children
And while trying to create a safe sp
...Where my grief came from.
Jul 15, 2021
This morning as I was barefoot walking through the garden, connecting with the earth, I felt a deep sadness come over me.
My instinct was to push the sadness away and to think of something else fast in order to
...School Trauma: Tuning into the language of behaviour.
Jul 08, 2021
For many of us, when we withdraw our children from school after prolonged challenges within that system, we expect that our children will begin to do better at home.
This isn't always so.
Our chil
...Appearances can be (so very) deceiving.
Jul 01, 2021
I'm a PDA autistic (Pathological demand avoidance).
This means that my social connectedness; my ability to engage with others naturally and to make eye contact gives the impression that I possess a higher level
...