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Reflections

Essays from Kristy Forbes exploring PDA, autistic experience, parenting, identity, care, systems and the ordinary moments that shape family life.

Hypermobility

Jun 12, 2023

Long story short.

Oh, I love the fantasy of the "long story short" right there for me, an ADHDer.

But I'll try.

Last year, I laid on a surgery table, unresponsive, in hypertensive crisis.

I was not responding to me

...
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Stop looking away from intersectionality

Oct 14, 2021
Kristy Forbes
Stop looking away from intersectionality
9:06
 
 
 
(Warning: This written content includes discussion around themes of racism, transphobia, homophobia, suicidality.)
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Almost every time I address the topic of intersectionality on my social media, pe...
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What happens when you say "No."

Oct 07, 2021
Do you know that you can say No?
 
So many of us don’t.
 
We’ve been conditioned to understand that No means others will talk behind our backs about our selfishness or coldness.
 
We know it will ofte
...
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Failed relationships & neurodivergence

Sep 11, 2021

Ahh, the wonderful weekend. I hope you're having a brilliant one so far.

This week, for something different, the team and I decided we'd share a conversation with community from my Facebook page this past week.

We touc...

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I'd rather stab my eye than do this... (spoiler: it's group work)

Aug 13, 2021
I still cringe inside when remembering the moments I heard “Okay everyone, find a partner”, or “So we’re going to get into groups of three”...
 
No.
Nah, not doin’ it.
 
I would rather stab myself in t
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This is Me.

Aug 13, 2021
I no longer paint my nails.
 
I don't adorn myself with jewellery.
 
I take my time responding to messages and I seldom answer my phone. I have a message bank.
 
I say no to social invitations when I
...
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My Dreaming Life

Aug 13, 2021
*Trigger warning: Trauma nightmares, self-harm, police, psychiatric ward*
 
 
 
My dreaming life.
 
As I age, it becomes more intense; a beckoning for me to process what feels like insurmountable, unfatho
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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...

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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.
 
...
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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,
...
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