Reflections
Essays from Kristy Forbes exploring PDA, autistic experience, parenting, identity, care, systems and the ordinary moments that shape family life.
It flows through my bloodlines
Aug 25, 2021
We are FIXATED on behaviour as a society. We hastily attach meaning and intention to it, and project our own biased (mis)understandings onto it, based on all that lies within US.
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For many of us, what ālies with...
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 āOkay everyone, find a partnerā, or āSo weāre going to get into groups of threeā...
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No.
Nah, not doinā it.
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I would rather stab myself in t
...Iāll never āovercomeā my PDA neurobiology.
Aug 13, 2021
Iām often asked how, as a PDAer, I am able to overcome my need for control in parenting my own children with a PDA profile of autism.
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I donāt overcome it.
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Iāll never āovercomeā my neurobiology.
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This is Me.
Aug 13, 2021
I no longer paint my nails.
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I don't adorn myself with jewellery.
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I take my time responding to messages and I seldom answer my phone. I have a message bank.
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I say no to social invitations when I
...My Dreaming Life
Aug 13, 2021
*Trigger warning: Trauma nightmares, self-harm, police, psychiatric ward*
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My dreaming life.
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As I age, it becomes more intense; a beckoning for me to process what feels like insurmountable, unfatho
...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.
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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.
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Those drop-offs of the very things that support my wellbeing happen so subtly and quickly as time goes on that I donāt even notice.
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...Labels, labels, labels.
Aug 13, 2021
Trigger Warning: swearing, harsh words.
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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.
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I am not a psychologist.
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I take my hat off to my neurokin who are.
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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.
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Whilst these are really
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