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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.

I never want to forget.

Jan 05, 2024

This is an image of me, deep in the trenches, around a decade ago.

My husband would message from work each day and ask how 'things' were.

Some days, I couldn't speak. I'd send pictures. This was one of those days, and ...

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Yesterday, someone trolled me on social media.

Aug 02, 2023
 

Yesterday, someone trolled me on social media.

That in itself isn’t the thing. That happens to autistic folks who joyfully resist the disorder narrative all the time.

It’s threatening to some, to read my writings or he...

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I am not my trauma

Sep 24, 2021
Yesterday, my youngest child came inside the house to tell me a bird had fallen from it’s nest.
 
As I neared the back fence, where all the neighbourhood birds gather in all of their breeds, colours, sounds and v
...
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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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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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