We're Going on a School Hunt

Picture by me

My lived autistic-family-experience inspired re-imagining 

of the popular children's book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" 

by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury.

This story is written for

all the often-neurodiverse children 

failed by the current education & EHCP systems, acknowledging that, out there, in the wild forests & woods of the current educational eco-system (or edu-system), are the good, 

the very good, the very very good, 

the not so good & the terrible.  

Having experienced all these,

we are very thankful for all versions of good.  

I hope you know who you are & I hope others care enough to ask how you do it.

Image via Pinterest

We're Going on a School Hunt

We're going on a school hunt.

We're going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re not scared.

 

Uh-uh! Uniform!

Stiff itchy uniform.

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through it!

 

Scratch pull!

Scratch pull!

Scratch pull!

Image via Pinterest by Darren Stone on flickr

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re a bit scared.

 

Uh-uh! Traffic!

Never ending traffic.

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through it!

 

Rumble beep!

Rumble beep!

Rumble beep!

 

Image via Pinterest, The Wall Street Journal

 

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re scared.

 

Uh-uh! Grown ups!

Noisy random grown ups.

We can’t go over them.

We can’t go under them.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through them!

 

Chitty chatty!

Chitty chatty!

Chitty chatty!

 

Image via Pinterest

Image via Pinterest by Resales Botijero on flickr

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re very scared.

 

Uh-uh! Gates!

Narrow metal gates.

We can’t go over them.

We can’t go under them.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through them!

 

Clang squeeze bump!

Clang squeeze bump!

Clang squeeze bump!

 

Image via Pinterest

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re very, very scared.

 

Uh-uh! Children!

Lots & lots of children.

We can’t go over them.

We can’t go under them.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through them!

 

Shriek laugh scream!

Shriek laugh scream!

Shriek laugh scream!

Image via Pinterest

 

Image via Pinterest by Apartment Therapy 

We’re going on a school hunt.

We’re going to find a good one.

What a beautiful day!

We’re panic stricken.

 

Uh-uh! A classroom!

A chaotic, crowded classroom.

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

 

Oh no!

We’ve got to go through it!

 

Hands on ears!

Duck & weave!

Run run run!

Image via Pinterest, Joy the Baker

Image via Pinterest

 

WHAT’S THAT?

Image via Pinterest, Amanda Jane Jones on Instagram

 

One size fits all round peg sausage factory!

Too many flickering fluorescents!

No-one explaining what when or why!

 

IT’S A SCHOOL!!!!

 

Image via Pinterest

Quick! 

Back through the classroom! 

Hands on ears! Duck & weave! Run run run! 

Back through the children! 

Shriek laugh scream! Shriek laugh scream! Shriek laugh scream!

Back through the gates! 

Clang squeeze bump! Clang squeeze bump! Clang squeeze bump!

Back through the grown ups! 

Chitty chatty! Chitty chatty! Chitty chatty!

Back through the traffic! 

Rumble beep! Rumble beep! Rumble beep!

Back through the uniform! 

Scratch pull! Scratch pull! Scratch pull!

 

Get to our front door.

Open the door.

Up the stairs.

 

Oh no!

We forgot to shut the door.

Back downstairs & over the uniform.

 

Shut the door. 

Over the uniform & back upstairs.

Into the bedroom.

 

Into bed.

Under the covers with our plushies.

Image via Pinterest 

WE’RE NOT GOING ON A SCHOOL HUNT AGAIN.

Except the law says we have to so we do .... 

 

We’re going on another school hunt.

We’re going to find a special one.

What a hopeful day!

We’re not sure.

We’re segregated.

 

Uh-uh! It’s the same!

 

We’re going on another school hunt.

We’re going to find a different one.

What a difficult day!

We’re not wanted.

We’re depressed.

 

We’re going on another school hunt.

Will we ever find the right one?

What a dark day!

We’re not well.

 

Image via Pinterest

We’re lost isolated broken & alone.

 

Uh-uh! PTSD!

Painful life threatening PTSD.

We can’t go over it.

We can’t go under it.

 

Oh no! 

We’ve got to go through it!

 

WE CAN’T GO ON A SCHOOL HUNT AGAIN.

 

 The End.

S.L.

o0o

To quote Alan E Beck:

"You can't do the Bloom stuff 

until you've done the Maslow stuff."

Image via Pinterest

 The End End

 

 

 

Clearing the Clutter

The time has come.  

It's time to Clear the Clutter.

Our "house-full-of-stuff" has become a visual metaphor for the autistic brain reaching reception capacity, on the verge of overload and meltdown from having to cope with 
 too much information.

If I'm to avoid overloading the house with more stuff ~ and the possible meltdown of one Mr family member in particular ~ I need to create some capacity, quickly!

Like the autistic brain ~ which finds filtering unnecessary information and sensory stimulii extremely challenging ~ I've been very adept at collecting stuff but not so very good at offloading stuff, especially the kids' stuff (ever).

It's good stuff: useful (to someone, if not us any more), decent quality, pre-loved, much "as new", all evoking happy memories.  All reasons why I've held onto it (OK, hoarded it).

There's so much stuff we can't easily access the stuff that's still useful, still enjoyable.

We're really at a point where we can't fit any new stuff in.  And I like new stuff!  New stuff that will be more useful than the old stuff, that we can also enjoy and link to new memories.

In short, not enough old stuff is being filtered out so there is not enough capacity for new stuff.
Just like the autistic brain!

Yes, we've had a couple of garage clear outs of ~ quite frankly ~ 
c£@& stuff.  The garage being the metaphorical equivalent of the autistic brain's meltdown as, usually in a fit of pique and lacking any other rational thought or idea, it's where we've chucked any overload from the "house-full-of-stuff" that we couldn't think how to contain within the house anymore. 

In the past, as a means of avoiding overload, I've given away a lot of stuff ~ the autistic brain's equivalent of turning on a release valve, of avoiding overload by withdrawing or zoning out for a bit, like reading or watching TV.  

A sort of "clutter clearance channel".

But I was working then and I could afford to give stuff away.  Now, having given up gainful employment "for family reasons" (and halving our household income in the process), I've been reluctant to give away quite so much ~ promising one Mr family member that I'd start selling the good stuff as my ongoing contribution to the much depleted money coffers.

And therein lay the problem.  Removing the "clutter clearance channel", or release valve, of "giving away" stuff without immediately identifying an alternative, cash generating, "workable for our family" autism friendly "clutter clearance channel" has meant this house and the garage are now both fully full of stuff!.

But, after four years without one, I think I've finally found a release valve to suit.  

Hello local Facebook selling pages.  

All I need is a camera (check), a cash collecting jar (check), an ability to communicate via FB (check) and to arrange mutually convenient collections in exchange for cash (check) ~ oh, and a lot of stuff and clutter (double check) ~ and I'm away.

Clearing the way for my house ~ and its inhabitants ~ to function again, to work in the way it needs to today.  Like allowing the autistic brain to rest and empty itself of some of the stuff it doesn't need, to reach a point of "calm alertness", with sufficient capacity for more information to assimilate and be made use of.  Little and often, pre-empting and avoiding the overload, opening the way for the garage, too, to be put to better use!  I'm thinking potter's wheel, yoga...teenage den...man den...teenage and man den combined?.  

And I thought I could assuage the guilt of not "giving away" by doing some good in a different way.

So, returning to the metaphor of this story, and to highlight their Too Much Information campaign, I promise to pass on 10% of any money I make from Clearing the Clutter (I've got a lot of stuff and clutter) to the National Autistic Society to contribute in some small way to the understanding, acceptance and accommodation of autism.  

After all, that's why I'm doing this.

#AutismTMI

#AutismHour

#differentnotless  

#cleartheclutter

via HIPPYBEACHGIRL.TUMBLR.COM on Pinterest

Autism Friendly Design

So, I had this light bulb moment recently about how I might bring together a life-long special interest in art & design with my new special interest in autism ~ autism friendly design.

And it turns out The National Autistic Society are running a one day conference on 1st November 2016 in Manchester on 
Autism Friendly Design.

Since autism became part of our life I've had many opportunities to observe, & experience first hand, how ill-suited many environments can be for autistic people & the very real difficulties caused by autism unfriendly environments.  Schools, shops, leisure centres, transport hubs, homes even, the list goes on.

Having literally given up the day job in 2013 to focus on the unexpected demands of family life with autism, my plan was always to return to the workplace once 'things had settled' & we'd found our 'new normal'.

After a couple of false starts, we've still not reached a 'new normal'.  But that hasn't stopped me pondering the retraining opportunities a forced career break might open up.  Could this be my chance to pursue the creative education I'd not had the confidence to pursue way back when or should I find a way to formally build on the knowledge I'm acquiring now about autism with a view to helping others - after all, demand is clearly outstripping supply in terms of diagnosis & therapeutic support whether relating to autism, sensory processing or the mental health issues that can ensue.

Then it dawned on me that there might be a way of combining the two ~ & clearly I'm not alone!

Could I, should I, am I too old, will I be taken seriously, or do I come at it from another angle, from within the autistic community?

That internal debate continues to rage so watch this space.

Pastel Stained Glass via LOVETHISPIC