General Wellbeing
CAMHS, autism, and suicide: The disturbing facts
TW: This article talks about specifics of suicide among Autistic children and young people.
Trauma
Neurodiversity
The UK government knows CAMHS is failing Autistic children and they still aren't fixing it
The UK Government have been aware with the issues with CAMHS for Autistic young people since at least 2014. Despite this nothing has changed. David dissects a document provided to the House of Commons on this issue.
disability
Autism and pain: When pain management options are limited
I have recently been writing about the Autistic experience of pain and the risk that it presents to Autistic people when medical professionals do not understand the way we display pain. Some of us, however, live with chronic pain and are prescribed painkillers. For a lot of people in that
Society
CAMHS refusal to work with Autistic children violates ethical standards created by the House of Commons
If you are unaware of current issues with CAMHS, you can catch up by visiting my CAMHS Crisis resource page. However, the cliff noted version is this; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are turning away Autistic children and young people from their services. This is very unethical, but
Mental Health
Autistic Parenting: Parenthood in it's infancy
This article was co-authored by David Gray-Hammond and Katie Munday When Katie and I set out to write today, we knew we wanted to do something new. While there has been a great deal of discussion around parenting school-age Autistic children, Katie and I are both parents to younger children
Addiction
Being sober isn't a competition
Today, I received my first 1 star review for one of my books on Amazon. Within the review, they stated that my 6 years of sobriety (it's actually 7 now) was merely a blip, and that I would not be sober until it was at least 60 years.
Autistic Wellbeing
Creating Autistic Suffering: CAMHS kills kids
This article was co-authored by David Gray-Hammond and Tanya Adkin This article includes exerts from interviews conducted by David, all interviewee's gave their permission for quotes to be used. Tanya has demand avoided weighing in on this topic for quite some time. Not for no good reason. Tanya
Autistic Rights
Why is it so important for CAMHS to support Autistic children?
Autistic children, much like Autistic adults, live in a world that bombards them with traumatic experiences. There is often a misunderstanding around what trauma is caused by the neuronormative standard of what is allowed to be viewed as traumatic. The truth is that trauma can look different for Autistic people.
Trauma
PDA: Are we repeating the same mistakes we've already made?
Much in the way that historical research around autism has looked at young, white boys, creating bias in the diagnostic criteria (which is responsible for an unfathomable amount of harm); we are creating diagnostic (but not) tools for PDA that exclude intellectually disabled Autistic people. No wond
Society
Autism and addiction: co-existing with a mind that seeks oblivion
The narratives around autism and addiction are both peculiar. Things are the same while appearing different. On the one hand, autism is viewed by wider society as something that happens to a child, as if an unseen force has stolen their humanity. On the other hand, addiction is seen as
Neurodiversity
Failure by the NHS to adhere to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
This article was written by an anonymous guest author This post references: UN Special Rapporteur on Torture UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities UK Mental Health Act (1983) We are at a pivotal crossroads on our path towards a fairer society, faced with a monumental issue that,
Healthcare
Autism and ADHD diagnosis and the problem with cultural competency among diagnostic professionals
It's no secret that diagnosis in the UK (and, in fact, the world at large) is increasingly difficult to access. I have written at length about diagnosis, such as this article on why getting a diagnosis is so difficult, and this piece considering the issues with current diagnostic