There's More To It

Hello again and I hope you're having an enjoyable April month. And also being Autism Awareness Month, this post is to highlight the autism spectrum and more I hadn't mentioned before which I'll cover.

So for those who've visited this blog for the first time, this is a journey of my life since my move. Anyway, I've been diagnosed with autism since I was 5 years old. I was quiet, insisting on things being the same, hated being touched, unable to cope with loud noises and was prone to massive tantrums but as I've been attending speech therapies, I was able to better communicate and along with having an integration aide beside me through school, I've been pulling through despite troubles with other people.

Although I went to a specialist kindergarten, I went to public schools all the way to secondary school when I've finished. There are times learning gets too overwhelming but I've had assistance. But then with regards to navigating life after school, it's been rather hard as I hadn't had much of a social life and a lot of people didn't understand me as well. I've even had more counselling sessions than catch ups with people and this may definitely sound sad but this is the reality I've faced with the lack of knowledge from other people.

However starting from 19 years old, I was in a terrible situation at school and mentioned I wanted to die to an integration aide and after that, she decided I should do my autism presentations and go around other schools including a TAFE institute in Warragul and at a family autistic camp to the support workers and it's great that all the people who've attended were able to realise more about autism and also their capabilities beneficial to today's society.

Years later, I've written a book to educate more people about autism which is titled Autism as a Disability? and selling copies with profits made. I have also learnt more particularly how brains in autistic people feature more synapses which would allow more electrical and chemical signals to pass through all other neurons or simply brain cells. Neurologists would be better to describe this but this opens up a point about autistic people. As they have a tendency to have excessive sensory issues, more synapses can play this role. And Asperger's syndrome was a new bit I've learnt and is all part of the autism spectrum. This is when their brains work over the top. Although people with Aspergers are great communicators apart from autistic people from young experience language development delays, they tend to say things that can cross the line with people being put off or upset. But that's not all.

2 years ago, I've started seeing my new psychiatrist in Melbourne under my then mental health plan organised by my doctor but there comes an oddity. I was apparently diagnosed with schizophrenia and on medication as I was experiencing intrusive thoughts. With the first 2 sessions with him, we were talking about things that had caused my intrusive thoughts. It was hard particularly when others would think they're silly but once that's out, I felt better in the end and eventually, my psychiatrist doesn't believe I have schizophrenia but a lot of the time, I kept things to myself as I had a lot of people not understand me.

Next, I've seen my psychologist with 6 counselling sessions organised by my doctor. So far, she has ruled out anxiety and depression but noticed I've been exhausted from trying. After all that, she's satisfied with how I'm going and only done 5 sessions instead.

And from the start of this year, I went back to my psychiatrist and this time adjusted my medication. So far, I've spread out my time taking my medication from every night to every 2 nights then 3 until we agreed to stop the medication from the recent appointment. So far, nothing crazy has been going which is a good sign.

With all this, I've learnt more and understanding autism as just a condition isn't too bad but better in a way. And lately with the whole spectrum, I bear in mind how the brain overworks with someone living with Aspergers and with thoughts that are rather unorthodox and I'll give you one example now and it's to do with baked beans.

Back when I was a boy, I was given baked beans but felt uncomfortable eating them as they reminded me of tiny human heads and once that's brought up, I've decided to do an artwork titled Baked Bean Faces. I was intending to work on it as a painting but decided to do this as a drawing instead.

And yes, there have been quirks that I've realised. I can remember when I was drawing pop satirical pictures where I've placed fictional characters in some unusual setting. There was a picture I drew of an orangutan tasting a spoonful of palm oil which also highlights issues environmental and with society. My gran before her passing told me "You have some weird stuff going on in your head." and in this case, it's true.

With me using Instagram, I usually post pictures of my artworks but I came up with a different idea. With stories or reels that users put up as typical social media, I came up with an idea of my own reels. I've taken photos with my phone then adding music that wouldn't be too normal but in a way illustrates my wacky thought processes which I hadn't noticed much with social media in my life.

So here's a picture of a gorilla reading a newspaper in the Rising Sun Hotel east of Melbourne.

There's this Vinnies super op shop in Pakenham. I've made a reference from a TV show Hardcore Pawn showing Detroit's biggest pawn shop.

There was a load of items dropped in for donation at another op shop in Pakenham. I've added Sorry by Justin Bieber reflecting how disposable household items are which is typical in a throw away society.

But something more peculiar is the colour of this Maserati Levante. Although this paintwork appears grey, there's also a trace of blue.

And next up, I'd like to bring up memory span. There's one time I was talking to another autistic guy about computers. He described me as having photogenic memory which is incredibly fascinating. There are some music I'm aware of in particularly a Tina Cousins song. I can remember when I was 10 years and hearing the particular song reminded me at a nightlife which I wouldn't think other school children at the time would have imagined but not knowing what song it is, I turned to Spotify and eventually found Forever which is the song that had sprung in my mind over the years.

But something more obscure is the music video for Cherry Lips by Garbage. Here's one bit.

If you're wandering why it's obscure, I came across this advertisment for BWS when there's only a pair of boots walking around.

And years back when Cherry Lips was released, you'll realise why.

And another aspect about autistic people I'm wanting to cover is having a habit of things being the same as they can't cope with change. Unfortunately, things do change but can disturb routines for people. I've been fortunate though to accept changes and never looked back. I've had a lot of food that's rich in flavour and going to restaurants in Melbourne where it's the world's biggest food capital is great pleasure. Better than meals provided in past family autistic camps I've been to around Mansfield which is a northern region of Victoria. 

There's also using my bank card to make payments along with electronic banking instead of using just cash which is a case of good change. My problems with using cash is having time to go to a bank to withdraw cash particularly if we live busy lives, digging out how much cash money I'll need to pay along with cent coins from my wallet and the bank I'm currently with have no local branches but with my methods, there are significantly more convenient.

With car ownership, I still enjoy manual cars but it's a big pitty how a lot of car owners prefer automatics. But other than that, I'm still pursuing my dream of having a project car doing a manual swap and break a philosophy that all cars should be automatics.

And fascinations can be a great part of autistic people considering the rest of society is more bland, conservative and not always nice. Along with fascinations of dinosaurs, cars and art, I'd like to embrace some more pop culture which I've been aware of.

So here, I bought these 2 Pop vinyl figurines from JB HI FI. One, Cornelius the Corn Flakes mascot and secondly, an Aipom.

An Aipom is a monkey type pokemon so I felt like explaining it.

So now, I'm blown away how I've developed since my move to Pakenham. From being diagnosed with autism and having a long hard life growing up, not able to fit in, not being understood and later considerations of suicide but since I've made my big decision to move and be more of a Melburnian, I've become a better likeable person I hadn't imagined before. There are people I came across who accepted me for who I am. And more exposure to culture around Melbourne has lifted me up. But there are some people who simply aren't aware of the autism spectrum in any way which has always been a big bother and I truly believe in more education. Although I caught up with a supervisor from Autism Connect over the phone and asked about education which is slow but takes time, more would be definitely great.

I've always wanted to live life like other people which has always been embedded in my mind since I was young but I've had so many barriers that got in my way. I've had a lot of hard work that I've done to be better understood, accepted and be valuable to any community I'm in. My proudest moment in my life is to not accept disability let alone be on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS for short) and I know I'm not stupid, dim witted and I'm not some alien from a different planet. I am a human as well as a permanent Australian citizen. I'll show you something that's definitely valid.

In this picture, there's a spherical bear who wanted to be a dancer despite it's abnormal condition which illustrates perseverance and a bookmark saying 'People with Autism Rok' which was given by a former school colleague.

This isn't my first post about autism in this blog. I'll include the link for anyone else to see.

Disability My Arse (tristanthroup.blogspot.com)

Later, I'll be diving into neurodivergence which is my growing fascination particularly where I am on the autism spectrum. It'll be later this month.

See you next time!