The Absence of Normal - Faces of Autism

Earlier this year I lost one of my best friends who featured expansively in this project. He was just 25. 7 months on, my heart still swells with grief at the loss. I am determined to still continue this project, but it will take some time for me as this was so intricately linked to him in my mind. A few weeks ago I took some photos for the first time since he died. I am hopeful (I have to be) that this is not all that will be.

I apologise if you have sent enquiries and I have not answered; this is the reason why. It has just been too hard and I am trying to practice self-care.

I firmly believe that I have more stories to tell - on average, an Autistic person dies 18 years younger than their non-autistic peers. If you are interested in being part of this project, please STILL SEND IN MESSAGES and I will respond when I return to continue this series. 

Take care of yourselves.

Link to a write up on this project on themighty.com

Once again, if you are autistic or know of someone on the spectrum who can physically be in Melbourne (AU) who would interested in being part of the project, please contact me! 

Kelly pt. 2

Karl pt. 3

Here’s an old self-portrait. I’m going to use it as a self-submission.

Karl pt. 2

Karl is one of the most colourful people I know. A few summers back he crowdsourced his car’s paint job by handing out spray paint cans and paint markers to friends (and strangers) to decorate. He will speak to just about anyone in the hope of making friends.

These photos of my grandfather are taken more than a year apart. 

Grandfather has one ‘good’ outfit that he wears to dinners, haircuts, general outings, and ancestral veneration. My grandmother purchased a duplicate of the shirt he is wearing (so it can be cleaned) as it was all he would wear. 

A recent photo of my grandfather, who is definitely on the spectrum. I like to think of him as the river from which my autism flows.

The idea for this project came about some new research on autism.

The team at the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (Carnegie Mellon University) found that during fMri brain scans on subjects with and without autism, the subjects without autism had consistent activation patterns between different brain regions.

The subjects with autism, however, had more communication between some regions of the brain and less communication between other regions. Each autistic brain pattern studied had a unique pattern of communication strengths.

There is a commonly used phrase in discourse about autism: ‘If you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person.’

We are all intrinsically different. What unites us is our exception from the norm.