Haven’t posted anything here in almost two years. You would have thought I would have plenty of time for it after I retired from my paying job. And yet, oddly enough, the chaos around here has only increased since 2014. Autistic daughter is now in college and doing well (even though we’re averaging at least two trips to the college every week to bring her things she absolutely HAS to have this very minute, along with roughly 500 text messages a week, mostly asking for help with executive function stuff). ADHD daughter is weathering the storms of high school, despite the concussion from being dropped on her head by the other members of the cheerleading squad. The dog ages, but hasn’t slowed down. And the cat is as bloody as ever.

Despite retirement, I’ve just been too busy to pay much attention to this blog. But I have been doing a lot of research and a lot of thinking over the past two years, and gradually a book has begun to emerge in my head. I think it’s time for a serious and systematic look at autism and human rights—at the ways in which autistic people (or people with autism, if you prefer) are routinely denied their right to live with dignity and without unnecessary pain, as well as their right to equal treatment under the law. I also want to look at the many ways in which they and their families are fighting back against a system that offers few accommodations even to autistic children, let alone adults.

I plan to try out some of the material for the book here, in front of what I hope will be a sympathetic audience. I welcome comments and criticisms (of the kindly sort) from anyone. So while there will still be updates here on our girls, the animals and my poor beleagured husband (who hasn’t retired yet), there will also be bits of chapters that I’m working on. I hope you will find them interesting (please let me know if they are WAAAAYYYY too boring . . .).