About the Blog
Why I started the Life-with-Asperger's blog and what my motivation and hopes for it are.
My entry into the world of autism was sudden and unexpected when my son was diagnosed with it in 2005. Fast forward three years and I had been diagnosed with it, and so had my other son. We had become a family of autistics.
- See: Enter Autism for my full story.
As the full realisation of the change started to hit me, I began a journey of self-awareness which lasted several years. Initially I was spending every day on autism forums but gradually I found myself shifting from asking questions to answering them.
About 7,000 posts later, I was beginning to feel like an expert.
Repeat Questions
The more I answered questions, the more I saw the same questions cropping up again and again. At first, I referred people to my old posts or quoted myself but I started to feel that I was spending too much time searching for and retyping my own words. I decided to start a blog so that I could answer the questions there and point people to it.
It worked better than I dared hope.
Leaving the Forums
Eventually my blog started to take on a life of its own and I left the forums to concentrate on expanding it. I still revisit the forums occasionally but I spend most of my "Asperger's writing time" on the blog or associated Facebook Page (and this website).
Revenue
Over the years, I've had quite a few people suggesting various different ways to generate revenue. I've always resisted these and will continue to do so. The blogging platform, facebook and this website are all on free platforms and they only cost me my time. I don't want to clutter my sites with advertising and I want to ensure that the sites are always accessible to those who need them the most. Money is not an objective. My intentions are entirely altruistic.
A little about me and Asperger's (and autism)
This four part intro was written as a series of blog posts back in 2009 while we were still on the DSM IV (which recognised Asperger's as separate from autism). One day I'll update it but for now please ignore any old language. When it says Asperger's, it means autism.
(May 2009)
(May 2009)
(June 2009)
(June 2009)