Meeting Irina from Equine Assisted Therapy

Meeting with Ivana - Equine Assisted Therapy

This morning was a busy morning.  I arranged to meet with Irina Aleksandrova from Equine Assisted Therapy.  It as a productive meeting despite it being a cool Autumn day in Brisbane with a westerly wind blowing. 


Irina is doing work with children on the Autism Spectrum and assisting them to better function not only in themselves but in society through horse therapy. This mainly involves a connection with horses and a means of stimulating brain function by riding and associating with horses.  Dr Temple Grandin has mentioned how people with Autism can better function with animals and there is even evidence to prove that dolphins can help people with Autism as well.  I would be interested if SeaWorld or some other aquatic park was able to provide some interest in this so something can be kick started.


Irina is from Russia and has lived in Australia for approximately 15 years and is married to a Ukrainian.  She has a paddock in suburban Brisbane where she has approximately 4 horses with enough room to ride them.  I am offering to assist Irina by putting her in touch with the Brisbane Aspie (Asperger's Syndrome) Adult Group in Brisbane.  It may be a good activity for adults to connect with adults and connect to a setting that may prove both relaxing and therapeutic.  As Irina will be travelling to Russia for a month in May, we hope to have an event happening in nearby Yeerongpilly where the paddock and horses can be found?


In my Autism advocacy work, I often wonder how the school system can be better catered for in understanding Autism better.  It seems to me that better awareness is needed in being able to accommodate Autism within such an educational setting.  It seems to me that people are conditioned to think and function in a way that may be excluding Autism functioning.  This is putting persons on the Autism Spectrum at a disadvantage when trying to learn and have skills and abilities utilised.  I just wonder if better awareness can be achieved by implementing Autism awareness within the school curriculum? 


As I spoke to Irina, it concerned both she and I that although there is support for children, there is still very little for adults and for children transitioning into adulthood.  I continually try to raise awareness of this very need and have put my name down for the Autism CRC one day workshop and providing input into the Autism MOOC.  Still a lot more needs to be done. 


Wherever I go I raise awareness of Autism but sadly still so many people need a better understanding of what is like being an adult with Autism.  I hope that the future gets better and with more awareness a great deal more can be done. 


My work will continue to assist in raising awareness of Autism and I am happy to work with Irina and seeing how we can get more involvement so as to assist in better functioning of persons on the Autism Spectrum.  Once again please stay tuned for updates.


Please also note that we now welcome on board Matthew Watson who is trained in Information Technology and on the Autism Spectrum here in Brisbane.  Matthew will be helping to bring software testing to Brisbane in the not too distant future.


Garry Burge


www.garryburge.com


Please remember to Like my Page on Facebook as myself and other adults need your support. 

Meeting with the Lord Mayor and Autism awareness.

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Adults on the Autism Spectrum taking a positive lead. Meeting with Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk

Today I begin this post by knowing that further awareness and progress has been made allowing adults to take a positive lead in our own efforts.  Since my own diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome by Dr Tony Attwood in 1998, I can now leave the suffocation of feeling totally alone which once consumed me.  Now I can sit back and see other adults building upon their own foundations and knowing the future generations of people with Autism have a positive future to look forward too. It concerns me deeply when I hear from so many parents, families and even adults wondering what the future will be like.  It makes me often feel overwhelmed and frustrated that I cannot do more but now I know that the future is looking better.  The most important thing though is finding employment.  To assist with this, I continue to network in my own spare time on both Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  I also upload Youtube videos of the advocacy work I do in Autism.  I know that I may not speak for all adults but what I do believe is that life can be better for those of us with Autism.




It has been very rewarding seeing both Ben Wilshire and Chris Lovell grow as well as Blake Connolly and other adults whom I work with.  They have grown in confidence and now taking an active lead in getting the message out there.  However there still remains the need for more progress.  This includes employment opportunities and providing the support, awareness and infrastructure to helping the younger generations.  I believe that sensory issues and awareness need greater attention and awareness.  I know that employment still remains a challenge.  Recently I connect with Robert Tedesco who is an adult with Asperger Syndrome in HP Packard in South Australia.  I am working with Robert and encouraging him to start and write his own blog which he has now created.  I also need to acknowledge Jeannette Perkins and Nathan Selove who are also assisting in raising awareness of Asperger Syndrome in adults. 


 Please be sure to visit Jeanette and Nathan on Facebook who are both adults on the Autism Spectrum who are making pioneering efforts in raising awareness.  It is good to know that I am not alone nor the adults I am working with being alone.


In the meantime please stay tuned for further updates and please be sure to support and Like my Page on Facebook. 



Regards


Garry Burge


www.garryburge.com 

Why leadership skills are important

The difficulty in today's world is that there is a lack of role models and leadership skills in young people.

To begin this post I wanted to examine whether more leadership skills are needed to make for a better world.  I find it ironic that for a person who is supposedly lacking in social skills, and communication skills that myself and others with Autism are seen as somehow defective.  I would like to inform you however that over the years in order to communicate and confront barriers with everyday chit chat, that learning communication skills has been a constant challenge.  In order to ensure that with students that they obtain the support they need and patrons, communication is something which really needs a great deal of professional output.  This comes in the form of making sure what the person wants is fulfilled to the best of my ability.  This involves encouraging the person to think and to enquire in their first for knowledge. Although the coming days remain uncertain and there is a real possibility that redundancy may be a reality, I know that all I can do is to focus on the present and to deliver the best I can.  Despite being worn down over the years and being told what can't be done instead of what can, I try my best to remain always optimistic.

Making friends has not been easy but over the years I have tried my best to focus on my own achievements and mentors around me that continue to offer support wherever they can.  I have some good friends on the Autism Spectrum and it is good to know that I can share experiences and journeys with like minds.  Friendship is important to a person on the Autism Spectrum because a lack of peers and friends while growing up has meant an absence in talking about for instance the challenges and issues of being male is like.  I always struggled not having friends and more importantly having the trust to share experiences, anxieties and concerns.  Understanding persons of the opposite sex has especially been a challenge because I never could share or find the necessary means through a lack of a social circle to grow in this direction.  People are often confused by the way my mind works because I always want to expand my friend base and wanting to do this within your own gender has created some confusion over the years.  Although I do regard myself as heterosexual the pressures placed upon me in my mid life can often be overwhelming.  I can sometimes attract to persons of the opposite sex who may be married or in a relationship.  With my mind however thinking within a conservative constraint, I know the responsibilities of trying to understand boundaries.  I guess there is a part of me that still wants to fit in with other men and belong to the male tribe but what I find frustrating is the absence of culture and intellectual curiosity.  I don't really have the coordination to be good at sport or other physical activity and I am not really that motivated to self reflect on parts of my torso which are supposedly 'chick magnets'.  These of course being abdominal and bicep attributes.  It makes one wonder within an academic setting whether such attributes are necessary given the emphasis on the mind and its supposed first for knowledge. 

I find it frustrating that within younger generations that many men and I guess women fail in leadership skills.  One of the best attributes within employment is good leadership skills and confidence.  I try my best to encourage others younger than me to be guided by what I learnt and taught myself in terms of leadership skills.  Having an emphasis on communication and getting the message across is essential.  I find it frustrating however that as a person who has Autism that I am not seen as a so called expert. You would think that being Autistic and having the condition yourself that you would be the first port of call when it comes to others wanting to know more, more so than asking a person who possesses a PhD or some other qualification?  Furthermore, I seem unable to train others and guide them with my own experiences in life because I do not possess a piece of paper that illustrates my credentials.  I hope someday that I will be able to mentor others and be some kind of role model for now and the future.  Younger generations of people need good mentoring and furthermore they need to be built up.  Nothing is more important than job leadership skills. What do you think of this video despite it being from the 1950s?  Does it teach you anything? 

Over the coming months, I hope to find ways to make having Autism more positive.  I also ask that for future support that you please support my page on Facebook and visit my website www.garryburge.com

More updates soon! 

Despite the world remaining constantly confusing I will do my best to deliver to others and make for a positive future.