Traveling with Autism

TEDx Dublin Speakers 2013 Lisa Domican Lisa Domican is a Wicklow based mother of two autistic children. She set up the company Grace App Communication, and developed a simple picture communication app in collaboration with a successful games developer that allows non verbal people with Autism and other disabilities to communicate effectively. In interacting with people with autism, Lisa advocates in ‘the 3 As’: Awareness, Acceptance and making Allowances. She hopes through using these steps people can help reduce the challenges that make having living with autism in a world designed for “normal” people so stressful. From TV3 Morning Show in 2011

TBH - coming clean about that autism taboo

Before the Storm - when Puberty came to town.. I've been meaning to write about my son’s current phase of behaviour for quite a while. But I guess I was waiting until the storm had passed, that we had found a way to resolve it, and I could write an uplifting post full of practical advice and solutions. But something else has prompted me to come clean and talk about what we are going through. I had a conversation with someone yesterday where I was asked what I thought of an event on the weekend, and in a moment of weakness I answered: "To Be Honest, for us it was as much about the night off in a hotel, our son has been very difficult lately and we needed the respite. and this person reprimanded me firmly saying "Oh I would never typify my son in that language" I was shocked, and replied "I'm not being negative about my son, but he can be so challenging at times and it is exhausting. She went on to say something about knowing its hard, but it is hard fo...

It's Official - My Son is a Genius

I am going to break away from the honest blogging story for a moment to tell you something that happened today - which is also true. I have always maintained my son is a genius. Not just because I am his mum and I love him, but a bona fide genius. He learned to count and read by the time he was 3. He could type by the age of 7 and at 11 he can read and memorise the credits at the end of a film, then retype them with matching fonts and layouts and a whole load of stuff that you never knew Microsoft Word could do - at about 150 words per minute. This intelligence was severely underestimated in his previous school and it cost them. And when I told them they nodded patronisingly as if I was talking about a cat that could open a tin or a dog that understood walkies. I have long suspected that Boo is memorising dates. Sometimes we go into a place we havn't been for a while, and he reams off the date of the last time we were there. For Example: we were walking into the cinemaplex to se...

How we do it

From Check in to boarding Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport recognise and support people like us with discretion and understanding. We have the important flyer card and lanyard and seriously, you feel like Posh and Becks being ushered through the express lanes to security. It is also invaluable on arrival when there are huge queues for the passport check. One flash of the card and staff will facilitate a quick pass.