bbc

Leave a comment Posted on February 10, 2016February 10, 2016 Autism

Autistic Love – a short film about Aspergers and falling in love. Please watch it is brilliant!

Just in from the BBC!

You may remember, back in October I posted a film created by Gerard a young filmmaker with autism and you posted the film on Patient Talk. Gerard’s film got over 12,000 views so thank you so much for sharing the film on social media .”

Gerard shares “A funny warm insightful film about finding love. Getting a Valentine’s date can be hard for any of us but how much harder is it when you have Asperger’s? Gerard’s film wanders through his past love mishaps examining the effect his Autistic communication has had on and finding a partner.

I’m Gerard Groves, I’m 18 years-old, and I love making stuff: films, comedy sketches, project ideas… Basically anything people can watch and enjoy or laugh at or learn from. I’ve been making films since I was a 12 year old kid dressed up as Doctor Who in my back garden; my dream is become a cross between Ridley Scott, J.J. Abrams, and Quentin Tarantino. I’ve just moved from Birmingham to London to start my new job as a BBC Production Apprentice I’d love to hear your feedback/support/criticism/plans-to-take¬-over-the-world! Shoot me an email at gerard.groves@bbc.co.uk”

I’ve just watch and think it is brilliant. So please do watch and share yourself.

Oh yes please share your thoughts about the film in the comments below.

Leave a comment Posted on October 23, 2015October 23, 2015 Autism

“Autistic Boy” – watch this brilliant film made by an 18 year old autistic highlighting the positives.

A couple of days ago we were asked by the BBC to share this brilliant new film entitled “Autistic Boy ” made by an 18 year old autistic.

Set in a small office in Birmingham this film documents the positive impact Asperger’s Syndrome brought into everyone’s lives!

Gerard writes “I’m Gerard Groves, I’m 18 years-old, and I love making stuff: films, comedy sketches, project ideas… Basically anything people can watch and enjoy or laugh at or learn from. I’ve been making films since I was a 12 year old kid dressed up as Doctor Who in my back garden; my dream is become a cross between Ridley Scott, J.J. Abrams, and Quentin Tarantino. I’ve just moved from Birmingham to London to start my new job as a BBC Production Apprentice I’d love to hear your feedback/support/criticism/plans-to-take¬-over-the-world!”

Please do share any comments you have about the film in the comments section below.

Leave a comment Posted on July 2, 2014 Patient Talk

Antibiotic resistance: Are we really facing a crisis? Will we really be “cast back into the dark ages of medicine” ?

Antibiotic resistance: Cameron warns of medical ‘dark ages’

For those of us living in the UK we woke up this morning to antibiotic resistance being one of the lead stories on the news.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron announced, according to the BBC’s Fergus Walsh ” The world could soon be “cast back into the dark ages of medicine” unless action is taken to tackle the growing threat of resistance to antibiotics”. Not just that he announced “a review into why so few anti-microbial drugs have been introduced in recent years”.

For a more detail look at the subject there is a previous blog on anti-microbial drugs which may be of interest here.

Now scare stories about antibiotic resistance have been around for over twenty years now so I for one and getting a little bit sceptical. That being said I’m only a commentator not a physician so I’m really interested in the views of others. What do you think? Are we really facing a crisis?

To help kick start a discussion I have set up a short poll. It would be great if you could take part by voting below.

Also please use the comments section below to add any thoughts and experiences you might have on the subject of Antibiotic resistance.

Many thanks in advance.

1 Comment Posted on June 25, 2014June 25, 2014 Autism, Patient Talk

“The isle is full of noises” – The Tempest, Matilda, The Royal Shakespeare Company and “relaxed” Performances for children with autism.

Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
The Tempest 3.2.148-156

So say Caliban in the second act of the Tempest William Shakespeare’s magical play set on a remote island after a terrible storm.

The Tempest – relaxed theatre and the autistic community

The words came to mind this morning while I was listening to an interview on the BBC’s Today Programme on Radio 4 with Kelly Hunter of the Royal Shakespeare Company based in Stratford upon Avon – the birthplace of the bard himself.

The reason was that Ms Hunter is directing a production of The Tempest specifically for children and young people who are on the autistic spectrum. You can see more about the production at the RSC’s site here. (If somebody from the RSC does read this just to let you know that it would be great if you could have a performance at the weekend as many parents and caregivers work. That is not a criticism just a point of information).

In fact the RSC has just put on a “relaxed performance” of the musical Matilda in London a couple of weeks ago. Our son with ASD went along and loved it. His neurotypical sister was rather disappointed not be be interviewed by the hordes of journalists lying in wait outside.

From my limited experience ( about four or five productions) of relaxed performances I have to say they are a brilliant idea. Simply because they allow for the the idiosyncrasies of our autistic children. The audience can make noise – which will make Ms Hunter’s performance of the Tempest much more realistic. I’m told at Matilda there were chill out spaces and the RSC provided social stories before we went along.

For many of us who love live performance these are the only way we would feel happy about taking children with ASD to an event without that horrible feeling of “being watched” by other attendees.

The aim of this blog is firstly to let my readers know about this production. If you can attend – do! Secondly to recommend to any person or caregiver of an ASD person that these are brilliant to attend and you want be made to feel like rubbish for being a normal person on the autistic spectrum.

Finally it would be great if you could share you experiences attending relaxed performances. The good and the bad. Please use the comments box below to share your story! Any links to theatre companies or cinemas who run autism friendly events would be great.

PS The first relaxed production I went to was rum by a UK based company called Oily Cart. They are also fanatstic a really deserve your support so please drop round to their site here.

Thanks in advance.

1 Comment Posted on November 27, 2013November 27, 2013 Patient Talk

Should smoking be banned in hospitals? Have your say

In the UK this morning the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has announced

A smoking ban in hospitals?

that it wants to see a complete ban on smoking on hospital grounds. You can read more on the BBC’s web site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25101420

However Andrew M Brown in a blog today’s Daily Telegraph described such a ban as “sadistic and wrong”. He feels this is especially the case for people in mental hospitals. You can read his very interesting blog here http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmcfbrown/100247975/banning-smoking-in-hospitals-would-be-sadistic-and-wrong/

So we thought we would run a poll to find out what you think. See below.

And what do you think about the Andrew M Brown blog. Please use the comments box to share your views.

Thanks very much!