Jackson Family in GH

[Davros]

There is an article about Jacqui and her family in the latest issue of Good Housekeeping, just got it yesterday (although planning on dropping subscription as finding it boring!). Haven't read it yet....

They are getting crafty!!!! To get more people to buy their magazine they have actually put something in it that will cause all us mumsnetters to rush out and buy it!! I NEVER buy that magazine- but will today -Just for that article! (i reckon you should get paid commision!)

Whilst i'm here DAVROS...."Another Lamination Success!" (involves the Greenhouse too!!!)

I made a sheet of 'plant lables' on the p.c- then cut them out and spaced them on the laminate sheet- leaving space around each so when i laminated them i was able to cut along the clear laminate around each label so they are totally waterproof (i made some before but simply laminated a complete sheet then cut them up and the water seeped in and ruined them!

OOOOOH! What else can i do !

MrsF - You could start up your own magazine: "The Laminatrix" or "The Good Lamiinating Guide".

I'll have to rely on you all to tell me if GH is worth getting. I probably won't get to the shops until Monday.

and me- andy just got back from work to say he's golfing this afternoon! So that means i won't be going out as i will have to take all 3 boys!

funny really- but times like this remind me how 'different' it is with my boys to 'NT'....you could 'bribe' NT kids with promises of the park or a trip to Mc Donalds or similar....but that 'trickery' will not work with mine- Yes- the'd probably come with me but the moment we had done exactly what we had to do we would have to go home- it's a nightmare if i can't find what i want in the shop we have said we will go to- cannot then start wandering round different shops etc- and even a problem if someone i know stops us for a chat- that's when i start being pulled!

Still....buy the time andy gets back i will be ready to escape....so could always take a trip to Tesco....they are open till 10!!!!(Yep!! That's my idea of escape!!)

I wish i'd logged on this morning and then i could've bought GH - I've just been to Tesco....ahhhhh! I had my hands to myself, I could push the trolley in a straight line and ponder and think about things with no shouts...lovely!

Yes, Mrsforgetful, you are right about not being able to bribe our boys, though I only have the one ds and that enough is a handful...I take my hat off to you with 3.

My ds has to know how many things we need in the shop and we are not allowed to waiver from the list, or buy extra things (unless it's a Thomas comic, that is!). If I am just popping in for a "couple of things" - whoa betide me if it is more than two!

Davros, please let us know if it's worth buying, please. x

Wouldn't it be lovely if bribery worked? Sigh.....

These days dh does the shopping with ds1 while I stay at home with ds2. Dh doesn't mind because he likes to follow a routine just as much as ds1 does. God help anyone who changes the aisles round while dh and ds1 are in Asda!

MrsF - And I was relying on you for information....

Its in the June issue, page 34. I just read the article but I still don't feel that I understand her any better after reading it! I'm afraid that she's a bit of a mystery to me as she's so unusual and her situation is so unusual, I can't really relate to her at all. I actually don't know if I admire her or think she's mad!! I'm not saying I don't like her, I just can't relate to her situation or how she seems to feel about it. I'm not sure what readers with no experience of ASD will make of it but, although she's interesting, I don't think it tells anyone anything about how things are for most of us living with ASD.

P.S. but then does any individual story tell people much about most of us????

Davros- she admits that she feels guilty as she doesn't say (on purpose) how awful life is with autism and how utterly, utterly, utterly crap the services are. She has had a terrible time recently with SS//LEA/DHS etc recently (really bad). She worries that if she says much in public then she will find that things become even more difficult for her. Actually I think she should go to the press with some of the crap she's had to put up with recently- it's utterly unbelievable. A lot of the articles are wrong etc as well, or have been done without her knowledge!

I think as well interviewers get kind of taken over by the whole 7 kids thing. She also tries to make the point that most ASD kids are nowhere near as able as Luke (who still has significant difficulties- just more hidden) but I think that message often gets lost. In fact her life is probably more similar to yours than you realise (it certainly is far more like mine than any NT family I've come across) but magazines aren't particularly interested in that.

By which I meam magazine's aren't interested in the reality of autism- they want all the coochie coo stuff.

The best media thing I've come across on the reality of autism was a radio show in the states - an interview with those 2 blokes (father and son) who are working on autism. They made a point of getting across the reality of autism - the point being that you didn't really want to be producing a generation of autistic kids.

For me- my life feels similar to jaqui's- whether if we met it would still be i don't know- but i think that there are alot of us who would make very interesting subjects for t.v documentries and 'guides to Autism books'- but few of us would want the 'media' attention that comes with that.

slightly off track here- but on 'This Morning' when they interviewed Charlotte Moore- i was pissed off for her as they rushed her through a 5 minute slot- and then in a final 'garbled' sentance Philip schofield simply held up her new book and said 'and this is charlotte's latest book'....i know she was on there to promote the book- and that programmes like that don't like to be seen to be just advertising....but for 's sake she looked really awkward about it.

I think going back to jaqui that her 'My Family & Autism' programme was 'too much info in too short a programme'. her family life would have been better explained if there had been say 4 programmes- the diagnoses of Joe would have been a whole programme for a start- and then things like the shopping trip,mealtimes etc on another.....etc.
I will admit i was a bit dissapointed with how the autism was portrayed- it was an upbeat programme- but agree with JJ that to be annonymous about complaints about the schools and other services is fine- but to be in the 'public eye' and slate the people that the next day you will be turning to for help is another thing.

It would be great if someone would make a series about the Jacksons. Partly because there are so many of them, there are so many questions. You could have an episode on each of them, inc Jacqui so 8 parts. It would be really interesting. I do think there are people in the media spotlight who don't say everything's just fine (Virgina Bovell for example) but don't necessarily says its all sh*te either. I suppose once the scrutiny starts its very hard to manage it and I bet Jacqui gets taken advantage of, misquoted and misrepresented as well as gaining a lot of admiration and interest.