introduction

hi,
thought to take the time to introduce mineself. have been lurking here for a while. have some friends that come here, and after being reading for a while see that this is a nice place.

am a 35 yr old woman living in northern ontario canada.
have aspergers, a daughter 8 (soon to be 9) yrs old, and a son 11 1/2 yrs old both of whom have AS as well.
we live with two dogs, a husky and a samoyed in a little trailer house on the shores of a beautiful lake at the end of long lonely stretch of road and are surrounded by pine forests, large rock cliffs, a deep and fast flowing river behind the house, sharing this property with foxes, bears, deer, wolves, bears, porcupine and a large variety of birds.

we are quite newly diagnosed, infact have not even got the daughters assessment mailed here yet, since having moved here a few months ago. ALthough was diagnosed as a child as being 'electively mute' among other things, grew up in a hostile world where no one understood what was mine purpose on this planet, and am determined to not have this repeated with these children. Had twin brother who was clearly much more affected then am, and infact never spoke at all in his short (6 yrs) life.
Do not work, and would not be able to handle working in a mainstream work environment. although have a dream. would like to set up a autism art academy. a place for those of us on the spectrum to be able to express ourselves through art form, all are welcome, verbal or not, with or without support worker needs, old and young. There would be an art gallery, and a store. The store would support the artists, it woudl be a co-op effort, and ALL members would receive equal amounts of the dividents at months end, with a collectively agreed upon percentage donated to autism research, and a certain percentage into a fund from where special needs for expenses for which families have no $ for could be paid out. there would be a print shop, for printing posters, cards, and prints of art works. there would be ceramics, painting in varius forms, and any other types of art people would be interested.
it seems that this dream will some day come true. it must. want it to. and the most amazing thing happened. saw this woman, who will be mine counsellor, and she told of a man close to us who is a famous Native Canadian artist, and he as a autistic son. she said "i bet so n so, would be a person we could try to connect you with regarding your idea". am very excited that this dream will someday come true.

well, think that is it for now.
thank you for reading.

lilghostie