Notes from a not-so-empty nester

lovenlearning Autism and disability articles

Notes from a not-so-empty nester, by Liane Kupferberg Carter (Chicago Tribune).  This article’s a bit sad – parents who are still caring for their autistic adult-child, when all of their friends are “finding themselves” in the empty-nesting years.  Friendships that they now realise were situational, due to their children’s shared activities.  The heartache of worrying about who will care for your adult-child once you’re gone.

While I do find much encouragement in reading articles by autistic adults, who regularly assure parents that they were like our children – I think most parents of autistic children would relate to the loneliness and future-care fear expressed in this article.

Disability Support Pension

lovenlearning Disability and Politics

Scott Morrison needs to realise that the Disability Support Pension actually saves money and lives, by El Gibbs (Sydney Morning Herald).  I was encouraged to see an article like this being published by a major newspaper!  The author spent twenty years on-and-off the DSP due to an episodic illness – back when the DSP actually was a social security net, allowing recipients to work as they were able to, which in turn facilitated a more permanent return to the workforce as their condition stabilised/improved – unlike the current restrictive conditions.  Australia’s record of employing people with disabilities is poor, as is the enforcement of the Disability Discrimination Act.  Some very good points here.

Does my child lack empathy?

lovenlearning Autism and disability articles

Does my child lack empathy?, by Reinventing Mommy.  She looks at the actual wording of the DSM-IV-TR, the meaning of empathy – and makes these wonderful statements: Empathy has nothing to do with love or one’s ability to care.  Love and empathy aren’t linked.  Neither is caring, compassion, or sympathy.  One doesn’t need to be able to understand in order to feel.

Dairy-free choc icecream!

lovenlearning Autism - Health and Diet, Gluten- and Dairy-free recipes

Our dietitian gave me a recipe for dairy-free icecream, but I’m still adjusting it – it was waaaaay too sweet for me.  However, I thought I’d add a bit of cocoa to the original recipe, hoping that the bitterness of cocoa would offset the oversweetness, and I now have a very happy family!

600ml rice milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons rice bran oil

4 tablespoons water

30g dairy-free margarine (I used Nuttelex)

1/2 cup arrowroot (or tapioca, whichever I happen to have in my pantry at the time!)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Beat oil, water, sugar, margarine, arrowroot and cocoa in a bowl while heating the milk in a large saucepan.  When the milk reaches simmering point, pour in the mixture and continue to beat over the heat until mixture boils and thickens.  Remove from heat and cool a little, then pour into containers for freezing.

My notes:

I’ve written out the recipe as I make it, however dairy milk or another non-dairy milk replacement could be used instead of rice milk, and the oil could be replaced by same quantity of egg replacer, or another light, reasonably flavourless oil.  I like my chocolate really dark, so I loved the richness of 2T of cocoa, but my husband would have preferred less – so adjust to taste.  My mixture never really thickens much, so after a while on the boil, I just put it into pyrex ramekins to put in the freezer.  The reason I use small dishes is because I “shave” the icecream the next day so that it’s not so icy, and at that time, put it in a more appropriately-sized storage container.  (Like it needs storage – ha!!).  Enjoy :).