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Reflections

Essays from Kristy Forbes exploring PDA, autistic experience, parenting, identity, care, systems and the ordinary moments that shape family life.

I Stopped Explaining What's Next and I Started Shrinking the Unknown

Jun 07, 2026

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When my child asks "how long?" five times in a row, they're not being annoying or trying to rage bait me. Their nervous system loses its grip on time the moment it feels under threat. The question is the brain trying ...

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The Unfurling

May 31, 2026

This piece was first published on Kristy's Substack. Shared here so it's easier to find.


"A child gives one word, and the adult wants a paragraph. A teenager shares one feeling, and the parent asks five questions. T...

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I Stopped Pulling Them Out of Their World and I Started Stepping Into It

May 31, 2026

Imagination isn't a problem. IĀ really want to say that upfront because for so many PDA kids, imagination is how they stay connected to the world, not how they escape it. Role play, characters, other realities, these are ...

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I never want to forget.

Jan 05, 2024

This is an image of me, deep in the trenches, around a decade ago.

My husband would message from work each day and ask how 'things' were.

Some days, I couldn't speak. I'd send pictures. This was one of those days, and ...

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It never gets easier

Sep 27, 2023

It never gets easier, nor am I ever better prepared for the moments my autistic children (and I) are exposed to another parent’s grief stricken story about their autistic child.

I was conditioned to believe that the fir...

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Stop looking away from intersectionality

Oct 14, 2021
Kristy Forbes
Stop looking away from intersectionality
9:06
 
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(Warning: This written content includes discussion around themes of racism, transphobia, homophobia, suicidality.)
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Almost every time I address the topic of intersectionality on my social media, pe...
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I’ll never ā€˜overcome’ my PDA neurobiology.

Aug 13, 2021
I’m often asked how, as a PDAer, I am able to overcome my need for control in parenting my own children with a PDA profile of autism.
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I don’t overcome it.
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I’ll never ā€˜overcome’ my neurobiology.
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I remember every single name, every single humiliation.

Aug 13, 2021

At fifteen years old, I left school midway through Year Nine and went into the workforce.

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I vehemently expressed that I would not return to school and with that, my mother said if I was not returning, I needed to get...

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My university days went like this.

Aug 12, 2021
I'm not an autistic researcher.
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I am not a psychologist.
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I take my hat off to my neurokin who are.
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I am forever grateful to those who are engaged in research and academia, creating significant a
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She is so much more.

Aug 05, 2021
I often touch on how important it is to move beyond the generic support framework for our autistic children in the classroom. This includes a timer, dot points on the board and visuals.
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Whilst these are really
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