Mike Sketch Series: Mike and Jack, October 1993
Brother Dave took the photo from which I made this sketch of Mike and me.
Tag Archives: autistic siblings
Quarantine Portrait Series: Tele-Portrait with Hand Gestures
I had the third hospital televisit with my brother Mike today. He is on the east coast, I live in California. Mike has never spoken, he is low functioning and autistic. Mike was quite still during our visit. I repeated his name many times, in hope of some kind of change in expression, to no […]
Man and Violin
Today’s experiment is derivative of yesterday’s. In fact, it began as a canvas to test a blue-yellow combination. Sometimes blue and yellow pigments combine to give a muddy appearance (see Blue and Yellow Don’t Make Green). I like the abstract feel of this portrait. It reminds me of my father. But it also struck another […]
Happy 70th, Mike!
Every time Veterans Day rolls around, I feel emotional. My brother Mike was born on Veterans Day. Today he is 70 years of age. I haven’t seen Mike in quite a while. My thinking about him has changed over the years. As a child, I tried to make contact with him. Mike is severely autistic, […]
Message to Siblings
I hope I havn’t misled The major focus of my blog is autism from the point of view of a sibling. My older brother, Michael is autistic, low functioning and nonverbal. He was at home until I was about 10 years old. After he went to Willowbrook, a large mental institution on Staten Island, we […]
Book Review: Autism, The Invisible Cord
Autism, The Invisible Cord A Sibling’s Diary, by Barbara Cain Published by the American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/pubs/magination I came across the author of this book while browsing through Twitter profiles. I compulsively look for tweeters with ‘autism’ in their profile description and hit the jackpot when I came upon Barbara Cain’s. Not only did she […]
Relative Time
I think it was Woody Allen who said, “Time is nature’s way of preventing everything from happening at once.” He’s a very smart guy. Different phases Time is different for everyone, I think… or should I say perception of time is different. When I was growing up, it seemed that there were three phases to […]
Everybody Loves Michael
Mike was a very popular guy when I used to visit him in his group home. I imagine that he still is. Pretty good for a guy who doesn’t talk. When I lived close by, I frequently got calls about Mike’s condition, usually if he had a seizure or a cut or a bruise. He […]
Mike’s World
What is it like to be Michael? He doesn’t have language skill, as he has never spoken. If he thinks at all it is probably not in words. If Michael imagines, how does he do it? Is it visual? His visual equipment is not like mine. Mike’s eyes seem to be independent of each other. […]
Those Moments
This is how I remember most of the moments between Dad and Mike. Dad, although tireless, seldom connected with Mike. Was it Mike being rebellious or uncomprehending? I know that I rebelled at times. Did Dad expect too much and demand that things be only his way? Was he the uncomprehending one? When I used […]
