# data[].attributes.body
Neuro-Communication specialist.

She has researched and written extensively about the neuropsychology of Aphasia and Allied disorders to Autism Spectrum Disorders - A Mutualistic Symbiotic Relationship.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

The study of aphasia and the range of allied disorders, that accompany it has provided a rich source of clinical information providing insights in to the complexities of the human brain and how it affects the functioning of the individual, as well as how it influences his experiencing of the world; subsequently verified by more rigorous scientific research. An attempt is made here to document similar clinical insights in to the experiences of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), now known to have atypical neuro development; on the basis of clinical observations and self-reports of these children, vetted by the author's long standing experience of working with those with neurogenic communication disorders, both adult and child. As with the aphasias, these clinical documentations and insights could lead to more carefully controlled research, paving the way for better understanding and interventional support for those with ASD.

Keywords: Aphasia, autism

Guest editor's notes: This is an invited view-point article by one of the senior most aphasiologists in India, who later changed her track from adult acquired aphasia to child developmental 'Autism Spectrum Disorders′. The author shares her insights how she has leveraged her clinical experience from SLT now into the management of children with ASD.

INTRODUCTION

Neurobehavioral literature of the last century documenting the alterations in perceptive, motor, behavioral, cognitive, and communication skills in patients with acquired neurological disorders has provided many an insight into the intrigues of the human brain and mind and generally makes for fascinating reading, given the often poorly understood ramifications of the overall effect of apparently relatively circumscribed deficits such as a difficulty in understanding speech as in the different subtypes of receptive aphasias; on the overall well-being and day to day functioning of the individual. Much of this understanding stems from the atypical behavior of the typical adult, subsequent to some neurological insult such as a stroke or a head injury as well as rarer neurological diseases.

Little however is as yet known about similar effects of possibly as yet unidentified but similar issues that may be present in children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). An attempt is made here to illustrate these similarities on the basis of the author's clinical experiences with adults with acquired neurogenic communication and neurobehavioral disorders, alongside that with children with ASD; supplemented by autobiographical narratives from some individuals diagnosed with ASD, that suggest that similar issues are indeed faced by children diagnosed with ASD.

APHASIA AND ALLIED DISORDERS

While the more common consequences of cerebral insults such as strokes and head injuries, resulting in paralysis-paresis and expressive speech-language disorders are well understood and recognized, the other more subtle allied disorders such as the agnosia's including prosopagnosia, the apraxia's and the synesthesia's, as well as the issues with the notion of the body and the self, versus the external space, including unilateral and spatial neglect, are not so well recognized and the overall impact of these disorders on an individual's wellbeing are relatively poorly recognized and understood, with the exception of the popular writings of neuroscientists such as A.R. Luria and Oliver Sacks. The renowned Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Romanovitch Luria's[ 1] description of an adult with synesthesia, was perhaps among one of the earliest popular books on the topic. The prolific popular writing of the neurologist Oliver Sacks on varied aspects of the impact of a range of neurological disorders on those who acquire them, is perhaps the most significant contribution to this area, by an individual, as of date.

In my own five decade long journey as an SLP focused on neurogenic communication disorders, the clinical experience of working with adult aphasics with a range of neurogenic communication and associated disorders during the first half of my career, had a definite impact on insights in to the complex issues faced by children with ASD (see Karanth, 2018), eventually leading to the setting up of a multidisciplinary early intervention program that has seen considerable success.[ 2, 3] An attempt is made here to document the similarities between the aphasias, the agnosia's and the apraxia's as well as some of the lesser known signs of synesthesia, prosopagnosia, neglect, and spatial orientation that accompany adult neurogenic disorders, with the sensory processing issues and the motor executive dysfunctions of children with ASD, as also the lesser known signs of synesthesia, body image distortions, spatial disorientation that are seen in children with ASD; with examples drawn from my clinical experiences with these two subpopulations, substantiated further with documented literature both scientific and autobiographical.

Let us begin with the sensory processing disorders. The agnosia's and the selective manner in which they interfere with sensory processing not only across different modalities but also across specific subcategories of stimuli within a given modality (for e.g., nonverbal/verbal/music-in the auditory area) are well documented and understood. Similarly, selective disturbance in categories such as object/picture/print and face recognition are documented in visual agnosia's. So too with the motor functions, with the ideomotor and verbal apraxia's. Phenomena such as synesthesia or neglect, on the other hand, while well documented in the literature are clinically not seen/explored as widely, possibly because of their relatively "invisible" nature.

Clinical presentations of unilateral neglect and denial, in which the patient ignores a side of his or her body or ignores one half of the external world, are too dramatic to be forgotten by those of us who have had the opportunity to encounter them.

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Let us now turn our attention to the autism spectrum disorders. The study and interpretation of the autism spectrum disorders have now moved from the realm of mental disorders and psychiatry to being viewed as a neurodevelopmental disorder that is possibly present from birth itself with subtle/not easily identifiable manifestations in myriad domains that affect the typical developmental trajectory of the child leading to the atypical behavior exhibited by those with ASD.[ 4] Parallelly, a body of autobiographical literature from more able individuals with ASD,[ 5, 6, 7] illustrate how many of them experience a host of issues that on closer look are in some ways similar to thosedescribed in the neurobehavioral literature of adults with acquired neural insults.

The presence of a range of sensory processing issues, across the different modalities, have long been recorded in the literature on children with ASD. These include deviant or atypical responses to sensory inputs such as sound, vision, touch, taste and smell. Long perceived as idiosyncrasies or symptoms of those with the disorder, these signs are in the recent past being ascribed to genuine differences in sensory processing experienced by those with ASD. A closer look at these sensory issues, some of which are illustrated below, would perhaps shed light on the underlying processes (including neural processes) that lead to these behaviors and further our understanding of the condition of ASD as well as help ameliorate some of them at least.

Unusual responses to auditory stimuli, including quick responses to soft sounds such as rustling of paper, the recognition of the arrival of the family car/parent even at great distances and when not visible, often coupled or simultaneously present with a lack of responses to loud sounds including one's name being called are well-documented signs of autism. Extraordinary skills in music perception often without any formal musical training simultaneously present with speech disturbances has also been extensively documented in those with ASD.

The presence of auditory processing issues has long been suspected in those with ASD, though not clearly understood. Intervention procedures such as Auditory Integration Training (AIT) which purportedly address the same by exposing the individual to a selection of music or other sounds which have been electronically modified, though popular, do not have adequate research evidence.

Autobiographical accounts of auditory issues from individuals with ASD are varied and include suggestions of hypersensitivity to sound,[ 5, 6] a slowing of speed of processing (TRM personal communication/), as well as synesthesia while processing sound. Temple Grandin, described her own hypersensitivity to sound as "like being tied to the rail and the train's coming," with her '"ears as helpless microphones, transmitting everything, irrespective of relevance, at full, overwhelming volume".[ 8] In Carly Fleischman's words "It's like being in a room with the stereo on full blast...."

These subjective narratives are now being authenticated by carefully controlled experimental studies.[ 9] These experimental studies using measures such as galvanic skin response and magneto-encephalography to tones, suggest reduced habituation in ASD participants for auditory stimuli, as compared to neurotypicals.

Individuals with ASD are often observed to be seen putting their fingers in their ears or frequently tapping/drumming their ear canals and/or humming or producing unusual sounds.

Incessant humming and frequent tapping and plugging of ears is a common behavior seen in many with ASD and is possibly a compensatory mechanism to deal with the audio inputs.

Carly describes how she makes a humming sound while eating chips '"I was making noise and changing the sound with my finger in my ear to block out audio input from the crunching of the chip."

Related phenomena such as synesthesia in auditory processing could make everyday life even more complex. In "The mind of a mnemonist," Luria,[ 1] describes an adult with a case of synesthesia in sound perception, as follows-"he saw, felt, and tasted each sound instead of merely hearing it. As a result he found it difficult to follow ordinary conversations, because his mind was so crowded with images of concrete objects amidst others."

Hypersensitivity or any other atypical modulation of auditory input could also affect speech perception in real time and make it extremely hard to understand and respond to speech in real time. To quote Carly again, "We take in over a hundred sounds a minute. We have a hard time processing all the sounds at once so it comes out later as a broken record.".[ 5] In Tito's case he complained of having to process speech "sound by sound" - a temporal slowing down of speech processing? (personal communication). Both these types of auditory processing issues would not only affect speech processing in real time but also speech production, contributing substantially to the communication disorders that are a hallmark of those with ASD, particularly the inconsistent response to speech and verbal instructions in real time, delayed speech acquisition and inconsistent speech production, echolalia, unusual prosody, and the repeated use of automatized phrases.

Speech production, both in acquisition during childhood and in everyday use later, is influenced to a great extent by various forms of feedback. Auditory feedback is known to play a crucial role in the development of speech in children as well as in maintaining the quality of speech beyond childhood years. That auditory feedback is involved in monitoring speech production and maintaining normal speech motor control over the long term is documented. Delayed auditory feedback also disrupts the fluency of speech in typical adults and in contrast enhances fluency in dysfluent speakers. Recent FMRI studies also suggest that vocal-auditory feedback may be used to update an internal representation of the mapping between auditory feedback and the motor control systems[ 10] with auditory feedback playing an important role in tuning the speech motor control system, particularly during the acquisition of speech with auditory error maps during speech leading to corrective motor signals, with successful production of speech sounds being established once appropriate feedforward commands for a speech sound, have been established. These areas pertaining both to normal and deviant speech development, could be exciting new areas of research both for typical speech language development and their disorders consequent to neurogenic factors.

Visual processing is another area that has attracted a lot of attention in ASD, because of its unusual nature and by the remarkable skills and difficulties it poses for those with ASD.

Avoidance of eye contact is a hallmark of those with autism and is perhaps one of the most defining features of the condition. Self-reports of individuals with ASD, ascribe this to extraordinary visual sensitivity-" I see parts of the face moving and find it difficult to focus" - TRM (personal communication). Similar thoughts are echoed by Carly. "We take pictures in our heads like a camera. It's like filling a camera with too many pictures. It gets overwhelming".[ 5]

In his popular description of visual agnosia and prosopagnosia, in the book titled "The man who mistook his wife for a hat", Sacks[ 11] documents the travails of a patient with prosopagnosia, highlighting the particular difficulty these patients have with recognition of the animate. Even more relevant to the study of ASD is his description of the patient Dr. P's behavior while asked to describe a picture- "His eyes would dart from one thing to another, picking up tiny features,.... A striking brightness, a color, a shape would arrest his attention and elicit comment - but in no case did he get the scene- as -a - whole" (p 9). Eerily similar to the oft described hyper acute visual memory and attention to detail in their surroundings, by those with ASD, along with a simultaneous failure to grasp the impact of the whole or gestalt processing.

While the auditory and visual agnosia's in acquired neurogenic disorders, and the similar sensory processing disorders in those with ASD are well documented, such disorders are not restricted to these senses alone and in both these groups are known to often extend or include in similar manner, sensory processing issues with tactile, olfactory, and kinesthetic sensations. Illustrations of the lack of overall proprioceptive feedback from the body, in both groups are even more dramatic and disruptive of the individual's life.

In his chapter, titled "The Disembodied Lady," Sacks[ 11] describes the effect of the breakdown of proprioception in one of his patients as a "collapse of tone and muscle posture, from top to toe; the wandering of her hands, which she seemed unaware of; the flailing and overshooting, as if she were receiving no information from the periphery, as if the control loops for tone and movement had catastrophically broken down." The patient reports "I've noticed that I may 'lose my arms. I think they are one place, and I find they're another." Words that are akin to Tito's when he describes "his scattered body." "He felt that his body was scattered and it was difficult to collect it together. He saw himself as a hand or as a leg and would turn around to assemble his parts to the whole".[ 7] The preoccupation of many children with ASD in outlining their hands, feet and body either by gazing at mirrors and shadows or even physically outlining parts of or the whole body, (a feature now an integral part of treatment regimens of many occupational therapists) is likely linked to this lack of adequate proprioceptive feedback.

These disorders are not limited to sensory issues alone in both subpopulations-adult neurogenic disorders and ASD. However, while the motor issues of those with acquired neurogenic disorders, such as the hemiplegia's and paresis as well as the apraxia's are well recognized and documented, those in ASD are only now being identified and addressed. Motor executive dysfunctions in ASD are defined/described as difficulties in converting thought into action.[ 12] They are characterized by an inability to perform on demand, even simple motor actions that are routinely performed by them spontaneously-not very different from the ideomotor apraxia's that are well documented in adults with neurogenic communication disorders. Since the late 1990s, there have been compelling arguments put forth for the presence of these disorders, in those with ASD, which were until then dismissed as willful noncooperation, given that routine physical examinations do not reveal any motor abnormalities in these often beautiful and well-formed children. Further, these motor executive dysfunctions could be present across a range of motor activities including, gross and fine motor movements as well as oro motor movements, underlying vegetative functions and speech.[ 13] Characteristics such as difficulties in imitation, odd gait, clumsiness, monotonous voice, and unclear speech are often seen in adolescents and adults with ASD, when not visibly present in their childhood. Previously attributed, by some, to cerebellar involvement and ataxia, these too could possibly be due to unaddressed subtle motor issues. Speech difficulties of children with ASD are also now increasingly being characterized as childhood speech dyspraxias. Impaired oral somatosensory processing may lead to imprecise articulation that could reflect compensations for reduced sensory input through increased range of articulatory movement (e.g., exaggerated jaw movements-Duffy, 2013). With the possibility of existing auditory processing issues, the oral somatosensory processing issues may further compound the speech difficulties of the child with ASD and may well underlie the specific speech characteristics of those with ASD, such as echolalia, automatized phrases, inappropriate to context and the lack of the quick give and take of conversation in complex social situations.

CONCLUSION

Taken together the range and complexity of the sensory and motor processing issues of the child with ASD, subtle though they may be, would well result in an utterly chaotic world, one that the growing child has no understanding of or control over, compounded by the reality of those around him being equally clueless (for a more detailed discussion of these possibilities, see Karanth[ 14]). The silver lining that has emerged in this cloud of uncertainty for the child with ASD is the impact of early identification and early intervention, which when provided "either before or while the construction of specific neural circuits and the pruning of excess (unused) synapses, is believed to depend largely in input from the environment" may enable optimal prognosis'.[ 4] The Communication DEALL early intervention program developed by us in 2000, offers multidisciplinary, individual profile based, cohesive early intervention to children below 6 years of age and has established documented evidence for optimizing potential for children with ASD.[ 2, 3] Much of this has been the result of the exploration of the multiple issues that those with neurogenic communication disorders, be it adults with aphasia and allied disorders or children with autism spectrum disorders, are faced with. It is likely that such symbiotic exploration of these issues across these two populations will not only enhance our understanding in both these areas but also enrich the interventional support that both need and could benefit from.

Financial support and sponsorship

There has been no sponsorship for this piece of work.

Conflicts of interest

The only conflict of interest is the reference to our early intervention program - the Communication DEALL program, which was designed by me and is supported by the Com DEALL Trust - a not for profit Trust, of which I am the Founder.

REFERENCES

2. Karanth P, Shaista S, Srikanth N. Efficacy of communication DEALL -An indigenous early intervention program for children with autism spectrum disorders. Indian J Pediatr. 2010;77:957-62. [[ PubMed] Google Scholar]

3. Karanth P, Saxena Chandok T. Impact of early intervention on children with Autism spectrum disorders as measured by inclusion and retention in mainstream schools. Indian J Paediatr. 2013;80-11:911-9. [[ PubMed] Google Scholar]

4. Zwaigenbaum L, Bauman ML, Stone WL, Yirmiya N, Estes A, Hansen RL. Early identification of autism spectrum disorder: Recommendations for practice and research. Pediatrics. 2015;136(Suppl 1):S10-40. [[ PMC free article] [ PubMed] Google Scholar]

9. Gandhi T, Tsourides K, Singhal N, Cardinaux A, Pantazis D, Kjelgaard M, et al. Autonomic and Electrophysiological Evidence for Reduced Auditory Habituation in Autism. J Autism Dev Disord. In press. [[ PubMed] Google Scholar]

10. Guenther FH, Hickok G. The Human Auditory System-Role of the auditory system in speech production. Handb Clin Neurol. 2015;129:161-75. [[ PubMed] Google Scholar]

13. Belmonte MK, Saxena-Chandok T, Ceherian R, Muneer R, George L, Karanth P. Oral motor deficits in speech-impaired children with autism. Front Integr Neurosci. 2013;7:47. [[ PMC free article] [ PubMed] Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology are provided here courtesy of Wolters Kluwer -- Medknow Publications

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
From Aphasia and Allied disorders to Autism Spectrum Disorders - A Mutualistic Symbiotic Relationship. (A Five Decade Long Journey in Neuro-Communication Disorders)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The study of aphasia and the range of allied disorders, that accompany it has provided a rich source of clinical information providing insights in to the complexities of the human brain and how it affects the functioning of the individual, as well as ...

# data[].attributes.body
Advocacy Body for anyone unhappy with their treatment in the health system

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Health Consumers' Council (WA) Inc, (HCC) is an independent, not for profit organisation passionate about ensuring the consumer is at the heart of our state's health care system. We provide an Individual Advocacy Service during office hours Monday to Friday to help you navigate our health system. We also provide systemic advocacy for the WA Community by participating on a large range of committees and working groups to ensure the consumer voice is heard at the highest level.

Our Engagement Program provides training and other support to ensure people can have a say in health policy, planning and review. Our Culture and Diversity Co-ordinator ensures that people from a non-English speaking background are considered in health service planning. We also have an Aboriginal Engagement Co-ordinator who focuses on ensuring Aboriginal communities are able to have their say and participate in health service reform.

We are keenly aware of the difficulties facing people outside Perth and have a toll-free number for country callers: 1800-620-780.

Organisational Structure

The Health Consumers' Council is an incorporated body governed by a Management Committee which is required to abide by the Associations Incorporation Act (2015).

Management Committee

The Health Consumers' Council is governed by a volunteer Management Committee comprising of at least 5 members which are elected for a three year term by the membership base. To find out more, email info@hconc.org.au.

Rules

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Who We Are - Health Consumers' Council WA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Health Consumers' Council (HCC) is an independent (not-for-profit) community based organisation, representing the consumers' voice in health policy, planning, research and service delivery.

# data[].attributes.body
List of platforms that provide free sound effects

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
See also: Commons:File types#Sound and Category:Commons audio resources

Below is a list of sites containing free audio files. Please note that not all the files on these websites are free. Notably non-commercial (NC) and no derivatives (ND) clauses are common, but not accepted on Commons and will lead to your file being deleted.

Audiocité - French project recording audiobooks.

Audionautix.com

ccMixter.org - Music under Creative Commons Licenses. Important: Only music under Attribution, Attribution-Share alike and CC0 can be used. Note: Be careful some users may not license their work properly, because they remix work under other non compatible licenses or they may play copyrighted work. Creative Commons sampling licenses are not free enough to upload to Wikimedia Commons.

cctrax

Raita is a collection of digitized early Finnish sound recordings provided by the Library of the National Library of Finland. All music files are under public domain (over 50 year old recordings of public domain music).

freemusicarchive - published under various CC licenses, just passed 100,000 tracks in 2016; more information here

Filmmusic

FreePD

Free Sound Effects

Freesound.org. Collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focuses only on sound, not songs.

ibeat.org

Jamendo

LibriVox - Project to record books in the public domain.

provides music in the public domain by major composers: music recordings, sheet music and a music textbook. Completed in 2012. See also: https://archive.org/details/musopen.

The Mutopia Project. Free sheet music for everyone. "Most of our music is distributed under Creative Commons licenses. Each piece clearly lists what license it is distributed under."

Opsound - Sounds and music under "Creative Commons Share Alike license".

Public Domain Project is a growing collection of digitized gramophone records (78 rpm), all of them nowadays belonging to the public domain.

SampleSwap

Soundcloud

TeknoAXE

Videvo Royalty Free Music - A selection of royalty free music, with free tracks available.

Videvo Royalty Free Sound Effects - A wide selection of royalty free sound effects, with free sounds available.

YouTube audio library is a collection offered by YouTube to their content creators. Only the "Attribution required" songs are free. You can select them from the "Attribution" drop-down on the top of the list.

Sound Designers.Org

Soundbible.com

Open Game Art - Media repository for software / game projects. Contains many kinds of media, including sound effects, under various free licenses.

Kenney.nl - Website offering assets for video game projects under a public domain (CC0) license. Contains many kinds of media, including sound effects.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Commons:Free media resources/Sound - Wikimedia Commons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
See also: Commons:File types#Sound and Category:Commons audio resources Below is a list of sites containing free audio files. Please note that not all the files on these websites are free. Notably non-commercial (NC) and no derivatives (ND) clauses are common, but not accepted on Commons and will lead to your file being deleted.

# data[].attributes.body
Every genre of music you can think of. Find Musicians in Australia and interview them or ask to use their tracks

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discover amazing music and directly support the artists who make it.

# data[].attributes.body
Search for an artist or work

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Search for details of songs and compositions in the huge APRA AMCOS song catalogue.

# data[].attributes.body
Range of music, ambient sounds, bands, favourite artists and sound effects

# data[].attributes.body
Sports Writer and Expert

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Gideon Clifford Jeffrey Davidson Haigh (born 29 December 1965) is a British-born Australian journalist and non-fiction author who writes about sport (especially cricket), business and crime in Australia. He was born in London, was raised in Geelong, and lives in Melbourne.

Haigh began his career as a journalist, writing on business for newspaper from 1984 to 1992 and for The Australian from 1993 to 1995. He has since contributed to over 70 newspapers and magazines, both on business topics and on sport, mostly cricket. He wrote regularly for The Guardian during the 2006-07 Ashes series and has featured also in and the Financial Times. He is the senior cricket writer for The Australian.

Haigh has authored 19 books and edited seven more. Of those on a cricketing theme, his historical works includes The Cricket War and Summer Game. He has written two biographies, The Big Ship (of Warwick Armstrong) and Mystery Spinner (of Jack Iverson); the latter was The Cricket Society's "Book of the Year", short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and dubbed "a classic" by The Sunday Times; anthologies of his writings Ashes 2005 and Game for Anything, as well as Many a Slip (the humorous diary of a club cricket season) and The Vincibles, his story of the South Yarra Cricket Club of which he is a life member and perennial vice-president and for whose newsletter he has written about cricket the longest. He has also published several books on business-related topics, such as The Battle for BHP, Asbestos House (which details the James Hardie asbestos controversy) and Bad Company, an examination of the CEO phenomenon. He mostly publishes with Aurum Press. He has won the annual Jack Pollard Trophy for the best Australian cricket book six times.

Haigh was appointed editor of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia for 1999-2000 and 2000-01. Since March 2006, he has been a regular panellist on the ABC television sports panel show . He was also a regular co-host on The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine on 774 ABC Melbourne until near the end of 2006.

Haigh has been critical of what he regards as the deification of Sir Donald Bradman and "the cynical exploitation of his name by the mediocre and the greedy". He did so in a September 1998 article in Wisden Cricket Monthly entitled "Sir Donald Brandname". Haigh has been critical of Bradman's biographer Roland Perry, writing in The Australian that Perry's biography was guilty of "glossing over or ignoring anything to Bradman's discredit".

Haigh won the John Curtin Prize for Journalism in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in 2006 for his essay "Information Idol: How Google is making us stupid", which was published in The Monthly magazine. He asserted that the quality of discourse could suffer as a source of information's worth is judged by Google according to its previous degree of exposure to the status quo. He believes the pool of information available to those using Google as their sole avenue of inquiry is inevitably limited and possibly compromised due to covert commercial influences.

Haigh blogged on the 2009 Ashes series for The Wisden Cricketer.

Haigh addressed the tenth Bradman Oration in Melbourne on 24 October 2012. He delivered the inaugural Jack Marsh History Lecture in 2015 at the Sydney Cricket Ground on "How Victor Trumper Changed Cricket Forever".

Haigh has a cricket podcast for The Australian with Peter Lalor called Cricket, Et Cetera.

While at the University of Melbourne, Haigh was a resident at Trinity College from 1984. Haigh lives in Melbourne with his family. Haigh's partner from 2002 to 2005 was Sally Warhaft, who edited The Monthly until April 2009. Haigh stated that he would not write for The Monthly after Warhaft's controversial departure. The writer Caroline Overington is his partner now.

# data[].attributes.body
Survey that tells you all about how people shop.What they are interested in and where they go.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Australia's Online Shopping Behaviour Report - 2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Savvy's report reveals Australia's online shopping behaviour, the top places clogging the mail and what people are buying and how.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ambient piano for the start of my podcast

# data[].attributes.subject
Ambient piano for the start of my podcast

# data[].attributes.body
A service in WA that provides advocacy for people receiving involuntary treatment or living in a psychiatric hostel in WA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Mental Health Advocacy Service offer a free service supporting people who are receiving or referred for involuntary mental health treatment. We are there to help them understand and exercise their rights. Our advocates are independent from hospitals and mental health services.

# data[].attributes.body
CoMHWA is a systemic advocacy organisation that advances the rights and interests of people with lived experience of mental ill health. They also provide individual advocacy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Self-advocacy is when a person speaks up for their own rights and interests so they are heard and respected by others.

To be an effective self-advocate it helps to...

Get information about your situation and know your rights

Know what options you have and the pros and cons of each option

Grow your confidence and communication skills to speak up- even in challenging situations

Know where to get further assistance if you need to (individual advocacy).

Self-advocacy is when a person speaks up for their own rights and interests so they are heard and respected by others.

CoMHWA can also help you find find peer support.

Talking to peers can bring additional insights and ideas to help you solve the challenges you're facing.

CoMHWA provides information and advisory services. We can assist you to find the right individual advocates for your situation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Advocacy - Consumers of Mental Health WA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Self-advocacy is when a person speaks up for their own rights and interests so they are heard and respected by others. Get information about your situation and know your rights Know what options you have and the pros and cons of each option Grow your confidence and communication skills to speak up- even in challenging situations Know where to get further assistance if you need to (individual advocacy).