The Language Dichotomy

Behind the process of making Ripples...

The what?

So, if you’ve read Ripples in full, you’ll discover that the characters of Lucas and Janice are autistic and have dementia respectively. Their worlds are blended together but the words readily attached to their identities (warranted or not) couldn’t be more different.

Here's why.


Lucas is like myself. Autistic.  Writing from my own experiences as a factory worker was simple but like a wrestling character, the best personalities in regards to my own opinion on the matter, are embellished versions of yourself. Accentuated or ‘dulled’ down, it helps to pull from personal places in order to write freely and authentically. Now, others may say that’s a lack of imagination but I would wholeheartedly disagree. Musicians, dancers and artists, such as Hailey in the story, that resonate deepest with me and many millions alike, will sample techniques, music, movements built upon from past foundations and give new life to them through their own interpretation. They stay true to the roots of history but bring it, as much as possible, into the present or make it meaningful for their own purpose.

What also resonates with me is when passion is involved and as a poet, I can heavily relate to pain equalling passion and rather than reinventing the wheel (many believe that nothing is original), why not use what you know?

So bearing that in mind, the preferred language of the autistic community is IFL (Identity-First Language such as autistic person) rather than PFL (Person-First Language such as person with autism) although opinions will and do vary by informed choice and that’s absolutely fine. We’ll return to this important part in a bit…

Whilst I don’t want to go too deeply into this, words have power and when I can consciously create a story to reflect that, I certainly feel a social responsibility to articulate my standpoint at the very least and do my bit to positively contribute to things.
All of that to say, I get it. I used to say ‘person with autism’ and got swallowed up in discontent around my choice of wording which I now fully understand but again, not going headfirst into this.  The context provided here should  tell you how I feel…as an autistic man still exploring himself.

But remember that important bit about IFL and PFL? Well, flip that metaphorical coin to the world of dementia!
I am not as experienced in dementia as others but I do feel that an accurate description of dementia would be a disease with symptoms and you have it.
Now then, the reason I wanted to include both dementia and autism in Ripples is not because I was conflating the 2 but rather they are united by their differences and the story is simultaneously defined by each of the individuals, the characters.
That is not to minimise the central roles the identities play in each character’s life because there are ‘challenging’ parts of the autistic identity WHEN matched up against the sensory/communication-oppressive world that we live in.
I am sure the same can be said for those with dementia. The practical and personal elements of care, the family or loved ones feeling disconnected from the person causing emotional distress and so on due to features of particular forms of dementia being memory loss/confusion.

However, I wanted a story to empower both through their differences and connect via their commonalities.
Each autistic person and person with dementia will likely share ‘traits’ but will also have their own unique sprinkle of brain wiring mixed in.
With Ripples, I believe I have captured an authentic tale of friendship, family and much more that I really hope you can enjoy and carry on with the discourse through my work and others.

But they say actions speak louder than words….

Check out the First Few Chapters... here!