Well Said!

  by Helen Said, Melbourne Australia This is a page from my family biography, Five Egyptian Pounds - the story of George Said OAM  (published 2015, Equilibrium Books). This page describes the creation of the modern state of Israel, which occured when my parents were teenagers living in Egypt. The Arab-Israeli Wars that followed caused my parents to leave Egypt as refugees. This page is narrated by my father but written by me, and I filled in details using historical research. Looking back at what I wrote 20 years ago, I ask myself if it told the whole story. A t the time of writing about the creation of Israel, I felt compelled to appear impartial. I had interfaith, international family members, of many different viewpoints, who contributed family memories to my book and were eager to read my "family bible". I wanted to write an accurate historical account that would inform everyone but offend no-one, an almost impossible task. To do this, I downplayed some of the more ha...

  by Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia Non-binary people have a right to change their own pronouns, but not mine. I want to continue to be called by my gender specific pronouns, which are she/her. I have faced various struggles and inequities as a woman, and I want my life work and life history to be acknowledged in the way that people speak about me and address me. In particular, I have triumphed and fought back, to achieve greater equality and respect for myself as a woman, and for others. This life history is being minimised and erased when people refer to me by gender neutral pronouns - it's as if we have all lived on a level playing field and gender hasn't entered into our identities or life chances. This is far from the truth. I have struggled to bring up children alone for many years; custodial mothers are much more common than custodial fathers. I have taken time out of the workforce with young children, including taking a child to early intervention, w...

  By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia I am from a mixed ethnic background - Greek, English and Maltese. My parents were both born in Egypt and I am an Australian Citizen. I embrace all of these countries as having contributed to my identity. I have no single ethnic identity but my ancestry is mainly Greek.  My surname, Said, is of Middle Eastern origin but was introduced into Malta generations ago and I inherited my surname from a distant Maltese ancestor. We also inherited the Catholic faith and British Citizenship down the male line of the family. British citizenship caused our family to be expelled from Egypt during the Second Arab-Israeli War. My parents fled to England which is where I was born. The Second Arab-Israeli War of 1956 was fought over ownership of the Suez Canal. In this war, England, France and Israel joined forces to attack Egypt for nationalising the Suez Canal. The war was unjustified because the United Nations ultimately declared the Sue...

By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia In November 2025, the Australian government introduced a new system of providing care for elders who live in their own homes. Over the past month and a half, I have been comparing the “Support at Home” granted to my mother, who has just received aged care funding, with the services previously granted to my late father, who was funded under the old system of aged care packages.   As an older Autistic advocate, I have also been pondering how well these new services will meet the needs of Australian Autistic elders living in their own homes. I have attended online Autistic discussions and forums about the needs of elder neurokin, and even been an elder guest speaker. However, neither our speeches nor discussions addressed the specifics of government services provided to elder Autistics living in their own homes in Australia.    Elders to have more rights, less services and increased costs A few months ago, shortly before ...

  By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia I come from a multicultural family and I love all kinds of foods, but this is not the case for all Autistics. Some Autistics have strong sensitivities to the texture, taste or smell of certain foods and cannot eat them. They often self advocate for accommodations for their sensory sensitivities, or make special arrangments, to access food they can tolerate, when they go out to restaurants or travel overseas. As much as we need to respect the Autistic minority's sensory needs, Autistics with food sensitivities need to respect the sensitivities of migrants and second generation Australians from non-Anglo backgrounds, by not pulling faces or making expressions of disgust about our multicultural Melbourne restaurant food or the foods on sale in our countries of origin.  I once attended an Autistics only event, held in a pub because this food was deemed safer for those with food sensitivities, and a small number of indivduals ...

By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia The federal government is proposing to stop Autistic children, with low or moderate support needs, from obtaining NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) services. A new system called "Thriving Kids" will commence, from July 2026. According to the Thriving Kids Fact Sheet, " The program will be delivered by scaling and building on existing mainstream and community services that can better support families and children in settings they already are connected to. This includes child and maternal health, GPs, playgroups, early childhood education and care and schools, as well as digital and phone-based supports." https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/thriving-kids-fact-sheet  I welcome the introduction of the Thriving Kids Initiative, on the proviso that no child with seemingly “mild” or “moderate” Autism be prevented from accessing NDIS funding for services which are critical to their health and devel...