There‘s been made a mistake. Harry William Thompson, the author of Penguins stopped play, and Harry Thompson, the author of PDA Paradox, isn’t one and the same person. I also find exercise extremely helpful in reducing impulsive urges – I never leave the house unless ive exercised first. Its been a hard battle for me as I have always been naturally avoidant of exercise, due to heightened sensory exp meaning its more uncomfortable – muscle/body pain more painful/heightened, + coordination, + autistic inertia. Thompson's waspish humour and fearlessness was evident. He invented the tub of lard, a visual joke after Roy Hattersley let the programme down once too often. He also devised the running joke that started when Jeffrey Archer was elevated to the peerage, of making sure that in the odd-one-out section, every "odd one" drew attention to the figure concerned. The programme was not sued.

The many essays I write on a subject spending hours in the making and crafting, only to to toss them in the trash. Harry Thompson is a young man who is autistic and also has PDA and ADHD. He wasn't diagnosed until a teenager so he spent a good 15 years not quite sure why life didn't make sense. This is a story about his struggles with school, work and relationships. He never claims to speak for all those who share his diagnoses, he merely wishes to give us a glimpse into his own mind and how he found a way to make peace with a neurotypical world. As someone who has a lot of experience with autism and some experience with PDA (a daughter), he doesn't really help me with specifics, but I feel like it was worth reading his story anyway. My daughter likes the fact that she can relate to Harry in places. I just wish there was a better way of supporting her with school. But seeing that Harry has made it out the other side of the school system has given us hope. School isn't the be all and end all of life. Teachers or his parents never suspected he experienced extreme anxiety in school, says Thompson, a public speaker who tours as “The Naughty Autie” in England and shares his k-12 schooling experience with parents. Then there’s the remarkable lengths PDA kids will go to regain a sense of autonomy. They might change the subject, negotiate ("I'll brush my teeth if you put the toothpaste on"), make excuses (“My mom won’t let me”), feign incapacitation (“My hands won’t work!”), physically go limp, or withdraw into fantasy. “They might become a dog or a cat and start growling, biting, or hissing,” Henderson says. The last resort: an utter meltdown. Go to school. Get a job. Get married. Buy a house. Have children. Have the same cookie-cutter life as all the Smiths and the Joneses. I tried, HARD, to fit into these moulds but always ended up sabotaging them or only being able to do them for a short time before the need to do something else took over.

15 Life Hacks for PDA

Harry J. Thompson was born in Edgware and grew up in Barnet in north London. He is currently based in London, UK. An avid reader & researcher, Harry speaks publicly and is heavily involved in projects & research on all topics around neurodiversity and autism; namely, Pathological Demand Avoidance, a behavior profile within the Autism Spectrum. The more demands are perceived or placed on you, the more you will be pushed towards meltdown – and no one wants that. Pushing yourself to meet demands in high stress times can cause burnout, and then you’ll get nothing done.

In a 2005 episode of Have I Got News For You, featuring Alexander Armstrong as host and Fi Glover and Ian McMillan as guest panellists, a message stating "In Memory of Harry Thompson, the first producer of Have I Got News For You (1960–2005)" was displayed. When parenting children with autism, it is essential for parents and carers to understand all behavior is a form of communication. We believe that PDA exists as a neurodivergent phenomenon, but not that it is exclusive to autistic people. We feel more research is needed to determine if PDA is a distinct condition or an interaction of co-occurring conditions.Most of us, when we're born, experience the world as something we're eager to join. We don't question our culture or our gender but feel we belong in it, pushing away any doubts. Others, though we know it's the only game in town, remain hesitant or suspicious. I always imagined autism as an outright refusal, fleeing sensory input, rejecting even language, with the so-called treatments being ways to force it on the child "for their own good." Seen this way, all autism is PDAish.

The main strategy, in my opinion, is to reduce as much anxiety as you can. Again, I know how easy that sounds and how difficult it is in practice, but read on. It really feels like a big disrespect to people who identify with PDA that people call it rational because they do not experience it as rational and want to be understood. Much like with OCD, it can become a self-sabotaging act that really interferes with quality of life (which fits the definition of pathological). Harry William Thompson (6 February 1960 – 7 November 2005) was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer. He was the creator of the dark humour television series Monkey Dust, screened between 2003 and 2005. It is a liberating experience reading someone else’s words and finding them to resonate in your bones like they could be talking specifically about you. At its heart, it is the true story of someone who epitomised a certain sort of person that this country produced in the 19th century. There was a fantasy of chivalric empire, run by Britons who were gentlemen and played the game. Of course the reality was that our empire was no better than any other. We were busy conniving in the extermination of tribes, robbing natives of their land and we sent droves of brilliant young men, brought up with the chivalric fantasy, to enforce what was in many cases a visibly corrupt system [...] But Fitzroy's morality was iron. He said no. And it destroyed him. [11]One hallmark sign of PDA: refusing demands even when the child actually wants to do that thing. For instance, a kid might talk non-stop about how much they love their new soccer team. But when you remind them to grab their cleats and jump in the car, they suddenly will do anything to get out of practicing their favorite sport. It’s normal for kids to resist demands. All kids, for instance, go through a natural stage in development where their default response to any request is “no.” Even past toddlerhood, your kid might continue to dig their heels in on doing homework, eating healthy foods, or getting up in the morning. But for some autistic kids, refusing to do what their caregivers say continues long past toddlerhood and goes beyond the occasional mealtime battle. Instead, these kids go to great lengths to evade every request made of them. All of us experience “demand avoidance” when faced with something we don’t really want to do (like our tax return!). But for some individuals with autism, their demand avoidance can be described as “Pathological.”

The best way to understand PDA and get an insight into this misunderstood and complex condition is from those who live with it each day. very likely has Pathological Demand Avoidance (which is fundamentally an anxiety-driven need for control and a subset of behaviors specifically pertaining to autism.) Unfortunately it’s not an official diagnosis in the US. PDA kids often have a hard time at home, at school, and in the wider world. They might receive frequent discipline, be suspended from school, or even expelled. Frequent conflict at home can take its toll on the whole family, says Donna Henderson, a Maryland-based neuropsychologist and author of the book Is This Autism? A guide for clinicians and everyone else.

This image I made is labelled for PDA families but is honestly true of ALL children. Children need caregivers to help guide and provide supports where needed.