Routes of Sorrow book - Phase 4

Why does Phase 4 come after Phase 5 in this account? This is because the exhibitions and installations have helped to inform my writing. Phase 4 took place concurrently with Phases 1, 2, 3 and 5.

Although this Routes of Sorrow project was not specifically about my perspectives as a sibling of twin severely autistic bothers, it was my reading, thinking and the researching of my familial position, as well as the death of my mother in 2004, that led me to complete this project. The production of the artworks, and the public reactions to the project, has informed my writing.

My first book was about my twin autistic brothers’ lives, and their journey through the US mental health system and it’s ever shifting attitudes and practices, from institutionalisation through to de-institutionalisation and then cared for ‘in the community’.

In my next book, Strong for a Bird, confessions of the normal one, I am intentionally writing from my perspective as a sibling, about my own family background as a sibling of disabled (non-verbal, severely autistic) brothers, and my perception of the impact chronic sorrow has had on me.