In this moving interview with Peter Gzowski on CBS radio (Toronto), Donna Williams shares her experience as a person with autism, and DID.

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/rewind_20090731_18088.mp3

From the About page on her blog:

Donna Williams is an Australian born adult with autism who was assessed as psychotic at the age of 2 in 1965, labelled disturbed in the 1970s and diagnosed as autistic in her 20s in 1991.

She acquired functional speech in late childhood and went on to become a qualified teacher with an honors degree in Sociology and a degree in Linguistics. She is the author of two international bestselling autobiographies and has 10 published books including 4 text books widely used in autism education and two books of poetry and prose.

As a screenwriter, she wrote the screenplay to “Nobody Nowhere“, the first book in her 4 book autobiographical series. That screenplay is currently under option to become a Hollywood film. She is an professional artist, singer-songwriter and published poet as well as a world renowned public speaker on autism now living with her husband in Australia. In her presentations she draws not only on her own experiences but on international experience as a professional autism consultant since 1996.

Donna’s is a speaker in demand around the world due to her unique perspective and ability to share her feelings and experiences on a very personal level. More information about her and her life’s work can be found on her website at http://www.donnawilliams.net .

From her writings about DID, which I recommend:

I have three friends formally diagnosed with DID and have met with several others. Almost all have been relatively functional people. I am formally diagnosed with DID and other than also being a person with autism/information processing issues and immune disorders who has just come through cancer experiences, I’d say I’m also a reasonably functional person.