I had a bully at school who said that there was another guy called Peter Wynn (I'd known about him for a long time) but he was different to me, he played football. This bully was of diminutive height and I am confident that if Peter Wynn the former footballer had heard him say that, and another former footballer, Steve Mortimer had been nearby, he'd have said, "Come with me, Son. There's someone I'd like you to meet." And taken him across to meet Steve Mortimer, and after a quick word, that Steve Mortimer would have said to the bully, "Come over here. I want to tell you something. You might think I'm a hard man on the field, but off the field, I am a father. I have a gay son, and if anybody said to or about my son some of the things you've said about this guy, like calling him a "weirdo" or saying that he's the things you have said about him, I wouldn't care if they were the number one ticketholder to my club or my mortal enemy, by the time I'd finished with them, they'd hate my guts." And hopefully, the bully would have thought, "Oh, my God. Maybe Id better be quiet." '

I say to any and all parents, from the time you discover that you are expecting a child, all you have is a child with 50% of your DNA. Yes, it's your responsibility to teach them right from wrong, but you can no more determine their likes and dislikes than you can their hair or eye colour. There are professional footballers whose kids are talented pianists and guitarists and they're fine with that. Most parents who are determined to make their kids footballers and the like are those who weren't picked for teams and are trying to live out glories through their kids.

Whenever I see signs advertising sign-on days for sporting teams, I say, what they should do is have three Saturdays beforehand of try out days and you can go along and try that sport and if you like it, then you can sign on.

I have no interest in sport and there's nothing wrong with that, either.

I have heard people say, "Every kid I know who is autistic is good at math," and to that, I say, "No, every kid you know who is autistic is good at math but that doesn't mean that a talent for math is a prerequisite for an autism diagnosis. I remember, when I was in primary school, I was fascinated by words and I used to ask my mother to write sentences where I had to pick the right homonym. Then, my interest spread to history, and explorers. And I remember sitting in the lounge room reading the dictionary doing exercises from the back of it. Then, I used to read encyclopedias.

And that love of words wasn't limited to just English. I learnt Japanese, I can do a bit of Chinese, I remember Silent Night in German from 39 years ago (well, the first verse anyway), a bit of Finnish. Had I not had the opportunity to learn Japanese, I would not have found a talent for languages!

Around the house I turn my autism to an advantage in process driven tasks, such as cleaning the kitchen and doing the laundry. I clean the kitchen by dishwasher first, sink second, benchtops third, garbage last. And with the laundry, I'm darks first, towels second, whites and lights third and others last.

Stereotypes of autism must be abolished as must any moves to cure autism. As Astra-Zeneca is funding horrible research by a professor in Western Australia, I have asked my pharmacist not to dispense Astra Zeneca for me if they can avoid it.