My name is Stuart Duncan and I am the father of 2 great boys, Cameron (Autistic) and Tyler, his younger brother.
I have a background in radio broadcasting and web development but never really felt at home in either field. It wasn’t until my oldest son was diagnosed with autism that I recognized many similarities between us that lead to the eventual diagnosis of Aspergers for myself at the age of 36. It was at this point where I really started to recognize why I felt I didn’t belong in any other field and found my place within the autism community.
I got my start in the autism community in May 2010 when I started my blog, Autism From A Father’s Point of View (www.stuartduncan.name) and took to social media with the name AutismFather. I now have over 10,000 Facebook fans and 15,000 Twitter followers and had the opportunity to write 2 ebooks as well as articles that have appeared on organization’s websites and guest posts on hundreds of other blogs. My blog has been honoured to have been listed on several “top autism blog” lists.
In 2013, I started a Minecraft server for children (as well as adults) with autism and their families called Autcraft (www.autcraft.com). This server met with huge success from the very moment I opened it’s doors, receiving over 750 emails within the first 36 hours. Since then, thousands of children have gained self confidence, learned how to make friends, improved in reading and writing and found a haven from bullies/judgment.
I have always prided myself in my ability to stay calm, approach each and every situation with understanding and patience. I believe strongly in positive reinforcement, that you will always get better results by encouraging and rewarding positive behaviors rather than punishing negative ones. It is this approach which has, I believe, lead the great success of the Autcraft server and with my own children as well.
It is this approach that I take in my writing, my social media presence, on the Autcraft server and in the rest of life.
