If you’ve met one Autistic person, you’ve met one Autistic person
As an Autistic person, I am very passionate about making the voices of Neurodiverse authors heard. When I was diagnosed just over a year ago, I felt lost. Despite the 3 year wait (thank you NHS), I hadn’t fully processed what a diagnosis would mean to me. I tried not to research Autism too much in those 3 years, I think as a coping mechanism in case I wasn’t diagnosed – which would have left me more lost. So, after ending the Zoom call with a diagnosis and an email full of useless leaflets, I turned to what I know best – books.
I started off with the most recommended book of the time, Dr Devon Price’s “Unmasking Autism”. This book was like the Bible of Neurodiversity to me. It covered almost all aspects of what it is like living with Autism, sharing stories from various Autistic people from multiple different backgrounds and walks of life. Hearing all these different people’s experiences of growing up with Autism, masking, and dealing with the current healthcare systems, validated my experiences and calmed down my newly-diagnosed brain. Although the book shared a lot of statistics and other facts/figures, it also heavily leaned into the self-help category. Price talks a lot about the ways in which Autistic people can learn self-acceptance, ultimately helping them to unmask. When I first read this book, I felt these tips were somewhat useful, enjoying the fresh perspective I was yet to hear anywhere else, however, looking back, these techniques may have been a little “one size fits all”, barely touching on the psychological processes and cognitive changes that occur during the process of unmasking.
Having a brain that was now full of facts and figures, most of which were incredibly disheartening, I thought it would be best to read some memoirs and hear some lived experiences. When looking for Autism representation elsewhere, usually all you will find is men in films and tv shows. If you ask most people to think of a fictional Autistic character, they will most likely think of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, or Dr. Shaun Murphy from The Good Doctor*.
Luckily, with books I had better success. After having followed a few Neurodiverse content creators, I quickly knew where to start. I’d been a fan of Fern Brady’s comedy for quite some time, and seen a few clips of her opening up about her Autism diagnosis, so I knew I had to read her memoir Strong Female Character.
I saw a description of this book which said“This is a book about how being a woman gets in the way of people’s expectation of what autism should look like and, equally, how being autistic gets in the way of people’s expectations of what a woman should look like” and it is spot on. The book is so open and honest about her experience growing up undiagnosed, and it was refreshing to hear someone so self-aware tell their story in such a funny way. I read this in one (long) train journey, and would 100% recommend it to anyone – Autistic or Allistic. (Side note, Brady had quite a bit of internalised fatphobia in her descriptions and stories, which weren’t so great, and I would note this going into the book).
Different Not Less by Chloe Hayden was a similar reading experience. This book is marketed a little more towards the parents of Neurodiverse children, but doesn’t exclusively read like that. Throughout the book Hayden gives neat little snippets of advice and facts for readers to takeaway and use as a learning opportunity. Chloe Hayden is an Australian Actor, most noted for plating Quinni, an Autistic teenager in the remake of Heartbreak High. After a tough start to life, struggling with friends and relationships, Hayden uses this book as an opportunity to show that you can use your special interests to find your own community and way in life. I enjoyed this book, it was a refreshing take on Autism. I lent this book to my Nan to read, and she absolutely loved it, ending up sending a copy to her other granddaughter to read.
I struggled to connect with Pete Wharmby’s Un-typical. In this book Wharmby talks about all the ways in which the Neurotypical world struggles to accommodate Neurodiverse individuals, and the effects that this can have on a person. As Wharmby says, this book is only “a starting point”, raising good points, but nothing new or groundbreaking. It’s a good introduction for people looking to understand Autism with no prior knowledge, but for people wanting to learn something new or anything at all – it may be best to look somewhere else for more detail. He uses statistics from twitter polls to back up his statements rather than actual research, which although were probably in line with national data, they don’t fill you with confidence for the rest of the book’s reliability. Additionally, this book is written by a cis-gendered man, so I didn’t feel the connection with his experiences as strongly as those with other books. Some people have absolutely loved this book though, perhaps it’s just a bit like Marmite…
Now, to a very different format of book. After receiving a midlife diagnosis of Autism, Joanne Limburg wrote Letters To My Weird Sisters, a refreshing take on the usual Autism Non-Fiction book in which she writes letters to other misunderstood “weird sisters” from throughout history. She addresses topics of autistic parenting, social isolation, feminism, the movement for disability rights and the appalling punishments that have been meted out over centuries to those deemed to fall short of the norm. I absolutely LOVED this book. The beginning didn’t have me convinced, it progressed slowly, starting with a letter to Virginia Woolf, (whose letter I was most excited to read). However, as the book found its feet, you learn about some incredible women and their struggles. Limburg’s openness about her own struggles weave effortlessly into the chapters, and it leaves you feeling both humbled and inspired. This is a refreshing take on feminism and neurodiversity.
Finally, to my most recent read, Autism Is Not a Disease by Jody Hare. I hadn’t previously heard of this book, but I found it in my favourite bookshop in Liverpool and picked it up immediately. In this short book, Hare focuses on the Disability Rights movement and acknowledges the need to include struggles based on class, gender, and race in the talks about Autism and Neurodiversity. The other sole focus of this book is based on the societal model of Autism and critiquing the biomedical model, reinforcing her view that the problem is not the individual but the environment. Unfortunately, this book’s narrow focus may alienate some readers, with Hare primarily writing from her perspective as a highly educated, verbal, and seemingly low-support-needs individual. For readers looking to learn more about the political aspect of Autism, this book lays a strong foundation, particularly with the current news of the governments plan to cut Personal Independence Payments, which will drive many people into poverty due to a complete lack of understanding and empathy.
The next Autism-focused book I will be reading is The Autists by Clara Tornvall, described as An incisive and deeply candid account that explores autistic women in culture, myth, and society through the prism of the author’s own diagnosis. I am always on the lookout for more books about Neurodiversity from authors of different backgrounds. I have compiled a list of books on ASD/Disability on my GoodReads, and on Bookshop.org, but I am always open to recommendations. I would particularly be interested in translated books / books not written in English, to broaden my knowledge of the Autism experience around the world.
To view/purchase any of these books – click on the images/titles. This post contains affiliate links.
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