Author: Emily Katy

Category: Memoir

Publisher: Monoray

Publication date: 28 March 2024

Blurb: ‘Emily’s moving book is a powerful testimony that shines a light on the continued failure of health services to provide any kind of meaningful improvement for autistic people. Should be essential reading for mental health professionals and anyone with autism in their lives’ – FERN BRADY, author of Strong Female Character ‘

This book will bring so many readers self-recognition and comfort.’ – DEVON PRICE, author of Unmasking Autism

To the outside world, Emily looks like a typical girl, with a normal family, living an ordinary life. But inside, Emily does not feel typical, and the older she gets, the more she realises that she is different. As she finally discovers when she is 16, Emily is autistic. Girl Unmasked is the extraordinary story of how she got there – and how she very nearly didn’t.

Still only 21, Emily writes with startling candour about the years leading up to her diagnosis. How books and imagination became her refuge as she sought to escape the increasing anxiety and unbearable stresses of school life; how her OCD almost destroyed her; how a system which did not understand autism let her down; and how she came so close to the edge that she and her family thought she would never survive.

In this simple but powerful memoir, we see how family and friends became her lifeline and how, post-diagnosis, Emily came to understand her authentic self and begin to turn her life around, eventually becoming a mental health nurse with a desire to help others where she herself had once been failed.

Ultimately uplifting, Girl Unmasked is a remarkable insight into what it can be like to be autistic – and shows us that through understanding and embracing difference we can all find ways to thrive.

Review: I have been following the author on X/Twitter and Instagram for a while. When this book came out, I was interested in reading it, however also had a bit of wariness as she was 22 when this book was written, and was diagnosed at 17. I was expecting to find it a bit irrelevant to me, who had been diagnosed at 44…

I was pleasantly surprised to be drawn in, seeing myself in ways that I had rarely seen before. I’m also one of those kids who lives in my imagination, and I hadn’t seen that represented much in books featuring neurodivergent characters, let alone in a memoir.

As her story unfolded, I had to wonder how I managed to get through high school without the issues she had, even though our experiences seemed quite similar. It also goes to show how even the most supportive family won’t stop mental health break downs.

This book weaves facts about autism with her story in a way that is easy to read and engaging. For anyone who is trying to understand autism, especially in females, this memoir is well worth reading.

The post Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life appeared first on There's a J In there... Somewhere!.

Author: Sandra Thom-Jones

Category: Memoir

Publisher: Melbourne University Press

Publication date: 30 August 2022

Blurb: What’s it like to realise you’re autistic? And how do you start to ask the world around you to accept that?

From the outside looking in, Sandra Thom-Jones was living a successful life: she had a great career, a beautiful home, a caring husband, two loving sons and supportive friends. But from the inside looking out, she was struggling to make sense of her place in the world, constantly feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, and convinced that her challenges with daily life just meant that she had to try harder. In Growing In to Autism, Thom-Jones tells the story of gradually realizing that she was autistic, and that she experienced the world in ways which were markedly different from neurotypical people. This was a profound awakening – throughout her life she had been masking her true self and this effort had come at great physical, mental and emotional cost. Applying her skills as an experienced and expert researcher, Thom-Jones delved into the literature on autism in adults, learning much more than she already knew as a parent of two autistic boys. Part personal, funny, endearing and enlightening memoir, and part rigorous explication of the nature of autism, Growing in to Autism is a book for all people, memorably conveying the need for better understanding and ways of making space for a group of individuals in our society who have so much to offer.

Review: This book was recommended to me when I posted in some groups about reading Different, Not Less by Chloe Hayden, and looking for some books by women who had been diagnosed in their 40s or later. I was excited when I found it in the library.

There were so many times that I wished I had bought this book instead of borrowing it from the library as the author articulated my experience in ways I have been struggling to, from experiences at school to early days of parenting, and I wanted to underline different parts to revisit them at a later date.

There are some bits I couldn’t relate to as I also have ADHD, however this book was a good read and a great resource for other late diagnosed autistic women, and those around them. It is also one that I have recommended to quite a few late diagnosed autistic women too.

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Author: Clem Bastow

Category: Memoir

Publisher: Hardie Grant Books

Publication date: 7 July 2021

Blurb: Introducing a bold new voice in Australian nonfiction, Late Bloomer is a heartfelt coming-of-age memoir that will change the way you think about autism.

Clem Bastow grew up feeling like she’d missed a key memo on human behaviour. She found the unspoken rules of social engagement confusing, arbitrary and often stressful. Friendships were hard, relationships harder, and the office was a fluorescent-lit nightmare of anxiety. It wasn’t until Clem was diagnosed as autistic, at age 36, that things clicked into focus.

The obsession with sparkly things and dinosaurs. The encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music. The meltdowns that would come on like a hurricane. The ability to write eloquently while conquering basic maths was like trying to understand ancient Greek. These weren’t just ‘personality quirks’ but autistic traits that shaped Clem’s life in powerful ways.

With wit and warmth, Clem reflects as an autistic adult on her formative experiences as an undiagnosed young person, from the asphalt playground of St Joseph’s Primary School in Melbourne to working as an entertainment journalist in Hollywood. Along the way she challenges the broader cultural implications and ideas around autism, especially for women and gender-diverse people. Deconstructing the misconceptions and celebrating the realities of autistic experience, Late Bloomer is as heartbreaking as it is hilarious, and will stay with you long after the reading.

Review: This book was recommended to me by more than one person, and when I spotted it on the shelf at my local library, I was excited. The librarian thought it was funny as I actually clapped and cheered when I saw it!

I found the start of the book hard going, but I’m so glad I persisted. So many of Clem’s experiences at school mirrored my own, including secondary school experiences. I suspect we went through school at a similar time. There were so many moments in this book that I thought ‘Hey, me too!’

For other late-diagnosed autistic women, this is a good book to read, especially those who went to school in the 80s and 90s.

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Author: Yvon Roy

Category: Memoir

Publisher: Titan Books

Publication date: 7 July 2020

Blurb: The award-winning graphic novel autobiography of a father, and the challenges he faces raising his autistic son.

A beautiful visual exploration of the highs and lows experienced by a parent learning how to adapt to his son’s autism. Faced with a challenging road ahead, the author uses creative flair and ingenuity in order to connect with his son, enabling him to reach his fullest potential and prepare him for the transition into adulthood.

This stunning insight into the nature of autism and the daily struggles of a parent uses humor and compassion to convey its message. This is the perfect creative outlet for anyone – from parent to teacher – looking for detailed information on the subject with a more personal touch.

Yvon Roy won the Best Biography Award from the Disability Fund and Society, as well as reciving the INSPIREO High School Students Award for the most inspiring youth book, and the Literary Award for Citizenship from the Maine Teacher’s League.

Review: I’m really conflicted by this book. As an autistic parent of an autistic child, I found this book both interesting and frustrating. The author was honest about his feelings of overwhelm and projecting to his son, and the same time doing things that many autistic do to mask, like making eye contact. Some of the strategies seemed good, and others frustrated me, especially the feeling that his child had to be ‘normal’. Then again, I’m guilty of ableist attitudes before I knew better.

It was an interesting story and, I think, an honest account from one parent’s experience, but had some issues when it comes to a modern understanding of autism. If you’re reading this, realise that it’s just one parent’s experience, it’s not a book about autism in general.

The graphic novel format of this book was fun and I enjoyed the illustrations.

The post Review: Little Victories appeared first on There's a J In there... Somewhere!.

This is a list of books that I have read. I will update this post as I read more. If there are any amazing books you’ve read that should be added to this list, please let me know in the comments. I’m especially interested in positive representation and stories of late diagnosed autistic women.

With the fiction books, these are stories where the main character is identified as autistic or ADHD. There is another list with characters I think are neurospicy, however they aren’t identified as such. That post is here.

This is simply a list, I will add reviews as I get around to it.

Memoir

• Different, Not Less by Chloe Hayden
• Growing into Autism by Sandra Thom-Jones
• What I Mean When I Say I’m Autistic by Annie Kotowicz
• Little Victories by Yvon Roy (parent of an autistic child)
• Late Bloomer by Clem Bastow
• The Year I Met My Brain by Matilda Boseley
• Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life by Emily Katy

Non-Fiction

• Aspergirls by Rudy Simone

Novels

• The Wonderful Thing about Phoenix Rose by Josephine Moon
• The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
• .Wishing on a Star by Mandy Baggot (main character is the mother of an autistic child, however I think she is autistic too!)
• Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Middle Grade Novels

• Paws by Kate Foster
• Harriet Hound by Kate Foster
• The Unlikely Heroes Club by Kate Foster
• The Secret Science Society’s Spectacular Experiment by Kathy Hoopmann & Josie Montano
• The Secret Science Society in Space by Josie Montano & Kathy Hoopmann
• A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll
• The Thing About Oliver by Deborah Kelly (the main character is the sibling of an autistic brother)

Picture Books

• The Wobbly Wallaby and the Absolute Bandicoot by Pamela Jacqueline and Irene Brown
• Talking is not my thing by Rose Robbins
• It Was Supposed to be Sunny by Samantha Cotterill
• A Friend Like Mine by Samantha Warne (book about children with disability, not neurospicy specific)
• Alexander the Avoider by Nicole Filippone
• Roseanne the Seeker by Nicole Filippone
• Paisley the Perfectionist by Nicole Filippone
• Preston the Procrastinator by Nicole Filippone
• Some Brains by Nelly Thomas
• The Me You Don’t See by Sam Matthews
• The Big Hungry Tree by Jo Rothwell
• Unmasking Milie by Millie Carr & Polina Povshedna
• Forgetful Freddie by Manisha J Poudyal & Jonathon Klassen
• Why Johnny Doesn’t Flap: NT is OK! by Clay Morton, Gail Morton & Alex Merry
• Don’t Tell Me What to Do by Renee Connoulty
• Pablo’s Feelings by Sumita Majumdar and Andrew Brenner

Middle Grade Non Fiction

• Perfectly Weird, Perfectly You by Camilla Pang

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