Finding Your Superpowers: A Guide for People on the Autism Spectrum and Their Allies

by Anne Pflug

Finding Your A Guide for People on the Autism Spectrum intentionally mimics and uses popular images of superheroes. The book is a quick read with a fun and approachable format for a wide age range. The author has extensively interviewed families and experts, including talking/consulting directly with adults on the spectrum. The author has included examples, stories from individuals and families, as well as resources and further information resources in the text. At the end of each chapter the reader is invited to note their discoveries. Additionally, the focus of this book is on discovering and nurturing the strengths, personal traits and focused interests people on the spectrum bring to their world over their life span. Through their individual strengths, many people on the spectrum can experience a positive and fulfilling life. The systems that surround neurodiverse people put more emphasis on the person’s “deficits” and/or “developmental delays” than affirming differences―often feeding low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. This book is a guide to engaging or challenging these systems, and nurture each person’s “superpowers”. It is hard, but attainable.

120 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2024

About the author

Retired after 40 years as an educator and public sector executive, Anne Pflug is using her lived experience as a parent of two neurodivergent children and her expertise in public sector research to reframe the social narrative about Autism. For decades families and professionals have had access to child development and education guides for neurotypical children, while no similar comprehensive resource has been available for families and allies of Autistics. With her book, Finding Your Superpowers: A guide for People on the Autism Spectrum & Their Allies, that has changed.

This concise and empowering guide is built on extensive research and interviews with Autistics, their families and professionals in the field. A reader group of adult Autistics informed the book as writing progressed.

Autistics, family members and professionals will find the guide to be a useful tool and a essential key to affirming Autistic developmental stages; sensory experiences; Autistic culture and the challenges of living in a neurotypical centric world.

The reader can use the included workbook features to navigate the development and nuturing of personal strengths and abilities at every life stage.

Ms. Pflug is currently focusing on speaking, workshops and developing on-line resources. Her next book is a climate fiction novel featuring Autistic young adults.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

There may be some valuable information in here (as not a person with ASD and not a family member of someone with ASD, see instead any reviews from people who can comment more directly on the content), but it's very hard to get at. There are significant errors in punctuation and distressingly frequent use of quotation marks as emphasis indicators-- bold and italics frequently used as well; how many words per paragraph *really* need to be emphasized? The poor paper quality, non-standard book size, text size(s), frequent use of bold and italics, and tilted or off-set text boxes make this visually overwhelming: it's surprisingly out of touch with the intended audience, if even I felt overstimulated by reading it.

An appropriate library purchase if a patron asks for it specifically, as the author does speak from experience raising members of her family with ASD, but not a must-buy.

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