Trans and Autistic: Stories from Life at the Intersection

by Noah Adams, Bridget Liang

The first book to foreground the voices and experiences of autistic trans people, this collection of interviews explores questions of identity and gender from a neurodiverse perspective and examines how this impacts family, work, healthcare and religion.

Genres: Queer, Nonfiction, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Transgender, Disability, LGBT, Gender

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 21, 2020

Reviews

[Tyler Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this book. I'm also autistic and transgender. However I didn't find it perfect. You have 10 autistic and transgender people that were interviewed and asked questions about being autistic and trans. I did like that the authors are also trans and autistic so that helps here and they did mention they made a point of making sure the 10 people were diverse in terms of race and other factors so even though it's a small sample it's at least diverse. What I didn't care for though is that all the interviews are paraphrased rather than being in their own words. Though they did say everyone got to approve their chapters first so that's good at least.

Though why are they paraphrased? I don't get it. Wouldn't it just be best to let them all speak 100% for themselves? And it also got very repetitive with all the "conclusions".

That's why it gets 4 out of 5 because I still really did enjoy this and I learned from it as well, since autistic people aren't a monolith and I learned stuff about being autistic and a person of color that I hadn't thought of because i'm white. It was easy to read. I do find it very valuable and important and do recommend it.

[luciana · Rating 4 out of 5]

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thank you to the publisher and netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Trans and Autistic is a collection of testimony by trans people who are also autistic. I found this collection to be insightful due to both the large spectrum of representation and the intelligence of the questions that were asked.

The discussion was deep, it questioned how autistic people approach the idea of gender binaries, and gender roles in the first place and I found that to be the most interesting part of the interviews.

I'm so glad to finally see a collection like this come to life, I would love to read more about this.

[Sage Agee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Advanced copy received through netgalley in exchange for review: first, I’d like to say that I am so happy that content like this exists and more research is being done that actually includes voices of trans and autistic folks. I really wish they had kept each interview untouched, instead of paraphrasing each one. The voice of each participant was lost to summarizing, and potentially drawing some assumptions for the reader to have to decide what the participant was actually saying. I’m sure that each voice was so unique, and we didn’t get to see it! This book is very research-oriented and I assume is a part of an academic project. I’d love to see the authors transform the data into a more of a showcase of each participants’ unique voice on the topic of transgender and autistic intersection.

[Harri · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is incredibly important for trans autistic voices to be heard, especially now that research is being done on the connection/correlation between gender identity and autism. This book is an interesting and sensitive start to this area of research. The researchers, who also belong to the autistic and trans communities, subscribe strongly to the idea of 'nothing about us without us', and this shows in the way they talk about their research subjects.

There is a methodology at the beginning of the book, describing the research in detail. This is clearly a well thought out piece of research, hopefully providing a good grounding for future research in this area. The subjects are very diverse, which is on purpose, and was refreshing to see, as a lot of prior research in both the areas of autism and trans issues seem to skew heavily towards white people.

The interviews are presented in third person, which feels more academic, but at times can feel a little distanced from the person, less 'in their own words'. However, the interviews are written sensitively, without judgement. They can be hard to read at times, due to anecdotes about mental health and suicide, family rejection and disownment, abuse and ABA therapy. But there are also positive anecdotes, and a sense of hopefulness towards the future in many of the interviews. Containted within the interviews are lots of different opinions, many conflicting, because, as it's said, if you've met one autistic person (and/or trans person), you've met one autistic person. The book gives an interesting overview of the subject from the perspective of actually trans autistic people and highlights some intercommunity issues and debates. There is a lot of repetition, due to people having similar experiences, but the differences are what I found most interesting, for example how the age of diagnosis affected someone, and whether or not they transitioned before or after their autism diagnosis and how that affected their transition.

In regards to whether autism and gender identity are connected, the research is still being done. Several different theories that could be explored were floated in this book. One that stuck out to me was that 'gender could be seen as a part of neurotypical culture that is often inscrutable and inapplicable to many autistic people'. That being autistic changed the way that gender was viewed or understood, either making autistic people more likely to explore their own gender, or more likely to be seen as gender nonconforming. Plenty of further reading is suggested at the end of the book, for people who want to explore the subject further.

I hope future research is carried out in a similar way to this piece of research, and is beneficial for both communities.

[Anniek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being trans and autistic myself, I really enjoy reading about this intersection. I found it really valuable to see so many very different perspectives in this book, and that's ultimately why I did end up enjoying it. However, the writing was very unpleasant to read as it was extremely repetitive and it read as if the authors had just put their interview transcripts in third person.

[Maxine (Booklover Catlady) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hugely disappointed with the format of this book. I am Autistic myself (not Trans) so was really eager to read this. Hearing the actual voices and stories of the Trans Autistics in this book I felt was important. Where this fell down was that the interviewer did not let the stories be told in the "voice" of the individuals involved. By doing it this way each voice was lost and it is just the author speaking. It sounds repetitive and without depth.

These are individuals with their own journey to tell and not including their personalities and style of speaking and sharing really removed that individuality. You began to predict what topics would be spoken about and a lot blurred into sounding the same. I don't feel this did justice to those who chose to open themselves up and share.

I have read other books in similar format about different autistic individuals and adding the aspect of their Trans journey alongside their autism was really intriguing to me. Sadly, as other reviewers have stated I would have preferred to "hear" them speaking in their own style. I think that's incredibly important.

It lacked the heart it needed to really make the impact it should of. I "got" the vision of what was trying to be achieved with this book but sadly the format being written in just the one voice meant it lost so much in translation.

The Author let these contributors down. Their writing style is stilted and flat. I am sure those in this book who are sharing their journeys are anything but.

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[Liza · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, but for a book that starts with nothing about us without us, I was disappointed that every participant interviewed was paraphrased, and we didn't get to see the way they worded things. Bit clinical.

[Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

* I kindly received an ARC through Netgalley *

This is a fairly short but interesting collection on interview-based research on people who are both trans and autistic, two groups that are incredibly underrepresented in any sort of sense.
While some research profits from random samples to show an average population sample, this kind of research profits greatly from having purposefully chosen a diverse range of interviewees of different ethnicities, gender and sexual identities. This is in so much relevant as people who are not straight, white, and assigned male at birth are quite underrepresented within these groups as well. And don't get me started on the general gender bias in autism diagnostics and research!
I found it quite interesting to see such a diverse mix of people's opinions on relevant autism and transgender specific problems such as health care and family relations. The book showed people using person-first or identity-first language or only just the Asperger's label, different kinds of pronouns, having very different opinions on the intersection of their identities etc which just shows again the "if you've met one autistic person you've met one autistic person" saying.
Still, the authors manage to illustrate parallels and differences in their summary quite well which just highlights the relevance of their research.
My criticism is that the conclusion of each interview, while being a norm in this type of writing, is very repetitive to read as it basically just summarizes everything a second time and it can be skipped over.
Two very positive things I want to highlight apart from the general awesomeness of the book are the glossary and the small introduction to each interviewee.
I hope I will manage to get my hands on a finished copy of this book when it hits the shelves to add to my collection of books that are just really up my academic research interest alley.
Finally, it is only to say that I fulfil at least 50 percent of the topic as well, being autistic and at the very least gender nonconforming, so I am both knowledgable and slightly biased on the topic.

[The Resistance Bookclub · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fairly short but interesting collection on interview-based research on people who are both trans and autistic, two groups that are incredibly underrepresented in any sort of sense.
While some research profits from random samples to show an average population sample, this kind of research profits greatly from having purposefully chosen a diverse range of interviewees of different ethnicities, gender and sexual identities. This is in so much relevant as people who are not straight, white, and assigned male at birth are quite underrepresented within these groups as well. And don't get me started on the general gender bias in autism diagnostics and research!
I found it quite interesting to see such a diverse mix of people's opinions on relevant autism and transgender specific problems such as health care and family relations. The book showed people using person-first or identity-first language or only just the Asperger's label, different kinds of pronouns, having very different opinions on the intersection of their identities etc which just shows again the "if you've met one autistic person you've met one autistic person" saying.
Still, the authors manage to illustrate parallels and differences in their summary quite well which just highlights the relevance of their research.
My criticism is that the conclusion of each interview, while being a norm in this type of writing, is very repetitive to read as it basically just summarizes everything a second time and it can be skipped over.
Two very positive things I want to highlight apart from the general awesomeness of the book are the glossary and the small introduction to each interviewee.
I hope I will manage to get my hands on a finished copy of this book when it hits the shelves to add to my collection of books that are just really up my academic research interest alley.
Finally, it is only to say that I fulfil at least 50 percent of the topic as well, being autistic and at the very least gender nonconforming, so I am both knowledgable and slightly biased on the topic.

[Echo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even as a trans and autistic individual, I am clearly not the intended audience of this book. Still, "Trans and Autistic" represents an excellent step forward for academic research on the trans-autistic community. I expected more first-hand accounts and found a collection of ethnographic case studies on ten different folks who fall under trans and autistic umbrellas. I appreciate the breadth of the reports given on each interviewee, which further humanizes this often marginalized (and dehumanized) community. I especially enjoyed reading about the activism some of the research subjects were engaged in and hearing about how they all have come to understand both their autism and their gender, as I saw myself reflected in so many stories. There's power in seeing yourself reflected in media, and for me that feeling has been amplified by this academic recognition.

[Shilo Quetchenbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a disappointment.

I read and loved another book by this publisher (Nonbinary Lives) where the editors chose to collect personal essays on the experience of being nonbinary and then loosely group them into categories, allowing each voice to shine through. That book was a joy to read.

This book... not so much. The main problem with it is how it was approached: The author chose to interview trans&autistic people and then write up their stories. This meant that the voice didn't change with each person, making the stories run together. Additionally, the voice chosen for the write-up is dry, clinical, and textbook-y. I read several sections and came away with no sense of comprehension at all. Ultimately I chose to DNF.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for granting me an e-arc to review

[Taylor Portela · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book’s form contradicts the intent communicated in the introduction: to introduce readers to trans autistic people so we “get a chance to know them, in their own words.” Instead, the book reads like a series of diagnostic write-ups about each person, written in the third-person, using a mix of scientific-sounding words and methodology with formalisms like “fortuitous.” All together, a missed opportunity given the richness of the humanity represented.

But I did learn a thing from one of the interviewees, which made the book worth reading in the end. In Nathan’s section, the narrator says, “Executive function refers to the capacity to self-regulate …” and after reading 15+ books on autism in the past few months, this has never been stated so simply.

[D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In theory, this is a very important, really good book.
In practice?
I agree with other reviewers, there's so much in it that makes me think that instead of paraphrasing, we should have seen the essays untouched or lightly touched, at best. It feels like the impact and maybe some of the power of the actual essays has been diluted, so while this is still a good book, there are places it could be better.

[Jonilee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A necessary body of literature. There need to be more efforts to access the stories of transgender autistic folks, especially those of color. I’ve only rated this book with 3 stars because it seems to me the authors prided themselves on a diverse sample, wherein 50% of the population was still white-identifying. If that’s the metric for diversity then it makes sense why there’s so little research done for communities of color.

[Geneva or Styx · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad a book like this exists and tried it's best to interview people from different identities and ethnicities despite only getting to interview 10 people. I will be honest I didn't really enjoy the formatting/how this book was written and I think it was mainly because of how each chapter concludes and even the conclusion I ended up skimming just because I didn't feel like I needed a refresher on the interviews. I did like the intersectionality of this and the resources at the end.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really good for starting to explode the intersectionality between being autistic and transgender. However personally how the interviews were reported (in the third person) where a slight drawback to the impact of the participants responses. Otherwise It is good as focusing on having a diverse sample, combined with diverse mindset within their sample.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a parent of two autistic children I really needed this book.

Hearing from people with real experience is so valuable. And it re-iterates that early diagnosis and supports are needed to help our little humans grow into happy adults.

[Katie Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very informative about autism and trans life experience. I especially liked how each persons narrative was split into sections. Enabling an easy understanding. I felt like the final thoughts at the end of each chapter was redundant though especially because the book had a conclusion.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have preferred this to be made up of direct quotes instead of paraphrasing what people said.

Having said that this book looks at an incredibly important and misunderstood / ignored intersection and I'm very thankful for that.

[Tanya Neumeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, clear, and thorough writing in a well organized book. I'm grateful to the authors and participants for making this introduction to the topic available.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting book telling stories of a variety of people that are both transgender and autistic. gives some good insight into their experiences moving thru the world.

[Linnéa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Structured like a Journal Article, gives 10 reports of different trans-autistic people's lives.