Carol’s Comments (group member since Aug 17, 2013)

Carol’s comments from the Authors with Asperger's group.

Hi Kelly,

I don't know if I'm the sort of person you are looking for - I have self-published three books, one of which features a character with autism (and the one I'm working on now will as well). I am on the spectrum, self-diagnosed, and I've been a writer since I was twelve. I'm a little shy because I don't feel like my qualifications are "serious" enough - but I do my best to write at a professional level.

I wouldn't mind talking to your writers group. You can reach me at carolshayhornung@gmail.com.

Interesting .... there is a form of autism that is regressive - it's rare and tends to hit females more often than males, but it does present with a typically developing child suddenly losing communication skills - actually regressing backwards - around the age of two. However, Susan is right - autism is something that's already there, it's brain wiring. Not sure how a fever would cause autism, though it could cause brain damage and no one wants to start equating autism with brain damage!

Love the voice - I can really hear all the thoughts going on in the narrator's head.

Cool - what are your books/titles/descriptions?

Yeay - who do we have on board?

That's a delicate topic - could be quite powerful, though.

Just attended a sci-fi convention with a steampunk component. Kind of interesting! Are the characters Aspergers?

What are your books about?

I have read Jodi Picoult's "House Rules," which features a teen boy with Asperger's Syndrome. I thought she did some of the research very well, but it was a little like a man writing a woman's role. No matter how hard she tried, I really don't think she was able to get inside the character's head. There's also a nice little children's series called "Wright and Wong" out of Australia that illustrates the friendship between a girl and a boy with AS. I liked those quite a lot.