Status Updates From Different, Not Less: A neur...

While this book provides a lot of validation, insight into some experiences, and positivity and advocacy… I can’t help but go back to something my psychologist said. “There are 2 types: those who say they ARE autistic and those who say they HAVE autism.” I still very much identify with the latter - it doesn’t define me. Hayden is very clearly the other. It encompasses her (which is ok).

She describes her connection to Quasimodo in The Hunchback and it is uncanny how similar we are. I remember sobbing at that movie, longing to have my own Esmerelda look at me with kindness and acceptance. I am not religious, but I also remember sobbing and quietly humming to God Save the Outcasts because I knew that’s what I was.

This book also puts certain feelings and experiences into words that I couldn’t find before. This is actually really helpful for someone like me who was newly diagnosed as an adult.

So far I find this to be pretty relatable. I think I may suggest my partner read chapter 3, which describes meltdowns, shutdowns, and burnout… and what your support system can do to help you through it. I know some reviews are irritated at the privilege of the author, but she states right away that she is indeed lucky and privileged.

“Society often accepts difference in children, but it’s not ‘acceptance’ so much that it is confidence that those differences will fade.”