I've been doing a lot of research after realizing I'm some sort of neurodivergent... probably AuDHD, but still figuring it out. That said, I was looking into books on the topic and was feeling really overwhelmed on where to start. Not exactly sure how I found this video but so thrilled that I did! The way you categorized the books and your synopses we're so descriptive and helpful...Thank you 🥲I too *adore* the inherently political AND the way you discussed these books. You have a real gift!
This is such a timely video for me. Thank you for putting this together. Breaking it down for different parts of the journey was inspired and really helpful for me.
I wasn't a huge fan of Unmasking Autism since it seemed to focus mainly on autistic people who have lower support needs, or are financially independent, which isn't something I entirely relate to anymore. A lot of unmasking is subconscious for me, so I struggled to connect to that or find it very useful for where I'm at in my acceptance journey. I thought it may have been better as a memoir instead. As a somewhat intro to autism, I know it's useful for many. I personally liked "Drama Queen: One Autistic Woman and a Lifetime of Unhelpful Labels." I read it awhile ago though, so my views may have changed, but at the time it was helpful! Thanks for these recs, I'll have to check them out.
Excellent video! I’m at an early stage of exploring my neurodivergent identity. Your discussion of these books is very comprehensive, and I’ve already put some of them in my cart or checked them out from the library. I really appreciate your thoughts and suggestions!
I am so excited to check some of these out, I was diagnosed a few years ago but have been in survival mode ever since and really need to engage with some affirming stories. Thanks so much for sharing, I have passed the video along to all my friends :)
Ahhhh Katey! I'm so excited to see you post this video (maybe you've talked about being autistic before, but this is the first I'm seeing about it). I've been going down the "am I autistic?" rabbit hole for a few months now after finally getting my ADHD diagnosis last year, and when I read about how women are often misdiagnosed with many other things first including bipolar disorder, I thought of you and wondered if that might be your situation too! I just sort of hoped that you would stumble across this info too if you needed to hear it, and it makes my heart so happy to see you on this journey (regardless if the other diagnoses are still useful or not, I'm not assuming you were misdiagnosed necessarily)! Thanks so much for these recommendations -- I especially appreciate the advice on waiting to read "Unmasking Autism" until you've read books from the first section, since it's one of the audiobooks I have on deck. I started listening to "Divergent Mind" but I'm struggling to get through it a little bit, so I think I'll try "Is This Autism?" first or maybe one of the others you mentioned in the first section. I'd be curious to hear what you think about the book "The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy" if it looks like something you'd want to add to your reading list. I've heard several content creators talk about how that book was life-changing for them, and like you said, you'd have a ton of "neurotypical-style" therapy to compare it to! Unrelatedly I also just want to say that I appreciate how thoughtful you are and how much you walk the walk with your values and politics! Even though I'm not Australian and didn't always feel the need to pick up books you've spoken about that feature indigenous experiences, etc., just hearing you talk about your local social/justice related issues have really made me think -- and kind of shift perspectives that reading isn't just for fun and escapism, but in a way we have a duty to be informed and care about those we share a community with, or if not a duty, we should want to learn/understand/care if that aligns with the values we claim to have. And even now as I was thinking "too bad she didn't link these books with affiliate Amazon links," I scrolled down farther and now I know about libro.fm and will go download it! So thank you again!
Thanks so much :) I have spoken about it a couple of times here and there in a handful of videos, but I haven’t spoken about it extensively. It’s been quite the journey, thanks for sure!
Great video and a great list of books! - I've read 10 of them so far. Some others I can really recommend are: Sara Gibbs - Drama Queen Steph Jones - The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy Pete Wharmby - Untypical Pete Wharmby - What I Want to Talk About Chris Packham - Fingers in the Sparkle Jar
Thanks so much for putting this together, Katey! A really lovely round-up. I love The Electricity of Every Living Thing SO much! Another one I really enjoyed is On The Spectrum by Daniel Bowman. Bowman is writing a Christian perspective, but don't let that put you off (if it would)...he spends a lot of the book examining common Christian lessons and the hypocrisy of Christians and church communities that aren't actually very accepting and accommodating of others. I found it so insightful. I've also heard great things about Neurotribes by Steve Silberman and I really want to get to Empire of Normality by Robert Chapman soon.
Lots of great books, a few I haven’t read yet. Women and Girls on the Autism Spectrum is incredible, I feel like every page I’m just constantly going “ohhh, that’s just autism and that makes sense now”. Also, there’s another book titled Late Bloomer, that I downloaded because it’s a sapphic romance, and the main character (which I was surprised to learn) is autistic, and the other main character thinks she might be ADHD.
I just finished Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt, which is a middle grade book in verse. It sounds like it and May Tomorrow Be Awake would be good friends.
*adds I Think I Might Be Autistic by Cynthia Kim to cart* I think this is what I need. A medical dx is not for me-- I will never be able to afford one, in any case. There are no supports here for adult Autistics as well.
Thanks for putting this video together. It's going to be such a helpful resource for so many people, myself included.
You're very welcome!
I've been doing a lot of research after realizing I'm some sort of neurodivergent... probably AuDHD, but still figuring it out. That said, I was looking into books on the topic and was feeling really overwhelmed on where to start. Not exactly sure how I found this video but so thrilled that I did! The way you categorized the books and your synopses we're so descriptive and helpful...Thank you 🥲I too *adore* the inherently political AND the way you discussed these books. You have a real gift!
So glad you found this useful thanks so much and best of luck on your journey ❤️
This is such a timely video for me. Thank you for putting this together. Breaking it down for different parts of the journey was inspired and really helpful for me.
Glad it was helpful!
I wasn't a huge fan of Unmasking Autism since it seemed to focus mainly on autistic people who have lower support needs, or are financially independent, which isn't something I entirely relate to anymore. A lot of unmasking is subconscious for me, so I struggled to connect to that or find it very useful for where I'm at in my acceptance journey. I thought it may have been better as a memoir instead. As a somewhat intro to autism, I know it's useful for many.
I personally liked "Drama Queen: One Autistic Woman and a Lifetime of Unhelpful Labels." I read it awhile ago though, so my views may have changed, but at the time it was helpful! Thanks for these recs, I'll have to check them out.
That is totally fair. Thanks for the extra recommendation - I’ll have to look into that one!
Excellent video! I’m at an early stage of exploring my neurodivergent identity. Your discussion of these books is very comprehensive, and I’ve already put some of them in my cart or checked them out from the library. I really appreciate your thoughts and suggestions!
Glad it was helpful!
I am so excited to check some of these out, I was diagnosed a few years ago but have been in survival mode ever since and really need to engage with some affirming stories. Thanks so much for sharing, I have passed the video along to all my friends :)
I hope you find some of them useful ❤️
Ahhhh Katey! I'm so excited to see you post this video (maybe you've talked about being autistic before, but this is the first I'm seeing about it). I've been going down the "am I autistic?" rabbit hole for a few months now after finally getting my ADHD diagnosis last year, and when I read about how women are often misdiagnosed with many other things first including bipolar disorder, I thought of you and wondered if that might be your situation too! I just sort of hoped that you would stumble across this info too if you needed to hear it, and it makes my heart so happy to see you on this journey (regardless if the other diagnoses are still useful or not, I'm not assuming you were misdiagnosed necessarily)! Thanks so much for these recommendations -- I especially appreciate the advice on waiting to read "Unmasking Autism" until you've read books from the first section, since it's one of the audiobooks I have on deck. I started listening to "Divergent Mind" but I'm struggling to get through it a little bit, so I think I'll try "Is This Autism?" first or maybe one of the others you mentioned in the first section. I'd be curious to hear what you think about the book "The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy" if it looks like something you'd want to add to your reading list. I've heard several content creators talk about how that book was life-changing for them, and like you said, you'd have a ton of "neurotypical-style" therapy to compare it to!
Unrelatedly I also just want to say that I appreciate how thoughtful you are and how much you walk the walk with your values and politics! Even though I'm not Australian and didn't always feel the need to pick up books you've spoken about that feature indigenous experiences, etc., just hearing you talk about your local social/justice related issues have really made me think -- and kind of shift perspectives that reading isn't just for fun and escapism, but in a way we have a duty to be informed and care about those we share a community with, or if not a duty, we should want to learn/understand/care if that aligns with the values we claim to have. And even now as I was thinking "too bad she didn't link these books with affiliate Amazon links," I scrolled down farther and now I know about libro.fm and will go download it! So thank you again!
Thanks so much :) I have spoken about it a couple of times here and there in a handful of videos, but I haven’t spoken about it extensively. It’s been quite the journey, thanks for sure!
Thank you so much for these recommendations! Official diagnosis is not an accessible option for me at the moment so this is immensely helpful 💜💜
So glad to hear this was useful to you ❤️
Great video and a great list of books! - I've read 10 of them so far. Some others I can really recommend are: Sara Gibbs - Drama Queen
Steph Jones - The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy
Pete Wharmby - Untypical
Pete Wharmby - What I Want to Talk About
Chris Packham - Fingers in the Sparkle Jar
Ooh thanks so much for the extra recommendations!
Thanks so much for putting this together, Katey! A really lovely round-up. I love The Electricity of Every Living Thing SO much! Another one I really enjoyed is On The Spectrum by Daniel Bowman. Bowman is writing a Christian perspective, but don't let that put you off (if it would)...he spends a lot of the book examining common Christian lessons and the hypocrisy of Christians and church communities that aren't actually very accepting and accommodating of others. I found it so insightful. I've also heard great things about Neurotribes by Steve Silberman and I really want to get to Empire of Normality by Robert Chapman soon.
Ooh I do want to read Empire of Normality!
Lots of great books, a few I haven’t read yet. Women and Girls on the Autism Spectrum is incredible, I feel like every page I’m just constantly going “ohhh, that’s just autism and that makes sense now”. Also, there’s another book titled Late Bloomer, that I downloaded because it’s a sapphic romance, and the main character (which I was surprised to learn) is autistic, and the other main character thinks she might be ADHD.
I just finished Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt, which is a middle grade book in verse. It sounds like it and May Tomorrow Be Awake would be good friends.
Ooh how cool!
*adds I Think I Might Be Autistic by Cynthia Kim to cart* I think this is what I need. A medical dx is not for me-- I will never be able to afford one, in any case. There are no supports here for adult Autistics as well.
I hope you find it useful xx