How To Be Autistic

By: Charlotte Amelia Poe

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Synopsis: This book charts the author’s journey through schooldays and young adulthood, with chapters on food, fandom, depression, body piercing, comic conventions, and technology. The author writes about her memoir: ‘The best way to describe it is to imagine a road trip. If a neurotypical person wants to get from A to B, then they will most often find their way unobstructed, without road works or diversions. For an autistic person, they will find that they are having to use back roads and cut across fields and explore places neurotypicals would never even imagine visiting. The book challenges narratives of autism as something to be ‘fixed’, as the author believes her autism is a fundamental aspect of her work. She writes: ‘I wanted to show the side of autism that I have lived through, the side you don’t find in books and on Facebook groups. My piece is a story about survival, fear, and, finally, hope. It is an open letter to every autistic person who has suffered verbal, mental, or physical abuse and come out snarling and alive. ‘If I can change just one person’s perceptions, if I can help one person with autism feel like they’re less alone, then this will all be worth it. So please, turn the page. Our worlds are about to collide.’