A comic anthology about Autism, by Autistics?
How would you describe your uniquely Autistic experience? What would you do to make it accessible and easy to understand?
This author tapped into the world of comics and I have to say, it turned out wonderfully!
As a fast reader I absolutely flew through this book in about an hour. It was engaging and enlightening. Even though I've been in the Autistic community myself for about a decade I still felt like I learned something new!
It lays out elements of the Autistic experience simply enough that just about anyone could understand. In short: I think this is a great "beginner's introduction to Autism."
The book is formatted expertly. It's an anthology of many different comic artists. Each comic is about 5-10 pages long. Some of them describe similar aspects of the Autistic experience (the difficulty of masking, burnout) while others step into more uncommon experiences.
Let’s examine how the book performed before we assign it an overall score! Scroll to the bottom if you want to skip to the rating.
Table of Contents
Strengths
Weaknesses
Would I recommend this book?
Would Autistics like this book?
Would allistics like this book?
Overall score
Final thoughts
Strengths
The strengths of this book shine the most when it comes to its coverage of many Autistic experiences. It feels as though the artists weren’t instructed on what aspects to cover, and instead covered whatever they most wanted to. I believe that a diverse range of Autistic experiences were mentioned, from masking to being afraid to leave the house.
For this reason all of the comics in the book feel incredibly authentic. They feature a good range of artistic styles, takes, and stories.
It feels very Autistic, which is a breath of fresh air from the many books about Autism by allistics.
For this reason this book feels like a sort of home base, and I imagine for a newly realized Autistic or someone considering a diagnosis, it could feel very reassuring or even clarifying to realize that they empathize with the stories told in this book.
This could be a great book for someone who's considering whether they might be Autistic, but aren't quite sure yet.
Weaknesses
However, it seems that, accidentally, many of the comics in the anthology all point towards one particular topic: masking. There were easily about a dozen comics about masking. Which leads into my main criticism...
The editer of the book mentioned in the foreword that they sought out specifically Autistic comic artists to feature in the project. However, I’m curious how these Autistic artists identified. Is it possible that more diverse experiences of Autism could have been sought out?
I would have loved to see more comics featuring more experiences of struggling with masking, or not being able to accomplish masking at all.
I would have loved to see more featuring of Autistics who self-identify as “higher needs” or Nonspeaking.
There were only about 3-5 comics that felt closer to my experience– of finding it difficult to leave home because of all the overstimulation possible outside, or even initially feeling hate towards my Autism. This was out of about 60 total.
However, this doesn't lessen how wonderful the idea of this book is. I was glad to see such a wonderful idea executed wholly and entirely by Autistics!
Would I recommend this book?
In totality, I would definitely recommend giving this book a read. It was fun to read, though quick. It was clarifying about other experiences of Autism than just mine.
I feel like I learned a lot about how people with other types of Autism function in their day-to-day and in their journey to accepting their Autism.
It made me feel reassured, despite having been diagnosed for more than 5 years, that my symptoms are an established neurotype and not just me being "unpersonable.”
Would Autistics like this book?
I think some specific kinds of Autistics would particularly like this book, including:
People considering whether they might be Autistic.
People who are newly diagnosed. It will help clarify that they’re part of a community.
People who are wondering if some of their Autistic experiences are odd, strange, or acceptable.
However, I think generally “higher needs” Autistics may feel more isolated. There is little spotlight on their experiences. It’s still a good read, but if I were Nonspeaking or found fitting in with our modern society more difficult than I do now, I would not feel represented.
Would allistics like this book?
I think allistics would love this book! It feels almost like a very basic instructional manual to general Autistic feelings, experiences, and thoughts.
This could make a great gift for an allistic wondering what your Autistic inner life is like, for someone wondering what Autism is, or for someone who just wants to know about Autism in general.
Overall score
I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Storytelling: 5/5 stars, wonderful voices are featured
Format: 5/5 stars, easy to read
Accessibility: 4/5 stars, sometimes the comics were a little bit challenging to read on bright backgrounds or with small text
Style: 5/5 stars, gorgeous art
Diversity: 3/ 5 stars, I wonder if more diverse voices in the Autistic community could have been found and featured specifically
Overall, I would recommend this book but I would consider supplementing it with more varied voices in our community. It’s a fantastic beginner book on Autism, and a wonderful supplement for hearing different experiences in our community.
Final thoughts
This was a great read! Do you have any suggestions of books I should read next? Let me know in the comments!
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