But You Don't Look Autistic at All

By: Bianca Toeps

Narrated by: Ione Butler

Autism—that’s being able to count matches really fast and knowing that 7 August 1984 was a Tuesday, right? Well, no. In this book, Bianca Toeps explains in great detail what life is like when you’re autistic.

She does this by looking at what science says about autism (and why some theories can go straight in the trash), but also by telling her own story and interviewing other autistics. Bianca talks in a refreshing and sometimes hilarious way about different situations autistic people encounter in daily life. She has some useful tips for non-autistic people too: what you should do if someone prefers not to look you in the eye, why it is sometimes better to communicate by email, and, most important of all, why it is not a compliment if you say: “But you don’t look autistic at all!”

©2020 Bianca Toeps (P)2023 Bianca Toeps

good insight

I enjoyed the personal accounts from people with autism with an international lense. A great book for people learning about autism and getting good info while avoiding misinformation on the Internet.

#actuallyautistic

I loved the book. I have been learning to enjoy listening to the various experiences of others with autism/are autistic. I’m so glad she brought up some of the things we dislike hearing and are often reasons used by people to explain how I “don’t seem” or “look autistic”. This felt good.

Highly recommend for:
*anyone who is autistic/has autism,
*those who know/love someone who is autistic/has autism and simply want some insight on the differing experiences—they may benefit learning to better understand.
*someone who questions if they are autistic /have autism themselves.

Entertaining too to listen to. :)

Easy to read and very well written

The book is a well-balanced mix between (the needed) scientific background, the terminology of ASD, history and statistics as well as personal experience with the condition - by the author herself and some interviewees. As a non-autistic person you get very interesting insights about how people on the spectrum perceive and process the world, including their troubles and pitfalls but also how they deal with difficult situations on their own interesting way. Easy to read, very educational book with lots of interesting points.

love this read!

this is a must read for anyone with or without autism, I've read it twice and will read again. enjoy!

This author is so informative & so relatable

Recently, I was diagnosed with ASD at age 53 and this audiobook was incredibly helpful and reassuringly refreshing!
My entire world has made sense since my diagnosis & I look at myself with much kinder & accepting eyes. 😊🙏🏽

just ok

I wanted to love this book but as the parent of a child with autism and very likely undiagnosed autism myself, there was a lot that didn't resonate. The author tried to break certain stereotypes about autism but at times reinforced others. I found the content to be disjointed, jumping around between various scenarios, many of which pertained to various people the author had dated, and then shifting to a few other people's life experiences toward the end. if you are seeking a book which provides one person's experience with autism, this may give you perspective but I would caution against reading it to better understand autism as a whole, as it felt very one-sided.

Story book

This was more story telling than informative. Wasn’t what I was seeking unfortunately.
Thought some of it (like the ‘missing a leg…sorry’ jab) was uncalled for and creates such irony in a book that cries for understanding.