I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder

A Memoir

By: Sarah Kurchak

Narrated by: Zura Johnson

Sarah Kurchak is autistic. She hasn’t let that get in the way of pursuing her dream to become a writer, or to find love, but she has let it get in the way of being in the same room with someone chewing food loudly and of cleaning her bathroom sink. In I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder, Kurchak examines the Byzantine steps she took to become “an autistic success story”, how the process almost ruined her life, and how she is now trying to recover.

Growing up undiagnosed in small-town Ontario in the '80s and '90s, Kurchak realized early that she was somehow different from her peers. She discovered an effective strategy to fend off bullying: She consciously altered nearly everything about herself - from her personality to her body language. She forced herself to wear the denim jeans that felt like being enclosed in a sandpaper iron maiden. Every day, she dragged herself through the door with an elevated pulse and a churning stomach, nearly crumbling under the effort of the performance. By the time she was finally diagnosed with autism at 27, she struggled with depression and anxiety largely caused by the same strategy she had mastered precisely. She came to wonder, were all those years of intensely pretending to be someone else really worth it?

Tackling everything from autism parenting culture to love, sex, alcohol, obsessions, and professional pillow fighting, Kurchak’s enlightening memoir challenges stereotypes and preconceptions about autism and considers what might really make the lives of autistic people healthier, happier, and more fulfilling.

©2020 Sarah Kurchak (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Wonderful book

So insightful and impactful. Very helpful to me as a NT with a wonderful, autistic loved one. Love this author. Wish I could be more like her. :)

Validating, but bitterly sad and a bit hopeless

There’s a lot of humor in the first half of this book, and the story of her upbringing and young adulthood is very relatable. She explains traumatizing events that I experienced too, but adds some humor, which makes me feel less alone—like we’re sharing an inside joke. But I will say the last 1/3 is bleak. I know this isn’t a “self-help” book so I wasn’t anticipating rainbows and sunshine but it makes me feel rather “why bother.” About the rest of my Autistic life…and that’s a very dangerous message to be sending to your target audience imo. That being said, I do not regret reading it. I gained some helpful tidbits and the language is colorful and beautiful, but maybe don’t read this if you’re in the depths of a depression or something.

Listen to Autistic Adults

I loved this book. I felt so seen, and lost track of how many I felt that ones, me too, well I feel attacked. I’d been putting it off to read, and did because I wanted to give it to a student of mine. So glad I did. I hope many other young people and older read this and feel the difference of our stories being told by us. Cus it’s different. The others are pale hollow stories without being led by experience. Mockeries. This felt real. Thank you Sarah Kurchak.

Honest, real, funny, heartbreaking, validating

Sarah tells her story with a raw honesty that makes you feel it. I had several laugh out loud moments, and moments I was in tears, and moments where I had to stop and Google the references. I cannot overstate how profoundly this book moved me, or how enriched I feel after reading it. I want to go back through again and take notes.

Incredible description of autistic life

I’m autistic and ADHD, and Sarah’s writing was SO helpful for me. While it’s true that if you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve only met one autistic person, Sarah’s writing has helped me put words to my own experiences. Her words have validated me and helped me feel less alone in my unique challenges. She has also given me ideas of how I can approach things and interact with people different.

I hope that people who aren’t autistic will listen to this and have an open mind to understand how different the experiences and challenges are of their fellow autistic humans…not so they can treat us differently, but so they can understand more how all of us are different, and we are not lesser for it. We don’t want special treatment…we want inclusion without judgement.

One persons viewpoint

This gives one persons viewpoint and experience with autism. Well narrated but a bit long.

From The Daughter Of Your Narrator

Hey there! My name is Arowen, and I’ve been listening to your book for a school project- I have to write about a memoir- and I heard that my mom (Zura Johnson) had narrated a memoir- so I decided to listen to this MICH rather than some random long non-relatable memoir by a straight white old man who happened to have one interesting thing happen to him. I loved this book, and it was really funny, interesting, and relatable. I do NOT have autism. I have (I think moderate) ADHD and understand a few things you have been through. I can’t say it was the same for you nor can I say that I’ve been through the same, but I think It was so cool to hear your work and listen to you fighting for autistic rights! I support you completely with your choices and problems- and I hope you have a wonderful year and years ahead!

Unglamorized Autobiographical Writing

I liked the forthright honesty of the author.
I did not like how often she felt compelled to state disclaimers that her experience is not meant to portray the entirety of autism.
As a recently diagnosed (at age 58) autistic female, I was stunned at how much of the author’s experience resonated with me. But I was left thinking that I may steer clear of any ‘autistic community’ because I don’t want to deal with judgmental opinions from a whole new group of people.
I think that the need for shielding herself with numerous disclaimers may be a part of what makes the author herself. And so that was interesting to see and it added to the information of the book: this is what this person feels compelled to say to be good with herself. Did it irritate me? No, not once I realized she was showing, not just telling me how her mind works.
Still, in a future edition of the book, or if she does a sequel, I hope she is able to edit out a little of the ‘I’m not saying this applies to everyone’ stuff. People ought to be smart enough to know that, and if they aren’t, telling them repeatedly isn’t likely to help.
Overall, great book, definitely worthy of my time and attention.

encompassing

aspie here... this was both painful and beneficial to read. helpful, most assuredly. I highly recommend this. no matter whether on the spectrum, or not.

So well written

So clever and poignant, I throughly enjoyed this memoir. The footnotes were nice little additions. Looking forward to another.