Spectrum Women

Walking to the Beat of Autism

By: Barb Cook - editor, Dr Michelle Garnett - editor, Lisa Morgan - foreward, various

Narrated by: Emily Joyce, Vivien Carter

Barb Cook and 14 other autistic women describe life from a female autistic perspective, and present empowering, helpful and supportive insights from their personal experience for fellow autistic women. Michelle Garnett's comments validate and expand the experiences described from a clinician's perspective, and provide extensive recommendations.

Autistic advocates including Liane Holliday Willey, Anita Lesko, Jeanette Purkis, Artemisia and Samantha Craft offer their personal guidance on significant issues that particularly affect women, as well as those that are more general to autism. Contributors cover issues including growing up, identity, diversity, parenting, independence and self-care amongst many others. With great contributions from exceptional women, this is a truly well-rounded collection of knowledge and sage advice for any woman with autism.

Contributors: Jen Elcheson, Artemisia, Catriona Stewart, Anita Lesko, Liane Holliday Willey, Samantha Craft, Yenn Purkis, Kate Ross, Becca Lory, Renata Jurkevythz, Terri Mayne, Maura Campbell, Dena Gassner and Christine Jenkins.

©2018 Jessica Kingsley Publishers (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

If you suspect you may be on the spectrum, this is a must-listen!

This book helped me more than anything in the past 27 years of my life.

There You All Are

I searched and searched and found you in a book. As a late diagnosed woman at 50 yrs old I can’t explain how much this book meant to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this. Thank for writing it down so I can know I am in fact not alone. One of my favorites in my now constant research to piece it all together while I heal and feel the relief of truly knowing who I am now. I can’t recommend this book enough.

fantastic

a few quibbles with the rotation of narration but well performed/read overall. an important listen for anyone but especially those of us who've spent the better portion of their lives so far feeling like they never had a tribe; ya get close, ya think you might be this that or the other category... then along comes a group of women who are telling parts of your innermost story that you've been attempting to articulate for decades.

Spend that monthly credit on this one! You won’t be sorry

Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this book. I was diagnosed just a couple months ago at 39 years old. I honestly did not expect this book to be as helpful or to resonate as much as it did. I just finished it a moment ago and I already have no doubt that I’ll come back to it again and again. If you are struggling with a late autism diagnosis, these women have written a call to power that will kickstart your heart. This book has helped me connect with/love my autism and to feel more powerful for it. Autistic minds are beautiful. My hope is that more spectrum women of all class, color, and creed will continue to expand upon this book by writing of their experience. I love the Brenee Brown quote one author spoke of about finding true belonging vs fitting in. It articulates the essence felt on every page.

I felt like someone finally understood me

I’ve been battling with trying to figure out if I’m autistic or not for over a year now. Internally I knew I was but I had a really hard time articulating my struggles to others. I wasn’t able to tell anyone accurately how I felt. This book not only affirmed the fact that I am autistic, but it gave me the words I could never find myself. It helped me find my voice. I learned a lot about autism in women/AFAB individuals and challenged how I was told to view autism by the world. The mixture of anecdotes by the authors mixed in with clinical research and experience made for a truly special piece of writing. If you recently found out your autistic as an adult and want to hear experiences like yours I highly recommend this book! You’ll learn a lot about your brain and why you feel the way you do.

Amazing!

I can’t tell you the MANY ways I have related to and felt comforted by the contents of this book! Healing and the desire to pursue more knowledge are both soaring excitedly through my heart, mind, and soul! I will be purchasing this book and marking it up in beautiful colors and notes!

Loved it

In-depth accounts and so genuine.loved that there were several women and their stories helped me understand what my daughter was feeling

Freeing

I loved it, I related and felt connected. I cried and am grateful for this book. I dont feel alone and look forward to finding my true self and loving her.

It feels patronizing

As an autistic woman, it feels bypassing to have these women tell their stories and then a “professional” jump on at the end to “confirm” the validity of what the women are saying.

It also feels exclusive not to hear from trans and non-binary people.

I don’t know the race of all the women but it feels as if a bunch of privileged white autistic woman got together to share similar stories of their opportunistic life of getting “identified” whenever they want and not the struggles of those less privileged, it felt out of touch.

Its also uncomfortable hearing grown women use the word Tribe when for Indigenous people, tribal identity is important. So when non-Native people say “find your tribe” or “tribe” to describe groups of shared interest, it is offensive because it erases the significance of Tribal sovereignty, identity, and people.

And the word allistic might have been helpful here. It’s as of the professionals in the book don’t know it, which might be true.