Funny, You Don't Look Autistic

Funny, You Don't Look Autistic

Author: Michael McCreary

Publisher: Annick Press

Published: 2019-03-12

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1773212605

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Like many others on the autism spectrum, 20-something stand-up comic Michael McCreary has been told by more than a few well-meaning folks that he doesn’t “look” autistic. But, as he’s quick to point out in this memoir, autism “looks” different for just about everyone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Diagnosed with ASD at age five, McCreary got hit with the performance bug not much later. During a difficult time in junior high, he started journaling, eventually turning his pain e into something empowering—and funny. He scored his first stand-up gig at age 14, and hasn't looked back. This unique and hilarious #OwnVoices memoir breaks down what it’s like to live with autism for readers on and off the spectrum. Candid scenes from McCreary's life are broken up with funny visuals and factual asides. Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic is an invaluable and compelling read for young readers with ASD looking for voices to relate to, as well as for readers hoping to broaden their understanding of ASD.


Look Me in the Eye

Look Me in the Eye

Author: John Elder Robison

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2008-09-09

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0307396185

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “As sweet and funny and sad and true and heartfelt a memoir as one could find.” —from the foreword by Augusten Burroughs Ever since he was young, John Robison longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother, Augusten Burroughs, in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself—and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. It’s a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien yet always deeply human.


How To Be Autistic

How To Be Autistic

Author: Charlotte Amelia Poe

Publisher: Myriad Editions

Published: 2019-09-19

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1912408333

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An urgent, funny, shocking, and impassioned memoir by the winner of the Spectrum Art Prize 2018, How To Be Autistic presents the rarely shown point of view of someone living with autism. Poe's voice is confident, moving and often funny, as she reveals to us a very personal account of autism, mental illness, gender and sexual identity. As we follow Charlotte's journey through school and college, we become as awestruck by her extraordinary passion for life as by the enormous privations that she must undergo to live it. From food and fandom, to body modification and comic conventions, Charlotte's experiences through the torments of schooldays and young adulthood leave us with a riot of conflicting emotions: horror, empathy, despair, laugh-out-loud amusement and, most of all, respect.


To Siri with Love

To Siri with Love

Author: Judith Newman

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2017-08-22

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0062413643

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 From the author of the viral New York Times op-ed column "To Siri with Love" comes a collection of touching, hilarious, and illuminating stories about life with a thirteen-year-old boy with autism that hold insights and revelations for us all. When Judith Newman shared the story of how Apple’s electronic personal assistant, Siri, helped Gus, her son who has autism, she received widespread media attention and an outpouring of affection from readers around the world. Basking in the afterglow of media attention, Gus told anyone who would listen, "I’m a movie star." Judith’s story of her son and his bond with Siri was an unusual tribute to technology. While many worry that our electronic gadgets are dumbing us down, she revealed how they can give voice to others, including children with autism like Gus—a boy who has trouble looking people in the eye, hops when he’s happy, and connects with inanimate objects on an empathetic level. To Siri with Love is a collection of funny, poignant, and uplifting stories about living with an extraordinary child who has helped a parent see and experience the world differently. From the charming (Gus weeping with sympathy over the buses that would lie unused while the bus drivers were on strike) to the painful (paying $22,000 for a behaviorist in Manhattan to teach Gus to use a urinal) to the humorous (Gus’s insistence on getting naked during all meals, whether at home or not, because he does not want to get his clothes dirty) to the profound (how an automated "assistant" helped a boy learn how to communicate with the rest of the world), the stories in To Siri with Love open our eyes to the magic and challenges of a life beyond the ordinary.


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

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

Author: Sarah Kurchak

Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre

Published: 2020-04-02

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 1771622474

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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 eighties and nineties, 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 twenty-seven, 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.


All My Stripes

All My Stripes

Author: Shaina Rudolph

Publisher: American Psychological Association

Published: 2015-03-09

Total Pages: 22

ISBN-13: 143381918X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the story of Zane, a zebra with autism who worries that his differences make him stand out from his peers. With careful guidance from his mother, Zane learns that autism is only one of many qualities that make him special. Contains a “Note to Parents” by Drew Coman, PhD, and Ellen Braaten, PhD, as well as a Foreword by Alison Singer, President of the Autism Science Foundation.


The Ice-Cream Sundae Guide to Autism

The Ice-Cream Sundae Guide to Autism

Author: Debby Elley

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Published: 2020-06-18

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 1787753816

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Autism is a bit like an ice-cream sundae. There are lots of ingredients that go into it. There are so many types of sundae glasses out there. Some are plain and simple, some are loud and proud! In fact, sundae glasses are a bit like people - we're all different. Because we all have different personalities, autism doesn't look the same in everybody. This picture-led book uses ice-cream sundae ingredients to represent various aspects of autism such as sensory differences, special interests or rigidity of thinking, explaining the different facets of autism in a neutral way. The reader can create their own individual 'ice-cream sundae' to illustrate their personal strengths and challenges, highlighting how it makes them unique and helping to build confidence and self-awareness. It includes colourful illustrations and workbook activities to help children cement their understanding of autism.


Frankie's World: A Graphic Novel

Frankie's World: A Graphic Novel

Author: Aoife Dooley

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Published: 2022-08-02

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1338813137

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From acclaimed Autistic Irish comedian Aoife Dooley comes a fresh and funny debut middle-grade graphic novel about fitting in and standing out. Frankie is different from everyone in her class, and she can't figure out why. She has trouble concentrating, and her classmates tease her for not having a dad at home. To try to make sense of the world, Frankie doodles her daily adventures in a journal. One day, when Frankie sneaks into her mom's room and sees her biological father's name on her birth certificate, she decides to go on a mission to track him down. Could Frankie's father be the key to finding out why Frankie feels so adrift? A unique story told with a light touch and an abundance of warmth and wit, Frankie's World is laugh-out-loud funny and a love letter to daring to be different.


Something Good

Something Good

Author: Robert Munsch

Publisher: Annick Press

Published: 2019-10-21

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1773211676

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Tyya is grocery shopping with her dad, but he's not letting her pick any of the good stuff like cookies, ice cream, or candies. When she holds still and is mistaken for the best, most lifelike doll in the supermarket, an argument at the till leads her dad to buy something good after all. A newly designed Classic Munsch picture book introduces this tale of mistaken merchandise to a new generation of young readers.