Autism Awareness Week: Stop telling me I don’t ‘look’ autistic – it’s not something you can see
Rachael Lucas is a successful writer whose YA novel The State of Grace – about a teenage girl with Asperger’s syndrome who is trying to work out how to fit in, and whether she even wants to – is published on April 6. She lives with her partner and children in Southport.
Quote:
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m lively and outgoing and, well, loud. Couple this with being a working, creative professional and people get confused.
I’ve been told more than once that ‘your autism must be very mild, otherwise you wouldn’t have the imagination you need to work as a writer’. The common assumption that those with autism always lack imagination is completely wrong – we can be as imaginative and creative as anyone else.
Another thing that people like to comment on is the fact that I spend a lot of my time bouncing around social media with photos of things I’ve done and places I’ve been – surely no one with Aspergers would be able to cope with a busy social life?
Finding it difficult to be sociable doesn’t mean that I don’t want to do it, even if I do have to take time out afterwards to recover.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person. - Sara Luterman
30 Mar 2017, 12:59 am
